Issue 770 January 2016 $9.95 (GST INC) >> NZ $9.95 (GST INC)

The Dark Web INSIDE THE HIDDEN INTERNET SEX, DRUGS AND R&B Tom Petty’s Lost Years Kurt Cobain HIS SECRET RECORDINGS

Plus BUDDY GUY BILLY GIBBONS PHIL COLLINS TIM ROGERS COLDPLAY Adele GRIMES

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Limited time offer. Save $69. 2σHUSHULRGDSSOLHV1RYWR'HF ELVIS PRESLEY JOE COCKER Elvis as you have never heard him before! The first comprehensive double of Joe’s entire Featuring classic Elvis hits including musical history 36 unforgettable recordings, including ‘Burning Love’, Love Me Tender’, and ‘Fever’ ‘You Are So Beautiful’, ‘Many Rivers To Cross’, and (featuring Michael Buble). ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’.

ROGER WATERS BOB DYLAN The eponymous soundtrack to the globally acclaimed Latest volume in acclaimed Dylan Bootleg series feature filmCaptures Waters’ sold-out 2010-2013 premieres previously unreleased studio recordings. ‘The Wall Live’ tour, the first complete staging of the Includes never-before-heard songs, outtakes, rehearsal classic Pink Floyd concept album since 1990. tracks, and alternate versions, from the BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED and BLONDE ON BLONDE Sessions. LEGENDS AC/DC DAVID GILMOUR ROCK OR BUST! Brand new solo album. New album featuring ‘Play Ball’, and ‘Rock Or Bust’. Features ‘Rattle That Lock’, A Boat Lies Waiting’, and ‘The Girl In The Yellow Dress’.

JEFF LYNNE’S ELO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN First album of all-new ELO music in over a decade! Contains 4 CDs, with a wealth of unreleased material, Features new songs including ‘When I Was A Boy’, and 4 hours of never-before-seen video on 3 DVDs ‘When The Night Comes’, and ‘ The Sun Will Includes studio outtakes; a two-DVD film of never- Shine on You’. released, newly edited multi-camera footage from 1980 concert; rare tour rehearsal footage; a brand new documentary ‘The Ties That Bind’ about ‘THE RIVER’ Packaged in coffee table book of 200 rare or previously unseen photos and memorabilia. AVAILABLE NOW RS770 “ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS”

FEATURES Grimes released her new album, The Weeknd’s Dark Twisted Fantasy Art Angels, last TheformerR&BmysterymanwantstobeyourMichael month. Josh Eells 56 Page 36 Jackson. By ...... She’s the One Thetriumphantreturnofpost-heartbreakAdele. By Brian Hiatt...... 62 My Life in 15 Songs: Billy Gibbons ZZTopguitaristonhangingwithHendrixandgoing New Wave. By David Fricke ...... 70 King Bee BuddyGuymaybethelastbluesmanofhisera,buthis mojo is still working. By Patrick Doyle ...... 74 The Dark Net Inside the Web’s secret space for criminals, arms traffickers and hackers – all funded by the U.S. government. By David Kushner ...... 80

ROCK & ROLL Phil Collins’ Cobain’s Lost Tapes Unlikely Return New set unearths trove of Insidethesinger’sdarkdays home recordings...... 30 and surprise comeback...... 15 Grimes in the Big Time Q&A Roger Waters Theoddballproducesallher “When B.B. King ownmusicandhasJayZon passed away, On his new concept LP, feuding I kind of woke with Howard Stern and being her team, a new album and big up and said, ‘I’m terrified of Hillary Clinton .... 20 dreams...... 36 the last one here’,” says Buddy Guy. Page 74 DEPARTMENTS

RANDOM NOTES MOVIES Mick Jagger bowls over Suffragette Nashville and Ozzy goes on a The struggle for early women’s monumental trip ...... 12 rights ...... 102 RECORD REVIEWS THELASTPAGE Bruce Springsteen Albert Hammond Jr The Boss answers a 35-year Onbeingaggressivewithcops old question...... 89 and loving Thor...... 106

Billy Gibbons (with ZZ Top) takes a look at his ON THE COVER Adele photographed in London catalogue. Page 70 on October 6th, 2015, by Theo Wenner. Styling by Gaelle Paul. Hair by Kerry Warn. Makeup by Liz Pugh. Nails by Jenny Longworth. FROM TOP: GETTYDANNY CLINCH; IMAGES; GETTY IMAGES

6 | | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016

CORRESPONDENCE LOVE LETTERS & ADVICE ROLLING STONE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & PUBLISHER: Mathew Coyte ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Emma Vidgen some covers he recorded have EDITOR: Rod Yates The Vinyl Straw ART DIRECTOR: Cameron Emerson-Elliott been unearthed, so sure, why CONTRIBUTORS: Michael Adams, Luke Anisimoff, once again the record not foist them on the public? Jaymz Clements, Toby Creswell, Barry Divola, Robyn Doreian, Michael Dwyer, Samuel J. Fell, Dan companies have missed the And this album of unreleased Findlay, Ed Gibbs, James Jennings, Dan Lander, mark. I refer to the increased Kurt Cobain songs is just as Darren Levin, Daniel Murphy, Matt Reekie, Henry Rollins, Barnaby Smith, Marcus Teague, Jason interest in vinyl – and, more bad – do you think he real- Treuen, Jenny Valentish, Doug Wallen, Ian Winwood pertinently, the exorbitant ly wanted his bedroom noo- PHOTOGRAPHERS: Steve Baccon, Dane Beesley, Damian Bennett, Daniel Boud, Stephen Booth, prices we’re being asked to dlings released? Have some Adrian Cook, Max Doyle, Kelly Rose Hammond, pay. The reason people start- respect. Kane Hibberd, Rod Hunt, Stephen Langdon, Joshua Morris, Tony Mott, Martin Philbey, Wilk, Katie Kaars ed stealing music is because Jamie McCallister, ILLUSTRATORS: Diego Patiño, WeBuyYourKids, Adi record companies made us Downer, ACT Firth, Andrew Joyner, Sonia Kretschmar, Leo Coyte, Andria Innocent, Anwen Keeling, Eamon Donnelly, pay $30 or even $35 for a CD. Matt Huynh, James Fosdike, Michael Weldon Then we got access to free Guns N’Woes music illegally and, what do ADVERTISING, SPONSORSHIP & EVENTS MANAGER: you know, chose that instead. i’ve just read the news Amy Gates: [email protected] Now we’re suddenly being that Guns N’Roses are about PRODUCTION CONTROLLER: Giovanna Javelosa Ginger Snap AD PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR: asked to pay up to $60 for to reform. Please, God, let this Roy, Dominic (02) 9282 8691 i can forgive you many BRAND MANAGER: Brony Popp things, rolling stone. I CIRCULATION MANAGER: Charlotte Gray could even forgive putting the “Do you think Kurt Cobain really PAPER RIOT PTY LTD Boston Bomber on the cover. CEO: Mathew Coyte GENERAL ENQUIRIES: (02) 8006 9663 But ? Sure, he’s wanted his bedroom noodlings sold a gazillion records, but released? Have some respect.” since when has that been an ROLLING STONE USA indication of quality? Don’t EDITOR & PUBLISHER: Jann S. Wenner MANAGING EDITOR: Jason Fine forget, a million flies like shit. new releases on vinyl. I recent- be a mistake! GN’R were a DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR: Nathan Brackett Stephen Hewson, ly went to buy Robert Forster’s beautiful fireball that burned ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS: Sean Woods SENIOR WRITERS: David Fricke, Brian Hiatt, Clifton Hill, Vic album, and it was $50. Not bright and then exploded. Do Peter Travers surprisingly, I put it down and we really need to see them re- SENIOR EDITOR: Christian Hoard finally! a cover of roll- DESIGN DIRECTOR: Joseph Hutchinson walked out. Why do record born as tired 50-year-olds? CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jodi Peckman ing stone I feel proud to carry companies have this constant Doug Peters, EDITOR AT LARGE: Jason Fine on the bus! Thanks for putting urge to treat us fans like fools Cairns, Qld VICE PRESIDENT: Timothy Walsh PUBLISHER: Michael H. Provus Ed Sheeran on the cover, and with bottomless pockets? I’m HEAD OF DIGITAL: Gus Wenner for taking us backstage with afraid the joke’s on them. EDITORIAL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: John Blurred Lines Dragonetti him in the UK. In this age David Thornton LICENSING & BUSINESS AFFAIRS: of here-today-gone-later-to- Annandale, NSW so damon albarn tries Maureen A. Lamberti (Executive Director), Aimee Schecter (Director) day pop stars and autotuned to avoid playing with Blur like US OFFICES: 1290 Avenue of the Americas, pop starlets, how refreshing to Let It Be the plague? [RS 769] Do us New York, NY 10104-0298; 212-484-1616 find an artist who writes from a favour then and stop. Why the heart, and seems so unaf- i see there’s a – wait for should we pay to watch you go fected by fame. it – “new” album through the motions? Rolling Stone is published in Australia monthly by Katrina Swift coming out! That man has Samantha Coburn, Paper Riot Pty Ltd, Suite 4, 5 Wilson St, Newtown, Clearview, SA been so prolific in death. Now Artarmon, NSW NSW 2042. ABN 9216 6626 526. Enquiries: (02) 8006 9663. Copyright © 2014 by ROLLING STONE LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The name ROLLING STONE and the logo thereof are CONTACT US registered trademarks of ROLLING STONE LLC, GENERAL ENQUIRIES (02) 8006 9663 which trademarks have been licensed to Paper Riot E-MAIL [email protected] Pty Ltd. For subscription inquiries visit Please include an address and telephone www.magshop.com.au, email magshop@magshop. number. Letters may be edited. com.au or telephone 136 116 between 8am and 6pm (EST) Monday to Friday. 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Comment, chat, love, hate at facebook.com/rollingstoneaustralia RALPH J. GLEASON 1917-1975 S. THOMPSON 1937-2005

8 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016

ROLLINGSTONEAUS.COM

VIDEO ANOTHERA SIDE OF DAVID DUCHOVNY The fi rst episode in our new series “Off the Clock”, about artists and their hob- bies: The actor embarks on a side career as a singer- songwriter while awaiting the return of The X-Files in early 2016. “For me to get up and sing live is insane,” says Duchovny.

Joel circa 1970

EXCLUSIVE LIST GALLERY EXCLUSIVE NTHE BADB STARTS 0ARTISTS 27 YEARS OF GROUNDG AT TOT GREAT YYOU NEED BLBLUESFEST – FAIRGROUND CAREERS TO KNOW PETER NOBLE FESTIVAL Eventhebestcansometimes RIGHT AWAY! start out on the wrong foot. Intheleaduptothemassive We go behind the scenes at We ranked the worst-ever When people ask you what Bluesfest 2016, we catch up the new boutique festival with debut albums, by artists such new music they should be lis- with festival boss Peter Noble Father John Misty, Mercury Rev as Billy Joel, George Harrison tening to, you should have this as he remembers some of the and Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Lou Reed page bookmarked. Seriously. highlights of the epic festival. FOLLOW MUSIC NEWS, AROUND THE CLOCK US ON

Get breaking music news from ROLLING STONE’s award-winning staff of writers and reporters24hoursaday,365daysayear at RollingStoneAus.com Neko Case CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ADAM BRADLEY; CAMERON EMERSON-ELLIOTT; DENNIS KLEIMAN; GETTY IMAGES, 2; COURTESY

10 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016  "#  ! “Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath. I just thought they were great jokes.” —Keith Richards

Run, BOWLER’S BANQUET Alicia, After hanging out with Jack White at Third Man Records Run in Nashville, had already run Mick Jagger one marathon in her life – in squeezed in 2007, in Greece – and swore some bowling. never again. So when her “Don’t ask me brother urged her to join my score!” him in the New York City said Mick. Marathon, “My fi rst instinct was ‘hell no’,” said Keys, “but [then] I thought, ‘Why not?’” As part of her training, Keys meditated, URNE/INSTAGRAM listened to Eckhart Tolle books and ran for about an hour a day. She fi nished in a respectable fi ve hours, 50 minutes: “What got me through was SILVIO RETURNS seeing incredible runners Steve Van Zandt reunited with prosthetic legs or a with Sopranos alumni for man leading a blind runner. a one-off charity play. This was the surge of “It’s easier to face 50,000 strength I needed!” people in a stadium,” he says of his theatre debut.

JT Gets in a

MOUNT Memphis OZZMORE Black Sabbath’s fi nal tour kicks Groove off in January, At his induction into the but before that Memphis Music Hall of Fame, Ozzy and his son met Stax Jack are visiting heroes like William Bell, Steve several national Cropper and “Soul Man” Dave monuments for Porter (from left). “This is the a new History fucking coolest thing that’s Channel show. ever happened to me,” JT said

in a tearful speech. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GETTY IMAGES; MICK JAGGER/INSTAGRAM; GETTY IMAGES; STEVE ROBERTS/MEMPHIS MUSIC HALL OF FAME; OZZY OSBO

12 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 Australian Institute of Music DO YOU WANT A CAREER IN MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS? GET SERIOUS WITH A BACHELOR DEGREE. APPLY NOW AT AIM.EDU.AU

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Available from shop.rollingstoneaus.com Q&A ROGER WATERS PG. 20 | PROFILE KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD PG. 24

Phil Collins’ Unlikely Return Inside the singer’s dark days and plans for a comeback By Andy Greene

itting on a couch in the mas- ter bedroom of his new $33 mil- S lion Miami Beach mansion, Phil Collins doesn’t look like a man gearing up for a huge comeback. The 64-year- old just had surgery to repair nerves in his back, and even sitting up is a monu- mental challenge. His voice is soft and groggy – that is, until conversation turns TAKE A to his future plans. GOOD LOOK “I’m no longer offi cially retired,” he Collins onstage says, growing animated. “The horse is in London, out of the stable, and I’m [Cont. on 16] 2010. FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY IMAGES FOR MTV

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 15 ROCK&ROLL

PHIL COLLINS his retirement from public life, opting to focus on his children and his favou- [Cont. from 15] raring to go.” Collins rite hobby, collecting Alamo artifacts. “I hasn’t played live since 2010 – and hasn’t sometimes think, ‘I’m going to write this recorded in more than a dec ade. “My kids Phil Collins character out of the story’,” he are 10 and 14, and they want to see what told Rolling Stone that year. “Phil Col- their dad does,” he says. “They were in lins will just disappear or be murdered in nappies when I was last on the road.” some hotel bedroom, and people will say, Last year, Collins secretly reconvened ‘What happened to Phil?’ The answer will his solo band, with Jason Bonham on be, ‘He got murdered, but, yeah, anyway, VIDEO STARS drums, for a three-week rehearsal. His let’s carry on.’ ” manager is laying early groundwork for a His retirement plan took a severe blow, THE BEATLES tour, though exact plans are still up in the however, when his ex-wife moved with air. Collins suff ered major nerve damage their two young sons to Miami, far from ON FILM to his hands while drumming on the 2007 his main home near Geneva, Switzerland. Genesis reunion tour, but he’s hopeful his “It left me with a lot of time on my hands “The Beatles were the forerunners of the music video,” says Michael back operation will restore his skills. “After to think about what happened,” he says. Lindsay-Hogg, who directed surgery, the doctor said to me that my vital “I went through a few bits of darkness, many of their videos. “They made signs were all there,” he says. “He said, ‘If drinking too much.” He ultimately drank them because they didn’t want to you want to play drums again, all you have to the point where he developed pancreati- schlep around to the TV stations to do is practice.’ ” tis, and even tried rehab for a week before miming their songs. They were so realising it wasn’t for him. powerful, the TV stations would “I killed my hours watch- take their product rather than not ing TV and drinking, and have them at all.” The new deluxe it almost killed me,” he 1+ DVD/Blu-ray collection is a trea- sure of Beatles footage – promo says. “But I haven’t had a videos, TV appearances and rare drink in three years.” clips, plus unreleased footage and After sobering up, commentary from Paul McCartney Collins bought the and Ringo Starr. Here are four of 12,000-square-foot the fabbest moments. Miami Beach home (for- mer owner: Jennifer ‘I Feel Fine’ 1965 Lopez) this year, right The Beatles trooped into Twick- down the road from enham Film Studios on Novem- Barry Gibb, and began ber 23rd, 1965, to grind out fi ve quickie promo videos. They took a seeing his boys near- lunch break for “I Feel Fine” – and ly every day. He even set instead of miming with their gui- up a soundproof room tars, they munched fi sh and chips. where 14-year-old Nich- Manager Brian Epstein nixed the olas could practice with footage – he was horrifi ed that the his band. world would see the boys eating Things seemed perfect with greasy fi ngers. NO JACKET REQUIRED Collins with his son Nicholas in until Collins woke one Deerfi eld Beach, Florida, last June. morning and discovered ‘We Can Work It Out’ 1965 that he couldn’t move his The band play it straight, until John Lennon sets out to make Even as Collins is barely able to stand, right foot. “I had an MRI, and my back McCartney crack up. By the end, he’s having a new studio set up on the and hips were just shot,” he says. “The doc- Lennon’s playing the organ with ground fl oor of his house, where he hopes tor had to go in there, work on the sciat- his feet. to cut a new album. “No matter what hap- ic nerve and take my back apart and un- pens,” he says, “I can still play piano and scramble the mess.” ‘Penny Lane’ 1967 sing. I’ll settle for the parts of me I can For now, Collins is focused on deluxe The psychedelic video with the possibly do.” editions of his solo albums, which hit lads on horseback – with priceless Collins is returning at a time when his shelves January 29th. They’re packed with DVD commentary. “My big memo- musical legacy is stronger than ever, per- demos, outtakes and alternate versions of ry of that shoot is all of us saying, haps surprisingly. In the 1980s, Collins songs from throughout his career. “I got ‘Where’s Ringo?’” McCartney says. “‘That’s him, disappearing over the was derided by rock critics as the epitome very involved in these reissues,” he says. horizon on that galloping white of soft-rock cheese, but since he retreat- “We even re-shot all the covers, which was horse!’” ed from the spotlight, he’s gained new re- my idea. I’m easily fl attered. If people re- spect. “In the Air Tonight” is widely hailed discover the old stuff and show interest, it ‘Hey Bulldog’ 1968 as a masterpiece and a pop-culture touch- would be silly to not make more music.” The fi lm crew went to Abbey stone (Mike Tyson sang along to it in The News of Collins’ return is likely to ex- Road to shoot a video for “Lady Hangover; Stephen Curry of the Golden cite Genesis fans, but he’s noncommittal ” – but the Beatles didn’t State Warriors sang to it in a viral video). about the idea of another reunion of the feel like lip-syncing, because they Even Adele reached out to him about pos- band. “Let’s start with this [solo] bit fi rst,” were absorbed in cutting a new sibly co-writing songs for her new album. he says. “I love the guys. I would just pre- song. Result: astounding footage of the band at work. ROB SHEFFIELD His last album of new material was fer to do this fi rst. For now, let’s just see

2002’s Testify, and in 2011, he announced how this goes.” FROM LEFT: GETTY IMAGES;

16 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 ‘The Story of Sonny Boy Slim’ The Grammy Award Winning Guitarist's Soulful new album

“At 31, he’s probably the most acclaimed bluesman of his generation, a guitar hero of potent magnetism.” - New York Times

Performing at fallsfestival.com.au Touring Sydney and Melbourne January 2016. For tickets go to Livenation.com.au

Out NOW on CD, Vinyl & Digital www.garyclarkjr.com GREEN DAY

You loved the tour, now relive RT LIKE A HAND GRENADE the memories with the newly remastered t u s k deluxe and expanded editions.

AVAILABLE AS... LOVE AMERICAN IDIOT? 1CD • 2015 remaster of the original album

3CD • 2015 remaster of the original album • Complete YOU’LL WANT TO WATCH THIS UNPRECEDENTED BEHIND THE SCENES alternate album with unreleased session recordings • Singles • Outtakes LOOK AT THE WRITING AND RECORDING OF THE LEGENDARY ALBUM. 5-CD/2-LP/1-DVD • 2015 remaster of the original album • Complete alternate album with unreleased session OUT NOW ON DVD & DIGITAL recordings • Singles • Demos & remixes • 22 unreleased live tracks • 5.1 surround mix • Original album on vinyl ROCK&ROLL IN THE STUDIO

CAGED BIRD Matthew Shultz at work ’s Garage-Rock Kentucky band teams with my-nominated , with intra- thinkthat’sabadnotethere!’”Matthew band beefs resulting in the exit of lead recalls. “But it stayed.” Dan Auerbach for a more guitaristLincolnParish.“Thelastrecord Reflecting those approaches – as well as adventurous version of its was a living hell,” Shultz says. “We were Brad’s deep dive into Sixties bands like the stomping sound going through so much turmoil.” ZombiesandTommyJames–Tell Me Auerbach agreed to produce Cage’s I’m Pretty recalls everything from psy- age the elephant guitar- fourth album, Tell Me I’m Pretty (due De- chedelic bubblegum pop to, not coinci- istBradShultzstillsounds cember 18th), in Nashville. He ended up dentally,thesparetautnessoftheBlack embarrassed about the night giving the band a fresh start and a fresh Keys. For all the group’s difficulties, Brad C he asked Dan Auerbach to work sound. In the studio, he would often play feels that Cage emerged sane and uni- withhisband,whichopenedfortheBlack thebandmatesobscureAfrobeatorga- fied after wrapping up the album in a Keyslastyear.“Iwaslike,‘Letmeshowyou rage-rock records before a take. “It was brisk three and a half weeks. “Sometimes some songs, dude! We gotta do some tracks an experiment to knock us out of what youhavetotakeanimmenseamount together!’” Shultz says. “Typical stuff – I was comfortable,” singer Matthew Shultz of stress to bring things to a head,” he was really wasted.” says. Auerbach, who pitched in with gui- says.“Thisrecordbroughtusbackto TheKentuckygroupenduredatrau- tar and keyboards on the LP, also empha- being those kids in Bowling Green.” maticperiodsurrounding2013’sGram- sised first-take vocals. “I’d say, ‘But wait! I DAVID BROWNE

STUDIO NOTES AND KANYE TOBY MARTIN’S SOUND MAKE AN ART PROJECT OF THE SUBURBS “It’s hard to actually put them all on the The Youth Group frontman’s latest solo same album,” Rihanna said of the eclectic album was facilitated by Urban Theatre songs on Anti, her upcoming fi rst album Projects. Written in and inspired by the in three years. Kanye West executive- multi-cultural Sydney suburb of produced the LP, and the snippets and Bankstown, it features local musicians leaks that surfaced (as well as the cover who play traditional Arabic and image, a piece by artist Roy Nachum built Vietnamese music. “I wanted to around a childhood photo of RiRi) recognise the diversity of Bankstown suggest an arty left turn for the R&B – and what Bankstown sounds like superstar. JON DOLAN – through the music,” he says. ROD YATES FROM TOP: POONEH GHANA; GETTY IMAGES, 2 GETTY GHANA; IMAGES, POONEH TOP: FROM

18 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 CHECKING IN GETS PERSONAL Raitt digs deep, gets noisy with her longtime band on her fi rst album since 2012

Bonnie Raitt’s new studio album, Dig in Deep, won’t be out until February, but the singer-guitarist has already received her fi rst rave review. “I got an e-mail from Jackson,” Raitt says, meaning her friend Jackson Browne. “He said, ‘I love the way you use the band as a band. It really sounds R. Kelly cohesive.’” The LP title comes from a line in the opening stomp, “Unintended Consequence of Love”. It is also Raitt’s allusion to how she and her longtime R. Kelly Tries It All studio-and-road band – guitar- ist George Marinelli, bassist James Hutchinson and drummer , with recent recruit on keyboards – “have become a unit that On ‘The Buff et’ can dig deeper,” she says, “into the grooves.” Two covers come from the Country, blues and a duet behind,” he says. “I’m really intrigued with Eighties, freshened with blues-rock the way rappers today have totally flipped swagger and Raitt’s torrid slide guitar: with an estranged daughter the rap game with the fl ow. I like chal- INXS’ “” and Los Lobos’ “Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes”. “We – it’s all there on Kelly’s most lenging myself and seeing if I can do that.” make a lot of noise for four people and adventurous album ever The emotional apex of The Buffet is “Be me,” Raitt, 66, notes proudly. There”, a duet with his once-estranged Dig in Deep is her most personal re- ammusicandiwantpeople teenage daughter, a budding singer- cord in years, with Raitt’s highest tally to know me as music,” says songwriter who goes by Ariiraye’. Kelly of original songs since 1998’s Funda- R. Kelly. “Not some R&B guy.” hadn’t seen her in three years when they mental. “I had a lot of loss,” Raitt says, Bearded and nursing a cigar, the had a chance run-in at a mall. After tex- referring to the passing of her mother, ‘I Marjorie; father, John; and brother 48-year-old singer-songwriter-producer ting back and forth, he invited her to is at New York’s Jungle City Studios one the studio. “She’s very, very talented,” he Steve, between 2004 and 2009. She points to the resurgent energy in the September night, spinning tracks from says. “She’s just like me, man. She can gospel-influenced “What You’re Doin’ his upcoming 13th album, The Buffet really write. And it’s scary. When she was to Me”. “We all get shuttered down by (due this month). Kelly pared down more in the studio, I taught her a lot. I showed life,” she says. “And sometimes people than 450 songs for the release, which is her a few shortcuts on how to get through blast the door open and pull you out.” his most ambitious ever – full of twists the song and how to get it done, and she DAVID FRICKE on modern hip-hop, sexy Chicago step- loved all of that.” Despite the rapport, it ping music, street-corner doo-wop, fi ery took some convincing to get Ariiraye’ to and, most surprisingly, a coun- appear on “Be There”. “It was emotion- try song, “Barely Breathing”. “I love coun- al for both of us,” says Kelly. “At first, try music,” says Kelly. “Because country she was a little uncomfortable, but I told music tells stories, and I tell stories.” her how she could touch the hearts of Kelly recorded most of The Buff et at his a lot of girls out there that haven’t seen Sylvester studio in Chicago over the past their fathers.” two years, occasionally falling asleep in The Buffet sessions were so produc- his chair during marathon sessions, then tive they yielded seven country numbers waking up and starting again. When he and 17 songs that could one day turn into wasn’t going country, Kelly focused on a blues album. “I just stay in tune,” says creating new sounds that fi t modern hip- Kelly, who has worked on recent hits for hop radio, including Future-style rap gar- and Lady Gaga. “It’s like a gles and watery alt-R&B. Kelly even tries piano that’s been around for 30, 40 years. exuberant ad-libs that sound like young If you continue to tune it, it will contin- Raitt Atlanta-rap hitmakers Migos. “Music ue to sound as fresh as any brand-new

BOTTOM: JASON FARRELL changes, and you get in line or you get left piano.” CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN

Photograph by Jesse Lirola RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 19 Q&A

to. But the analogy is with the the Southern states of the Unit- andela South Africa. The global Roger same way that I do about the Is- ’s not the Israeli people, it’s not m. I would never dream of at-

Waters you of wanting Jews to “go The former Pink Floyd l tion camp”. Do you have any new concept album, an n’t waste a single one of my pre- he’s terrifi ed of Hillary C eaths on that asshole. I guess I By Andy Greene . That was a waste of breath, so ove on. n december 1st, r ’s your relationship like with Waters released a ther members of Pink Floyd? DVD set commemor Drummer] Nick Mason and O his three-year-long t dore each other. There was a of The Wall – and he says he has ief schism when I left the band, appreciation for why the Pink Fl ut now we’re great friends. classic has endured. “People are j Rick [Wright]’s dead, sadly. beginning, as they sleepwalk thro And Syd [Barrett]’s dead, imperial capitalism, to realise the l sadly. David [Gilmour] and I is being eroded, the military are t have never been friends at all, ing over commerce, and the corpor so we don’t have anything to tions have taken over government,” o with one another, and I’m says. “And that we the people no long ontent with all of that. have a voice. The Wall, to some exte sure it’s annoying that every- is asking the question ‘Do you wa always asks you about a Pink voice?’ ” Waters recently made headl d reunion that will obviously for his longtime role as a critic of Is ppen. drawing protest outside of a Long Is fer you to the answer I gave gig. He checked in one afternoon, tern on that question. sharp words for Howard Stern, Dona arise that? and us, too. No, I’m not going to! Why ask me my favourite fuck- Now that you’re done with The Wall, u know, this can’t get any next for you? an that. Everybody knows I have an entire demo [for his next d everybody asks the ques- I’m in a room sitting with a guitar again! It’s just so dumb. I’m demo recordings and a legal pad an y. You’re just doing your job. shovelling things around and scr onald Trump. Are you hor- things down. It’s an attempt to come so well in the polls? a shape, a cartoon sketch of what thi at any of the Republican ing may be when it’s fi nished. And th ot be horrifi ed. They are so that I’m using to do that is to think of wanting to murder every- arena show. I’m trying to fi gure out . I’ll get into hot water for juggle all these new tunes with old t eir attitudes are so fascist. well into a cohesive arena show that I clever because he made a some bums into seats with. The basic a crappy TV show. tion of the album is, “Why are we killi Clinton? children?” better alternative than any So it’s a concept album, I take it. candidates I’ve seen. But Yeah. Why change now? ho has any credibility for You played The Wall 219 times between ers. If I had a vote, and I and 2013. Do you think you’ll ever do it a citizen, I would cast my If Israel works toward equality and ry worries me. I worry she real, genuine democracy, with no apar me the fi rst woman pres- racism infecting the society, then I will lear bomb on somebody. there and play The Wall again. I have carily hawkish about her. and pieces of the stage stored, and th . If Trump becomes presi- haven’t got stored, I will rebuild. he country? You’ve long favoured a cultural boycott ll of us of good heart rael, since you say its treatment of the Pa organise and get rid of estinians is apartheid. This has led some e, before he destroys the

label you an anti-Semite. IMAGES GETTY

20 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 GRAMMY AND ACADEMY AWARD WINNER

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TEA FOR ONE Petty in a New York hotel room, 1977

The singer opens up about key, and that wouldn’t work,” he to be wide open for listeners to see says in the new book Petty: The themselves in the picture,” Zanes thedarkestperiodofhislife Biography. “It’s an ugly fucking writes in the preface. “I certain- for the first time in a thing.” ly saw myself. Something hap- definitive new biography The book, by author and for- pened when that voice delivered mer Del Fuegos guitarist Warren those wordsinthatway.”Thepair y 1997, tom petty’s life was Zanes, marks the fi rst time Petty first met in 1986, when the Del in shambles. His latest album, has ever talked about his heroin Fuegos opened for Petty, and they She’s the One, had bombed com- abuse publicly, but it’s far from the stayed friends over the years, as B mercially, and he’d just fi red his only dark moment in the book. Petty and the Del Fuegos broke up and Zanes became longtime drummer, Stan Lynch of the Zanes have decided to tell the unvarnished a teacher and historian and wrote an ac- Heartbreakers, after years of acrimony. truth, and the result is not only the defi n- claimed book about the making of Dusty Even worse, his 20-year marriage had just itive account of Petty’s life, but one of the Springfi eld’s Dusty in Memphis. come to a bitter end. Living in a tiny house best rock biographies in recent memory. Their closeness seems to have helped he calls a “chicken shack”, he found a new Zanes makes clear he’s no impartial Petty open up about the most painful way to deal with his pain: heroin. Before observer – in fact, he’s a Petty superfan chapters of his life, all the way back to

long, he was hooked. “Tried to go cold tur- going way back. “ ‘American Girl’ seemed his Florida childhood. He had a conten- IMAGES GETTY

22 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 tious relationship with his father, Earl, who once beat him for shooting a sling- shot at a passing Cadillac. “I was covered in raised welts, from my head to my toes,” Petty remembers in the book. “I mean, you can’t imagine someone hitting a child like that. . . . I was fucking fi ve!” Much of Petty: The Biography focus- es on the saga of the Heartbreakers – the bond between bandmates as well as the tensions. Most of the group members were also in Mudcrutch, Petty’s early- Seventies band, back when he was a skinny blond nobody playing bass. Zanes had frank dis- cussions with all of them – including for- mer drummer Lynch, who opens up about his long-simmering diffi culties with Petty. Lynch was particularly irked about Pet- ty’s 1989 hit solo album, Full Moon Fever, which Petty recorded with minimal help from the Heartbreakers and a different drummer. But he has plenty of regrets about how he handled his fi nal years with Petty. “I didn’t need to be so big, so loud, so fucking noisy,” Lynch says in the book. “If I could talk to that guy . . . I would’ve gone, Springsteen in ‘Son, you’re a fool. You just don’t know it Asbury Park, 1979 yet. So why don’t you keep your fucking ARCHIVES

“Pettyopensupaboutthemost BRUCE’S BIG ‘RIVER’ REISSUE painful chapters of his life, all the waybacktohischildhood.” Springsteen’s 1980 LP was a could fit on even a double album. sprawling two-record set. A Some of the outtakes found their way onto later compilations, but there was mouthshutandjustletafewthingswork new reissue shows he left a enough left behind to fi ll an entire disc around you.’” lot in the tank that’ll be revelatory to even hardcore That’s not to say he’s forgiven Petty, es- fans. Previously unreleased song “Party peciallywhenitcomestothesubjectoffor- Three weeks after he released The River, Lights” features that later ap- merbassistHowieEpstein,whodiedof Bruce Springsteen took the stage in peared in “Point Blank”, “Atlantic City” heroin-related complications in 2003. “I Tempe, Arizona. It was November 5th, and even the extra verse Springsteen neverforgaveTomfornotbeingathisfu- 1980, the day after Ronald Reagan was tacked on to Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl”. neral,”saysLynch.“Ican’t.IwishIcould.” elected president, and Springsteen and Springsteen archivist Thom Zimny the E Street Band tore through their set dug into the vaults and unearthed the Pettysayshewenttoaseparate,private with extra ferocity. “I don’t know what Tempe show – and was shocked by memorial, and is deeply hurt over Lynch’s you guys think about what happened what he saw. “The band has such raw insinuations that he didn’t do enough last night,” Springsteen told the crowd energy,” says Zimny. “The way it was tosaveEpstein’slife.“Idon’tthinkStan before “Badlands”. “I think it’s pretty shot really gives you an opportunity knowswhatwewentthroughwithHowie,” frightening. You guys are young, there’s to take in the full stage and the look says Petty. “Nobody does. I owe Howie gonna be a lot of people depending on of the E Street Band at that time. Also, more than to tell those tales. But I will say you coming up, so this is for you.” the sound is just amazing.” thatImisshimallthetime.Ihearhisvoice A pristine video of the show is Zimny also shot The Ties That Bind, a onrecords,anditjustkillsme.” one of the highlights of The Ties That new documentary about the making of Bind: The River Collection, a four-CD/ The River. With Springsteen as its only Petty managed to avoid Epstein’s fate three-DVD box set (due December interview subject, it’s an intimate fi lm bygoingtorehabandkickinghishero- 4th) of material from Springsteen’s shot on the grounds of his New Jersey inhabit.Thesweetesteventofthepast15 fi fth album. As his onstage speech home, where he plays acoustic rendi- yearswasPetty’ssurprisingdecisiontore- indicates, it was a time of growing tions of River songs and talks about his uniteMudcrutchin2008,whichZanes social conscience. “It was a rec ord creative process. “I wanted the viewer takesasasignofPetty’scommitmentto where I fi rst started to tackle men and to feel like they were sitting in Bruce’s hismagic.“Youdon’tseeBillyJoelre-form- women and families and marriage,” backyard,” says Zimny. Now that Zimny ingtheHasslesorBruceSpringsteenre- Springsteen said in 2009. “I wanted to has created documentaries about Born forming Steel Mill,” Zanes writes. “Prob- capture the themes that I’d been writ- to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town ing about...and at the same time add and The River, doesn’t logic dictate that ably for very legitimate reasons. It was a the music that made our live shows so he’ll tackle Nebraska next? “I would love career move that could stop a manager’s much fun for our audience.” that,” he says. “I didn’t know about The heart....[But]Pettydidn’talwaysthinkin The River sessions produced Spring- River until the day after Darkness came termsofwhatmadesense;itwasallabout steen’s fi rst Top 10 single, “Hungry out and Bruce gave me a call, so let’s the songs he thought ‘might be back there’.” Heart”, and way more material than keep our fi ngers crossed.” A.G. This revealing book gets inside that un-

© JOEL BERNSTEIN JOEL © compromising spirit. ANDY GREENE

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 23 ROCK&ROLL

PROFILE King Gizzard’s Wizardry

With the release of their ity wasn’t enough of an obstacle, they de- stick. What sounds like a ramshackle pro- seventh album, the prolifi c cided to limit themselves to acoustic in- cess resulted in arguably the most accom- struments only. Mackenzie describes this plished and song-focused King Gizzard re- Melbourne outfi t aren’t done conscious uncoupling from their electric cord yet. With its whimsical cover art by confounding expectations instruments as liberating, especially after longtime collaborator Jason Galea – fea- the one-two fuzz thrust of I’m In Your turing clay fi gurines of each band mem- ot content to cut an Mind Fuzz (2014) and Quarters!. ber and a water tank from a model train albumoffourlooselystruc- “It can be stereotypical and stifling set – Paper Mâché Dream Balloon looks turedjamseachcomingin when you’re looking at the same bunch like some forgotten Sixties gem. And it at exactly 10 minutes, 10 of pedals at your feet,” explains Macken- sounds like it, too. “We wanted to make seconds long, King Gizzard zie. “And then you pick up an acoustic gui- it look like something you’d fi nd in an op- Nand the Lizard Wizard decided to make tar and you’re bound to a tone. It’s liberat- shop, in a $2 bin; a weird, forgotten relic “another heavy concept record” for the fol- ing because you can write a song without record,” Mackenzie says. low-up to this year’s Quarters!. Paper Mâché Dream Balloon And then, like a bad trip, things is King Gizzard’s seventh full- startedtounravel.“Itstartedde- length album in fi ve years, which stroying everyone’s brains,” re- is an incredible strike rate for callsfrontmanStuMackenzie, a band with seven members to laughing. Mackenzie is spend- wrangle. What’s more impres- ing a relaxing afternoon in the sive is they’ve been able to main- band’s new studio – a convert- tain quality control even as ed warehouse in the Melbourne they’ve shifted gears from psych suburb of East Brunswick – rock to Spaghetti Westerns, while simultaneously trying to and all sonic points in between. mixarecordbyanactcalled Mackenzie puts their prolifi ca- Mangelwurzel and looking after cy down to the unfussy manner afriend’s12-week-oldpuppy. in which they record as well as “Weweretryingtomakethese his personal addiction to the re- song structure loops where ev- cord making process. “I fi nd it erything was connected,” he the most rewarding element of continues. “It was one long being a musician,” he says, “that 45-minute song that evolved process of having a song idea and into different sections; I guess you could slowly seeing it turn into a real thing like call them songs. We were making this “We were trying to intellectualise a record.” thinganditwasjustlike–sofucked... , which was so ironically But King Gizzard’s restlessness can We were trying to intellectualise rock stupid,” says Stu Mackenzie. confound at times. Back in late Septem- music, which was so ironically stupid. So ber they received an ARIA nomination we thought, ‘Let’s put that on hold for a having to think about the way the guitar is for Best Jazz Album for Quarters!. A few whileanddotheoppositetoclearoutour going to sound.” weeks later and they were accepting an brains.’” And because unplugging your instru- Independent Music Award for Best Hard The opposite involved driving up the ments and recording in a shipping con- Rock, Heavy or Punk Album for I’m In coasttohisparents’dilapidatedfarmin tainer clearly isn’t much of a challenge, Your Mind Fuzz. Mackenzie says he likes Winchelsea, Victoria, not far from where they decided to learn three new instru- keeping people on their toes. “I guess we this seven-piece collective formed back ments – clarinet, double bass and violin – are confusing. I’m cool with that. Let peo- in 2010. His parents weren’t living there from scratch. plebeconfused.” at the time, and the property had, to put “They were completely foreign to every- Followinga$50,000grant,theband– it mildly, seen better days. There was one one,” says Mackenzie. “I think I did all the all seven of them – were able to tour the workingtapandanemptyshippingcon- clarinet breaks on this track called ‘Sense’ U.S.in2013.It’sbeenareciprocalloveaf- tainer in the adjoining paddock powered hundreds of times for it to sound good, be- fair since. They recently returned to New byalongextensioncordrunningfromthe cause I really can’t play that instrument.” York’s Daptone Records studio to finish farmhouse.Mackenzieandhisbandmates Whatemergedfromthosesessionswas thenightmarishconceptalbumtheystart- –JoeWalker,EricMoore,AmbroseKen- Paper Mâché Dream Balloon,thefirst ed before PaperMâchéDreamBalloon. ny-Smith, Lucas Skinner, Cook Craig and King Gizzard recording to be stitched to- It’llbethenextrelease,Mackenzieprom- MichaelCavanagh–thoughtitwasthe gether like a patchwork quilt. Even the ises. “We’ve recorded most of it now, but perfectplacetocraftthepastoralpalette drums were recorded piecemeal. When there’s still a lot of work to do,” he says, cleanser they had been dreaming up in theycouldn’tfindakickpedaltheyim- with just the slightest hint of trepidation FROM LEFT: JAMIE WDZIEKONSKI; GETTY IMAGES their heads. If a single source of electric- provised by wrapping a T-shirt around a in his voice. DARREN LEVIN

24 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 25 R&R PROFILE Scott Stapp’s TV Therapy After a series of disturbing incidents, the Creed frontman fi nds a fresh start – with the help of a reality show By Andy Greene ast november, scott stapp called his son’s school to report some shocking news: “I’ve uncov- L ered that the core of ISIS is with- in my own family,” he said in a voicemail. “Please call me immediately.” The call, which Stapp never explained, was one of the most disturbing incidents in a pattern of erratic and paranoid be- haviour for the former Creed frontman – so troubling that his wife, Jaclyn, de- manded he move out of the house they shared in southern Florida. Stapp spent about a month driving aimlessly around the country and posting unhinged videos to Facebook. In one, he rant- BORN AGAIN ed, “There are people who have Stapp in 1999 with taken advantage and stolen Creed, and (left) money from me, and they’re this year. trying to discredit me.” In a phone call around the same time, he went on to suggest hind him. He also wants it was part of the therapeutic process be- his life was in danger. Deep- to explain the Obama- cause it put us in a situation where we ly concerned, Jaclyn called 911. assassination talk, which earned could keep no secrets and everything was “He thinks he’s part of the CIA,” him a visit from the Secret Service. exposed,” says Stapp. “Even the conversa- she told the operator. “And he’s sup- “In my delusional state, I thought that tions you would think were private, like in posed to assassinate Obama.” Obama was in trouble and I was trying to the bathroom or in bed at night, were sub- In the early 2000s, Creed’s Christian- save him,” says Stapp, 42. “And it got all ject to the doctor’s scrutiny and analysa- infused message and Stapp’s shirtless- twisted and convoluted. It’s really impos- tion. It was a lot to endure.” messiah charisma helped the band sell sible to give a reasonable explanation for Reality treatment shows have been crit- 50 million albums. But his drug and al- someone who is in a manic psychosis ex- icised for exploiting emotionally and men- cohol abuse led to its eventual breakup periencing delusions and hallucinations.” tally vulnerable people; fi ve former cast after 2009’s Full Circle. Stapp, who suf- On Couples Therapy, the Stapps clash members of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab, in- fers from bipolar disorder, was involun- with their housemates and try to re-estab- cluding country singer Mindy McReady tarily placed in a psychiatric facility late lish their marital bonds, all while being and former Alice in Chains bassist Mike last year. After treatment, including med- fi lmed 24/7. At fi rst, the Stapps were scep- Starr, died shortly after appearing on the ication to control his disorder, Stapp was show. The Stapps are ready to take on the released, and not long after, he and Jaclyn “I thought that Obama was in criticism they expect to face. “Scott’s al- were tentatively back together. wayshadhiscritics,”Jaclynsays.“Fifty Stapp stayed largely quiet about his re- trouble and I was trying to save percentofpeoplelovehim,and50per covery until October, when VH1 began him,” relates Stapp. cent hate him. We have thick skin.” airing the sixth season of the reality se- Stappplanstolaunchasolotournext ries Couples Therapy, which features him ticalthattheshowwouldactuallyhelp. year, and he hopes that Creed, who last and Jaclyn sharing a house with model “We were initially concerned about it being played together in 2012, will re-form at Janice Dickinson, Mob Wives’ Angela authentictherapyandnotascriptedshow,” some point. “I ran into the guys, totally “Big Ang” Raiola, RuPaul’s Drag Race con- says Stapp, who taped throughout the unplanned, at the Hard Rock Hotel in Or- testant Carmen Carrera, New Jersey rap- spring and summer after his initial round lando a few months back,” he says. “We per Joe Budden and their partners. of psychiatric care had ended. “After mul- endedupjusthangingoutbythepoolfor For Stapp, the show is an opportuni- tiple conversations, they really convinced threehours,justcatchingup.Ihopewe ty to prove to the world that his break- us it was real therapy.” get back to the studio at some point and down – which he blames on an inter- Adjustingtolifeonthesetofareali- makearecord.Our20thanniversaryis action between his antidepressants and ty show was difficult for the couple. “[The coming up in 2017, so we’ll see how it

an unprescribed medication – is be- show’s head counsellor] Dr. Jenn told us works out.” GETTY IMAGES, 2

26 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016

ROCK&ROLL MY LIST Nile Rodgers FIVE CRUCIAL INSPIRATIONS BY HENRY The guitarist and producer is hard ROLLINS at work on a new Chic album, which he calls “the most self-indulgent thing I’ve ever done” – but he took time to tell us about fi ve songs that changed his life. Our man in the van considers Elvis Presley those punters “Blue Suede Shoes” who’d throw a My grandmother gave me a pair deer’s head at him of blue suede shoes and told me, “Dance for the family!” I liked the song. I loved the shoes. bet the number of onstage Many years ago, when I was toughing performers who’ve never dealt with it out in the clubs, there was one really The Doors hecklers or audience agitation of rough room I would do talking shows in “The End” somevarietyiscloseto,ifnotzero. in Philadelphia, one of America’s harsh- It starts out like a fugue, then the I tempo goes out of control. I remem- Heckling, at least my definition, is er venues. There was a woman in the au- any human-generated action that keeps dience who yelled at me for almost the ber taking acid with Dr. Timothy Leary, and this song was all theperformerfromdoingwhatheorshe entire show every time. I never saw her I kept hearing. planned. but she became so regular, I could use Iamtheveteranofliterallythousands her as a jumping off point to get into the of shows and have been subjected to quite next topic. The Beatles abitof“feedback”.Ihavehadcigarettes For the most part, I don’t suff er this “A Day in the Life” The song goes on a journey. putoutonmylegs,beenhitwithbottles, distraction too often. I think it might be The composition felt challenging ashtrays, urine (Scotland), a deer’s head in part that I am not trying to antagonise and rewarding. I practiced it on (America), fists etc. Also, there is the ver- or shock an audience, nor am I trying to guitar until it sounded perfect. balvariety,whichisquiteprevalentin set up an adversarial relationship with the world of comedy. them, which I know some People are going to go performers thrive on. Not “Castles Made of Sand” where their opinions and “I’ve been hit me. I have a great aff ection This is the fi rst time I remember pre-show intake direct for my audience and lead hearing backward guitar. I tried to them while the perform- with bottles, with that. play it: “Whoa, what the hell is that?” er is onstage, so it’s all up ashtrays, urine, Sometimes an interrup- to how the heckled one a deer’s head.” tive sound from the audi- Miles Davis deals with the heckler. ence isn’t heckling, and if “Bitches Brew” Ihavefoundituseful you know what you’re hear- I know now that it was put together toemployabitofin-the-momentjujit- ing, you can tell. In Canada a few tours with edits, which is unbelievable. suagainsttheantagonisingvoicethat ago, I heard someone moving in their It’s so seamless. They called it “new springs forth from the darkness. I re- chair accompanied with a bellowing roar. directions in jazz”, but it was “new mindthepersonthatheorsheissur- I looked in the direction, pointed and said, directions in everything”. roundedbypeoplewhopaidwaytoo “Seizure.” I was right. The chairs were much money to walk into the room and moved, the paramedics came. I sat on- listen to some guy onstage, and at this stage for the entire 45 minute period it moment everyone in the place (not me, of took to deal with the situation and the course,becauseI’msuchaswellguywho show resumed. Once in Western Australia likes everyone) wants to club this person I heard a man going off during my show. likeababyseal.Ialwaysusethatlinebe- I knew he wasn’t trying to antagonise. I causethereisnothingcuterthanababy stopped and asked him if he had a con- seal, yet they do indeed get bludgeoned dition. Tourettes, stimulated by alcohol. to death. The audience roars, the heck- A live show always has an unpredictable

ler chooses life, and on we go. factor. It’s not a vocation for everyone. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL WELDON; GETTY IMAGES

28 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 CHECKING IN Danzig’sSkeletons in the Closet The former Misfi ts frontman be aware of that’s there for the lis- tening. drops a covers LP and guests Is your voice still in good shape? on one of TV’s best shows I think I’ve got a better range now than when I was younger. The keletons’isanalbumof best thing you can do if you’re a cover songs that Glenn Danzig singer is not smoke. I see singers has talked about for years but smoking and I’m just like, “How only just got around to fi nishing. do these guys even sing?” It’s just ‘SOn it, the former Misfi ts frontman lends his gotta be destroying their lungs. So evil croon to 10 tracks that inspired him as a I don’t smoke, I rarely drink, and I songwriter – from the obvious (Elvis) to the do a wind-down after the show – I unexpected (Aerosmith). Rolling Stone take care of my throat. spoke with him about the LP, and starring in You’re on an upcoming episode of an upcoming episode of Portlandia . . . ‘Portlandia’. What can you tell us? the opposite approach to what I took on It’s pretty funny. I’d just gotten off tour What’s the biggest skeleton that comes the Everly Brothers track [“Crying in the and I had an e-mail from Fred [Armisen] out of the closet on ‘Skeletons’? Rain”], which is sparser, creepier, more and they were shooting the next day, they’d People might be surprised to hear me stripped-down. been trying to get in touch. The script was do “Rough Boy” by ZZ Top or “Lord of the Are you interested in educating listen- funny so I ended up saying, “Yeah, I’ll do Thighs” by Aerosmith. It came down to ers with some of these selections? it.” I play a kind of black-clad heavy metal stuff I thought I could do something cool It’d be nice if people discover some of this character and I interact with Fred and Car- with. With the Elvis track, “Let Yourself older stuff . There’s a whole world of musi- rie [Brownstein]. I’m not really supposed to Go”, I wanted to make it heavier, which is cal history out there that people may not tell you about it but it’s funny. MATT REEKIE

29

Available at *While stocks Last ROCK&ROLL

FROM THE VAULT Kurt Cobain’s Deepest Cuts New set unearths troveofintimate home recordings By David Fricke

here is the re- clusive young man T laying down early acoustic versions of his songsintoacassettema- chine, the giddy adolescent making silly-voice radio ads forhisnewband,andthe keen experimenter building sound collages and storms of guitar distortion. There isalsotheseriouswrit- er recounting an early sui- cide attempt with perfor- mance-artist resolve, the unabashed romantic cover-

RAW POWER The Montage of Heck album uncovers never-before- heard Cobain songs.

30 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 ing the Beatles’ “And I Love Her”, and the be- erdeen, Washington, in the eerie, neutral sieged rock star singing about his anguish voice of someone reading from a journal. and insecurity from the edge of oblivion. “He actually did several takes of it,” Mor- KURT They are all Kurt Cobain. And they are gen says. “In the long form, you actual- all on one record: the soundtrack to Kurt ly hear his edit points or him fl ipping over UNPLUGGED Cobain: Montage of Heck, writer-director the papers. Brett Morgen’s HBO documentary about “The joy in the fi rst half of the album” is Five highlights from the late Nirvana singer-guitarist. Released the creativity that “poured out of him”, the ‘Montage of Heck: The by Universal last month in a variety of for- director says of Cobain. “Nobody is telling Home Recordings’ mats, including a 31-track deluxe edition, him to go write a song. He’s doing it and Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings amusing himself.” But “Aberdeen”, Morgen ‘The Happy Guitar’ is Cobain’s fi rst offi cial solo album, curat- contends, “deepens the context for every- A young, cheerful Cobain plays ed by Morgen from more than 200 hours thing that follows” – including the previ- a jaunty folk-blues number on of private cassette tapes, including previ- ously unissued song “She Only Lies”, a har- acoustic guitar like he’s holding ously unissued songs, that Co- down the stage in a mid-Sixties bain made from the late Eight- Greenwich Village coffeehouse. ies until shortly before he took When Morgen says you can hear his life in April 1994 at age 27. Cobain smiling on the early tapes, this is what he means. “There is nothing on the album that was previously re- ‘Rehash’ leased on any album or, as far Cobain revs up the distortion for a as I know, in bootleg form,” riff that suggests Black Sabbath in Morgen says. “Everything their prime and pushes his voice came from those cassettes, up to a manic, shredded falsetto. But there is a genuine song – and we only included stuff clearly indebted to Cobain’s that was Kurt’s solo work, as Northwest-punk idols the Melvins opposed to band rehearsals.” – coming through the turbulence. Morgen sequenced the set “to At points, Cobain shouts “Solo!” create a feeling that the listen- and “Chorus!” where he plans to put more noise and ideas later. er was sitting in Kurt’s apart- ment, bearing witness to his ‘And I Love Her’ creation”. The grunge-rock avenger often Morgen – who was orig- cited as the John Lennon of inally approached in 2007 his generation covers this Paul about doing a Cobain fi lm by McCartney ballad – originally recorded by the Beatles in 1964 – the singer’s widow, Courtney with blatant, plaintive need. Says Love – began listening to that Morgen, “There was a lot more wealth of tape when he fi nal- Paul in Kurt than he let on.” ly started production in 2013, with Cobain’s daughter, Fran- ‘She Only Lies’ ces Bean, as an executive pro- This emotional seesaw between accusation and helplessness ducer. Cobain did not date his literally sounds like the depth of cassette recordings, says Mor- despair: Cobain picking a bony riff gen, “but we were able to as- on bass guitar, singing as if he is certain for most of the tracks already receding into the distance. the year, sometimes within a “There is only one version,” Mor- few months, based on what else existed on gen says. It is more than enough. the tape”. That is literally true in some cases. “We only included stuff that was ‘Do Re Mi’ medley The droning-ballad demo “Burn the Rain” Kurt’s solo work as opposed to “There is no resurrection,” Morgen ends abruptly when Cobain walks away to band rehearsals,” says Morgen. says of his Cobain film – it ends answer the phone, leaving his tape machine with the singer’s death. But The running – you can hear him take a message rowing vocal-and-bass-guitar portrait of Home Recordings concludes with for his girlfriend at the time, Tracy Ma- the singer drowning in emotional betrayal. more hope: the breaking-light spell of “Do Re Mi”, Cobain’s last rander. A delicate solo-guitar instrumen- Frances, now 23, had no part in com- known song. An excerpt from his tal, “Letters to Frances”, is clearly a loving piling The Home Recordings. “I turned it 1994 demo appeared on the 2004 ode to Frances, born in 1992 and only 20 in,” Morgen says. “The next word I heard box set With the Lights Out; months old at her father’s death. was ‘It’s approved.’ ” He likens the set’s fo- Morgen includes the complete For Morgen, the pivotal moment on The rensic nature to the way Bob Dylan’s long- . Home Recordings is the shock, almost half- running Bootleg Series “furthers your under- way into the deluxe edition, of the spoken- standing of Dylan’s progress”. And, Morgen word piece “Aberdeen”. (It does not appear claims, “there’s a tremendous amount of joy. on the 13-cut “standard” soundtrack, which We never got to see Kurt smile that much mostly contains music and demos of Nirva- in public.” But on many of these recordings, na songs.) In that track, featured in Mor- especially the early ones, “You can imagine gen’s documentary over newly created ani- what he looked like, sitting in his apartment mation, Cobain describes his isolation and by himself, having a fuckin’ blast,” Morgen

OPPOSITE PAGE: GETTY IAMGES. THIS PAGE: GETTY IMAGES; BRETT MORGEN/KURT COBAIN ARCHIVE near-suicidal despair as a teenager in Ab- says. “You’re hearing him smile.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 31 R&R The Long Walk From ‘’ Archie Roach’s debut album enlightened the country – 25 years on, there’s no going back. By Michael Dwyer

f all the awards archie Roach has won these past 25 years, there’s one memory that O still puts a swell in his chest. It goes back to March 1991, as the red carpet spilled its welcome down the stairs of the Darling Harbour Convention Centre for the fi fth annual ARIA Awards. “Our town car pulled up,” Roach re- calls, eyes closed tight and a smile play- ing on his lips. “Me and Ruby [Hunter] in there. And people can’t see properly who was in the car. The screaming and camer- as are going off .” So the door opens and out climb two Aboriginal people. He’s a Gunditjmara man born at Framlingham Mission, near Warrnambool. She’s Ngarrindjeri, from up on the Murray. Not that anyone is asking. “We got out and stood on the red car- pet and everything went quiet. Ah, OK,” he nods once, knowingly. “It was a bit of a long walk. We had our heads down. Ru- by’s saying out of the corner of her mouth, ‘Hurry up, don’t look at anybody’.” He gives a hoarse, gleeful laugh and A GOOD FEELING rubs his bald head. Archie Roach, photographed in “At the end of October. His debut the night, Charcoal LP is 25 years old. Lane got the Best Indigenous Album and the Best New Tal- ent,” he says. “And bang, you know? People coming up with microphones and cameras and they all wanted to know who I was. It felt good. I felt proud. There you go. That’s who I am.” It’s slightly staggering to retrace the lay of the land back then. It’s not like there were no Aboriginal artists on the ARIA radar. The previous two years’ nomina- tions had included , Yothu Yindi, Scrap Metal, Coloured Stone and Gondwanaland. But the Best Indigenous honours had twice gone to [Cont. on 34]

32 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com Photograph by Martin Philbey January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 33 R&R

ARCHIE ROACH He found his soul mate and salvation, that but it’s an important story that peo- , and eventually the bond ple should know about.” [Cont. from 33] colonial folk-rockers Wed- of dispossessed community they wrote For younger artists like Sultan, “Archie dings Parties Anything. about in “” and “Char- was always there. He was a constant grow- Yes. Really. coal Lane” – the alley off Gertrude Street ing up and I looked up to him, admired Aidedbytheprofileandunobtrusive in Fitzroy, which is now a non-profit na- him. I grew up listening to Charcoal Lane. expertiseofproducersPaulKellyandgui- tive tucker restaurant that trains Indige- It was an album that was in the house. And tarist Steve Connolly, Charcoal Lane was nous hospitality staff. it was an album that was really important simply too strong an album to be denied. “We used to go to [Fitzroy communi- for the music industry in this country.” Its devastating lead single, “Took the Chil- ty station] 3CR in Smith Street. A friend Sitting at his kitchen table in suburban dren Away”, addressed a stain on our his- of mine did the programming and we’d Melbourne, “not gettin’ around quite so tory then barely known or acknowledged setupandpre-record,tapethesesongs. spry” after his stroke and lung cancer op- by the mainstream. Peopleheardthem,andpeoplestartedto erations of recent years, Roach shakes his “I’d been writing mainly just country- come to me with their own stories.” head with palpable gratitude for the new type songs, you know, about drinking and One of them turned into “Munjana”, an- interpretations of what remains, by any relationships,” Roach recalls of his pre- other homegrown human tragedy given measure, a landmark set of songs. vious15yearsasasingerround campfires and community shel- ters.ItwashisUncleBanjo,afa- milial lifeline from his childhood, whogavehimthefatefulnudge. “Why don’t you write a song about your life, when you were taken away from your family?” Roach initially demurred. He hadbeen,afterall,onlythreeat thetime.“Idon’trememberany- thing about that really, it’s very vague.” Uncle looked at him. “Yeah,wellIdo.” Sothepiercingdetailsofthat unimaginable day came to be sung. The mother’s desperate tears. The father flying up from thecreekinarage.“Youtouch mykidsandyoufightme.”All wrapped in the impossibly for- givingcloakofthegreatestun- heardvoiceofageneration.Most remarkable, then and still, is that what wells in its simple chords is only sadness, not anger. “No,” he says. “No. I think writing the BACK IN THE DAY “ has done ‘The Children Came songsandsingingthemhadalottodo Roach recording Charcoal Lane with Back’. Brilliant. He’s just rapping up all the withthat.WhenIputdownthesongs...I producers (left) and Steve Connolly. heroes, you know? All the Aboriginal he- just felt that way. I wanted to write a good roes . . . and and Tri- songthathopefullyalotofpeoplecould voiceatlast.Itssubject,NellieMoore, als have done this totally amazing version listento.Nottrytoscarethemaway. was a mother like Roach’s own, lament- of ‘No No No’. It’s rapping and some sing- “I remember when I was drinking I ing a stolen son who was not as fortunate ing in language. It’s just amazing.” usedtogetprettyangryandI’ddosome as he. Convicted of murder as a teenager Looking back though the years, he thingsthatI’mnotveryproudof,takeit in Florida, Russell Moore remains in pris- doesn’t shy from the bitter disappointment outonpeople,orsociety.Iwantedtotake on there to this day. of the Howard era, during which so much a different direction.” performs that song in duet momentum for reconciliation stalled after Thedrinkblurredaturbulentdecade with Emma Donovan on the 25th anniver- the promise of ‘Building Bridges’ and afterRoachfledthelastofhisfosterfam- sary edition of Charcoal Lane. The bonus “Treaty”. But watching the confi dent rise ilies–“theCoxes,whoIloveddearly,”he disc also includes new versions of album of artists like Sultan and Ellie Lovegrove stresses–attheageof14.Aletterfrom tracks by Paul Kelly, Courtney Barnett, and Nancy Bates, he knows he made that hislostsisterrevealingthepassingofthe Marlon Williams, Urthboy, Briggs, Gur- long walk for a good reason. mother he had barely known arrived at rumul and more. “The great thing about Dan, and oth- hishighschooloneday,and“thatsortof “Archie dropped in to the studio to tell ers as well, is they don’t need an agenda. threwme”,hesays. us the story of ‘Munjana’,” Sultan says. “He They just write songs. Love songs. What- “About a week or so later, somebody wanted to make sure Emma and I . . . were ever they feel. And that’s good. They’re turned up at the door and he announced across the story; what the song meant and able to do that because people like myself himself as my social worker. I didn’t know what it stood for. That was really cool to and people before me have already told whatwasgoingon.Soallthroughthis,I have him in there and speak for the song. these stories. We’ve done that. And that’s

justleft.Ijusttookoff.” It took a lot of energy to sing a song like a good feeling.” COURTESY

34 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 FIVE NOTES

HOPE IS WHERE THE HEART IS 1 Hopeful Road takes its name from a lyric in album opener Vintage Trouble 3 “Run Like the River”. “One of the things my mother told me when I was a kid is, it’s [based on] a Bible passage: ‘The race CALIFORNIAN RHYTHM & BLUES QUARTET is not given to the swift or strong, but to the one who endures to MAKING FANS IN HIGH PLACES the end.’ Rather than it just being this whimsical sentence about hope, we wanted to give it a concrete address, so 1 Hopeful Road AC/DCLOVETHEM is a place where dreams keep living.” Having already supported the Stones and the Who, Vintage 1 Trouble launched their second album, 1 Hopeful Road, by NO POINT RUSHING accepting AC/DC’s invitation to open for them throughout Europe. 2011 debut The Bomb Shelter Sessions was recorded in three “People ask us, ‘Is it weird that you opened for such a heavy 4 days. The follow-up, which pairs Taylor’s silkily soulful vocals group?’” says vocalist Ty Taylor. “But they’re a rhythm & blues with the band’s authentic melange of soul, blues and rock & roll, band too, they just have a lot more amps than we do. Their music took a whole two weeks. “That includes the mix,” cackles Taylor. is rock & roll, but the basis of the blues is what they’re playing.” “We got the songs to a place where we were able to go into the studio and do less brain surgery and a little more letting go.” SO DOES DON WAS The legendary musician and producer signed the quartet to THEY’RE PLAYING BLUESFEST NEXT YEAR 2 Blue Note Records and produced 1 Hopeful Road. “To see Having visited Australia in 2012, Vintage Trouble are return- him dropping his head behind the sound desk and start swinging 5 ing with their incendiary live show at Easter. “It’s very rare back and forth [to our music] was better than most prizes,” laughs that you can go to places that feel as wild as they are grounded, Taylor. “He’s not just the CEO of the label, he’s fucking Don Was!” and that’s what Australia reminds me of,” says Taylor. ROD YATES

M

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 35 ROCK&ROLL

TRASH AESTHETIC Grimes in NYC in September

BREAKING One-Woman Supernova Grimes produces her own Angelesheadquartersofherrecordlabel, management,because,like,he’sanart- 4AD. Boucher, 27, is wearing an oversize ist. He gets us.” songs, headlines festivals and black T-shirt bearing the name of Ronda Jay Z signed Grimes in 2013, short- wantstobethenewTrent Rousey, and fresh white sneakers, with ly after her 2012 breakthrough, Visions, Reznor. By Rachel Syme her long hair, magenta at the made her a rising star, critical roots and brown below, twisted darling and huge festival draw. hen claire boucher, “It was a into two braids. She looks like mindfuck,” Soon she was spinning legend- who writes, records and Wednesday Addams headed to a says Boucher aryhousepartiesinIbiza,at- producesmusicasGrimes, rave. “Everyone else on my team tending the Met Ball and ap- decided to show off her waslike,‘Noway,noarmpithair, of her early pearing in fashion’s front row. W online unshaved armpits in a recent round of absolutely not.’ So in the end we Buying into the Grimes proj- pressphotos,herPRteamwentintocri- sent the shots to Big Jay.” popularity. ect means buying into Bouch- sis mode. This was not the image they Big Jay is Jay Z, who signed er’s independence; she often calls hadinmind–theywantedherquirky Boucher to his Roc Nation management herself “an auteur” without sarcasm or butgroomed,wildbutnottoowild,more company. Jay quickly ruled in Boucher’s irony. Boucher made Visions entirely by feminine than feral. Boucher saw it an- favour on the photos. “He just said, ‘Yes, herselfinunderamonth,lockedinadark other way. letherkeepthehair’,”Bouchersayswith room with only GarageBand software, Ad- “Iwaslike,‘Armpithair!Yes!’”shesays, asmirk.“Heoverruledeverybody.It’sjust derall and whatever food friends thought sitting cross-legged on a couch in the Los good to have an artist at the head of the to bring her. She made all the beats, sang

36 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com Photograph by Theo Wenner allthevocals,playedalltheinstruments sexism in the music industry to loving anddrewallthealbumartwork.Bouch- pop music like Psy and . ersaysshemadethealbum“atsuchapsy- Boucher’s posts made her a target – of those WILD BOOK choticpace”tomeetadeadlinesetbyher offended by an anti-sexism manifes- then-manager. But even in that short span, to and those who thought she had sold PAT DAVERN: shecameupwithsomethingbothdefiant- out with Visions, among other critics. lyweird–thebigsongoffVisions, “Obliv- “It started getting hostile,” Boucher says DOING IT FOR ion”, features an eerie, childlike voice trill- of the heat she took online. “Going from ing glossolalia over thumping beats you being an unpopular, introverted person THE KIDS feel in your chest – and addictive, like a to dealing with all that, it was a mind- housepartyinanicecastle. fuck.” She temporarily deleted her Tum- Grinspoon guitarist pens When Boucher talks, it’s like listening to blr and plotted her next move. kids’ book and LP, with the Internet out loud. She clicks open one Boucher recorded a new batch of songs the help of famous friends conversational tab after another, and it’s that never congealed, before moving from yourjobtokeepup.Onemomentshewill Canada to Los Angeles with her boyfriend, Talk about worlds colliding: the day be extolling the merits after launching his latest project, a of Rousey (“She’s so psy- children’s book and album called chologically intense!”); Alexander the Elephant in thenextshewillbegiv- Zanzibar, Grinspoon’s Pat Davern jetted off inghair-dyetips(“Getthe to Townsville to start ManicPanickind,likethe touring in support of superbleach. Then use the . “It wasn’t purple toner”); the next supposed to happen Davern she’ll veer into a sombre like this,” he laughs of the place, talking about how conflicting schedules. Davern she got so depressed one first got the idea for Alexander nightlastyearthatshe the Elephant from stories his did tequila shots and de- father would tell the guitarist’s daughter. He decided to write an cidedtowriteasunnypop album based around the Alexander hook in the wee hours to character, to which artists such as stave off the blues. , Alex Lloyd and Boucher’s new album, Fergus Linacre and Alex Laska of Art Angels, is even more Kingswood have lent their voices. jubilantly all over the That, he says, was the easy part. place than Visions. “Building the narrative and getting Some of it sounds like Grimes and Jay Z at the Roc Nation pre-Grammys brunch, 2014 the story right took a long time,” straight pop: “California”, he explains. “I knew the way I wanted the story to go, but it the song that came out of that tequila- musician James Brooks of the band De- definitely ebbed and flowed, while fuelled all-nighter, recalls, of all things, fault Genders, to fi nish Art Angels. Once the songs stayed pretty much the late-period Dixie Chicks (Boucher is a again, Boucher recorded entirely alone same the [whole way through].” hugefan;shesaysthatwhenshemetNat- (though she did mix the songs with Illustrated by award winning Martin alie Maines she “had a panic attack”). Madonna and U2 producer Spike Stent). Chatterton, the book (and record) Some of it sounds like alien music of the She’s glad she took her time: Unlike Visions, follows Alexander as he tries to future.“FleshWithoutBlood”,which which “wasn’t really finished when we defeat the loggers threatening the Boucher calls “a diss track” about a false put it out”, Art Angels is an album she can great tree in the forest of Zanzibar. friend, undulates in Doppler waves; she stand to listen to without cringing. “It’s all about, being different’s OK, and findin ge when you sayssheaddedsomanybeatsthatthesong Even as she cops to making pop songsongs need to,” says Davern. RODYAT kept crashing her computer. for Art Angels, Boucher is adamant that Raised in Vancouver, Boucher grew up she isn’t a pop artist. “Pop music is made loving drawing and ballet before mov- by teams of people,” she says. “I makee in- ingtoMontrealin2006.Whilestudying dependent music. I think it’s important neuroscience, she began making noise not to be artistically indebted to anybbody rock on her computer, and after seeing if you want to stand for something. I want the category “grime music” as one of the to be like Trent Reznor.” choices on MySpace, she adopted it as her Recently, Boucher launched a “collec- stage name. Soon she was so enmeshed in tive” called Eerie Organization to put becoming Grimes that she dropped out of out the work of fellow female music collegetomakemusicfull-time.“Mydad In an industry where women represent stillasksifIcanfinishmydegree,”she a mere five per cent of all produccers, jokes. “My parents understand what I do, Boucher’s commitment to producingg her but they still get mad when I swear on the own music isn’t just essential to her sound, Internet.Theyarelike,‘Yourgrandmoth- it’s a political act. And it is also what may er might see this!’” make her a new kind of icon. “When I was Swearing on the Internet, ironically, a teenager, there weren’t women I could is part of what made Grimes a phenom- relate to,” she says. “It was really hard The titular enon. She began speaking out on Twit- for me to visualise this career, becauuse it

FROM LEFT: GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY, 2 terandherTumblrabouteverythingfrom didn’t exist.”

January, 2016 TELEVISION ‘Mr. Show’ Makes a Return The best sketch-comedy series of the Nineties returns for a brilliant new run By Tim Grierson n the mid-nineties, when Bob Odenkirk and I David Cross got the green light from HBO to create their own sketch-comedy series, they were unknown comics who had both written for the short-lived Ben Stiller Show.

W/Bob & David All four episodes are available on Netfl ix now

But the late-night cable oddity they created – Mr. Show With SECOND Bob and David, which ran on HELPING HBO from 1995 to 1998 – be- Odenkirk (left) came an alt-comedy cult clas- and Cross in W/Bob & David sic. “Mr. Show meant every- thing to us,” says Odenkirk. “It seemed to be my chance to In the early ’00s, Mr. Show up.Finally,wehadthiswin- have to make our own mark,” do something really pure, as alums like Sarah Silverman dow of time.” insistsCross.“Imean,wemade funny as I could do it, with as and Jack Black became super- Twoyearsago,thepairdid ourmark–andnowwe’rekind much freedom asIcouldever stars, and Cross found success abrieflivetour.Nowthey’re of having fun.” hope to get in this business.” with a recurring role on Arrest- reunitingforrealwiththeir Back in the Nineties, no one Mr. Show’s anarchic energy, ed Development. For a while, new Netflix series, W/Bob & was doing anything like Mr. surrealist pacing and highbrow it seemed as if Odenkirk’s ca- David. Due to their busy ca- Show. After two decades of pro- irony were to the indie-rock reer as a performer might’ve reers, the pair were able to cre- grams like Community and The Nineties what Saturday Night stalled. Recently, though, ate only four shows for the first Daily Show thatowealotto Live had been to the Seventies. he’s had an amazing run, ap- run of W/Bob & David (plus Odenkirk and Cross’ self-aware Sketches could riff on anything pearing in Breaking Bad and a behind-the-scenes special). aesthetic (Community creator from the Founding Fathers to Fargo, and now starring in Bet- But the old Mr. Show spirit is Dan Harmon is an avowed Mr. the homoerotic undercurrents ter Call Saul. Throughout all there: One sketch is about a Show superfan), they’re return- in heavy metal; one classic was this, Odenkirk and Cross had guy who gets magical powers ingtoacomedylandscapethey a Boogie Nights parody about often considered getting back everytimehesays“cunt”;an- helped create. “I think Key & a porn magazine called Taint. together for another run. “We otherisaboutawhitedirector Peele istheclosestthingtowhat “That show seemed aimed di- talked about it for years,” says doing a “revisionist” remake we do,” says Odenkirk, adding, rectly at us,” says Tim Heideck- Odenkirk, who is currently of Roots. When Mr. Show de- “I don’t care about what we er of Tim and Eric Awesome filming Better Call Saul’ssec- buted, it often had an acer- did17yearsago.Icareabout Show, Great Job!, “almost as if ond season, in Albuquerque. bic outsider energy. This time what we are trying to say Bob and Dave had infiltrated “The issue is always our sched- around, their show has a loos- now to people now about our brains.” ules–theyjustnevermatch er, more playful feel. “We don’t the world now.”

EssentialBobandDavid Absurdity, visual gags and heavy-metal jokes: YouTube these classic ‘Mr. Show’ sketches

‘Drug- ‘Titannica’ ‘Civil War ‘Pre-Taped ‘Marilyn achusetts’ Cross jumps into a Re-enactments’ Call-In Show’ Monster’ A fantastical H.R. vat of acid after A Ken Burns-style Cross hosts a talk A shock rocker Pufnstuf-style kids listening to his fave doc about Civil show “where we tapes a training show is the setting metal band but lives War re-enactors tape all our calls a video for Marilyn for a succession of to meet his heroes. who are forced to week in advance”, Mozzarella’s drug freakouts. “I played your song battle Trekkies and and becomes an Pizzarella Pie Parlor. Moral for young Odenkirk in ‘Try Suicide’ right Renaissance Faire increasingly frazzled Perhaps the best viewers: “Always “Drugachusetts” before I tried attendees who show prisoner to that parody of 1990s

know your dealer.” suicide!’” he gushes. up at the same field. deranged premise. alt-culture ever. FROM TOP: COMEDY CENTRAL; ALI GOLDSTEIN

38 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 Gear

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January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 39 ROCK&ROLL

VIVA LA VIDA Martin onstage in Central Park in September

NEW ALBUM Chris Martin Gets His Groove Back Coldplay team with Beyoncé hitmakers for ‘hippie’ LP

few years ago, chris Martin was feeling “de- A pressed and overwhelmed”. Hewasinthefinalstagesof his 10-year marriage to Gwyn- eth Paltrow, and he felt increas- ingly insecure about the music he was making. “I wasn’t looking at things in a healthy way,” he says. Then a friend gave him some books, including Man’s Search for Meaning, amemoirbypsychiatrist

40 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, Beyoncé and Rihanna. Nothing was off the “Up & Up”, and Beyoncé guests on two andavolumebythe13th-centuryPer- table. “We wanted to marry all the music tracks, including the club stomper “Hymn sian poet Rumi. Martin says one poem, that we love, from Drake to Oasis,” says for the Weekend”. (Blue Ivy even gets a “TheGuestHouse”–whichsuggests“in- Martin. “There was a feeling that we don’t backing-vocal credit.) But the most sur- viting in” dark thoughts – helped him get have anything to lose. We’re very comfort- prising guest of all was Paltrow, who sings through the period around his divorce. “It able now with the fact that we’re not for backup on the farewell ballad “Everglow”. kindofchangedmylife,”hesays.“Itsays everybody.” “We just did it in the studio one day,” Mar- that everything that hap- tin says after a long pause. penstoyouisOK.Theidea “It was just a friendly kind is to accept what happens of thing.” to you and not run away Martin’s favourite mo- from anything – and trust ment on the album sounds that things will blossom the least like Coldplay: “X and become colourful.” Marks the Spot”, where Martin features the he spits rhymes through a poeminapsychedelicspo- vocoder over drum loops. ken-word section of Cold- “Most of the instruments on play’s seventh album, A that song didn’t exist when Head Full of Dreams (out we made our fi rst album,” December 4th), which is Martin says. “People who allabouthisroadback want us to be a rock band from anxiety and heart- might be disappointed, but break. “It’s all true,” Mar- I don’t think we really are a tinsays.“It’saboutlove rock band.” and acceptance and em- Last year, Martin sent bracing what happens fans into a panic when he to you. It’s quite a hippie suggested Coldplay’s next album.Allofourrecords album would be their last. wereajourneytogetto “I have no idea what’s going this one.” to happen,” he says now. “If Martin says that Cold- one day we make another play’s last album, 2014’s spare Ghost Sto- LIFE IN TECHNICOLOUR Coldplay shoot a rec ord, then that’s wonderful.” Then he ries, was a “smaller record” – deliberately. music video in India in September. clarifi es: “We’re defi nitely not splitting up.” “Itfreesyouuptodowhateveryouwant Next year the band will take their show next–justlookatBruceSpringsteen’sca- The producers were demanding. They around the world. “I think it will fea- reer.” Instead of touring behind Ghost Sto- required demos for every song (“We felt ture some jazz fusion for six or seven ries, the band stayed in the studio. “I was unsigned again,” says Martin), and the hours,” Martin jokes. “I don’t know if it’s being sent so many songs from the uni- members had to unanimously agree on going to be wildly diff erent from what you verse that I said, ‘I’ve got to just keep re- which songs to record. “For every song might imagine – [it will be] all our best cording’,” says Martin. that made it, eight or nine didn’t,” Mar- songs with some awesome production. If This time, Coldplay ratcheted up the tin says. you’re a Coldplay fan, you’ll love it. And ambition. They started work with Stargate, Coldplay were encouraged to recruit if you don’t like us? Don’t worry about it. the Norwegian producers behind hits by outsiders; Noel Gallagher plays guitar on It’s OK.” PATRICK DOYLE

ABBEY ROAD ARRIVES DOWN UNDER

The famed Abbey schools in countries such as running a full-time Music Road Institute sets up France, Germany and the Production and Sound Engi- UK, imparting the combined neering course with Abbey shop in Melbourne wisdom of the studio via Road. The two state-of-the- its Abbey Road Institutes. art institutes will no-doubt Abbey Road is without a After successfully setting only add to the ranks of doubt the world’s most up shop in Melbourne’s Australian producers who are famous and revered record- Southbank, Abbey Road is making waves overseas, as ing studio. Responsible for already undertaking student well as giving local industry some of the biggest albums admissions, and recently professionals the chance to ever recorded in the UK, and announced that its Sydney share their knowledge with home to some of the most in- home will be none other than the next generation of Aussie ventive audio engineers over iconic recording complex producers, engineers and Abbey Road its long history, Abbey Road Studio 301 in Alexandria. mixers. The Sydney Abbey Institute has also put its considerable 301 will continue to cater Road Institute is expected to Melbourne weight behind a number of to recording artists whilst open in July 2016. MATT COYTE GETTY IMAGES GETTY

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 41 ROCK&ROLL MY SOUNDTRACK Tim Rogers The frontman is a dancer, a romancer, and remains hopelessly in love with loud guitars By Rod Yates The Song I Fell In Love To song [was on it]. It’s a break-up song, and life. Any time I get down about, being in a it’s berserk. Russ and I were open jawed, rock band’s going to kill me, I can listen to Hall & Oates “I Can’tGoForThat”,1981 wecouldn’tbelievethisfuckingsong.We that record and be like, no, being in a rock initiatedDaveytoitlastyear,werealised band is what made me.” “I’ve been drinking at my we hadn’t played him the song. Same wife’s restaurant for years, thing happened to him, his jaw dropped.” The Song I’m Most Proud Of and the night I asked her out, whichwasonlyafewyears The First Song I Learned To Play Tim Rogers “Part Time Dads”, 2012 ago, shenodded‘yes’,and “The protagonist in it starts The Rolling Stones “The Last Time”, then we got a lock-in at the restaurant, 1965 off with a bit of a whinge dancing to Hall & Oates songs. And then about the difficulties of we noticed staff leaving and we were the “I’d bought a gut-string break-ups and kids and only two left there.Hall&Oatesisstilla acoustic, and as soon as I wanting to maintain a won- code for somethingIcan’ttellyouabout.” learnedtoplaythissonga derful relationship with your daughter friend invited me to a jam when you’re a part-time dad. But then why The Song That Makes Me Cry the following week at his I’m proud of it, by the end, the protagonist house in Adelaide. I thought great, I want – who isn’t me at all [smirks] – realises Randy Newman “Losing You”,2008 tobeinarockband,butrealisedthat’sall that you are my only joy, and so I’m going “I brought it to my dad when I knew, three chords. If Bono says all you to just get on with it, make dinner and let’s he was having triple bypass need is three chords and the truth, I think do homework together and stop whinge- surgery, and he also had you need four-and-a-half chords and a lot ing. Maybe 20 years ago if I’d been in that bowel cancer, and I listened oflies.’CauseIsaid,‘YeahI’llplayguitar, situation I wouldn’t have had that denoue- to that with him when he I can play “The Last Time”’, and we played ment, so I’m quite proud of that.” wasveryfrail. It’s fromarecord[Harps that for three hours.” and Angels] about mortality and dying, The Song I Play Air Guitar To but it’s humorous as well, and I wanted The Song People Wouldn’t him to be fi lled with that.” Expect Me To Like The Replacements “I.O.U.” , 1987 “I saw the fi lm clip for ‘Bas- The Song I WantPlayed Scissor Sisters “I Don’t Feel Like tards Of Young’ on Rage, At My Funeral Dancin’”,2006 and thought that’s the great- est thing I’ve ever heard. So The Rolling Stones “Jumpin’ Jack “MydaughterandIusedto I went to Collect Records in Flash”, 1968 dance for 15 minutes before Parramatta and mistakenly bought three “It will remind anyone who bedtime to Smokey Robin- Residents records [laughs]. They weren’t turns up that this audito- sonandtheMiracles,Mar- what I was expecting. We played with the rily sums up the reason vin Gaye and Scissor Sisters. Replacements two months ago, and when I’m around. At my funer- ThelasttimetheytouredIwashavinga they played ‘I.O.U.’ Davey and I were doing al [there’llbe]agreatbar drinkdownneartheHarbourandthegui- the whole Status Quo air guitar thing.” around the corner, Rusty [Hopkinson, taristwalkedpastandIhadtostophim You Am I drummer] will be DJing, Andy andsay,‘Iadoreyourfuckingband.’And The Song I Listen To [Kent, bass] will be the barman, and you’ll he sat down and said, ‘What do you do, you When Hungover probably go home and sleep with Davey looklikeyou’reamusician’,andIhadto [Lane, guitar].” say,‘I’vegotnothingmoretosay,Ijustwant Noël Coward “Let’s Say Goodbye”, to express how happy you make me feel.’” 1932 The Song That Reminds “I listen to Noël Coward al- Me Of Touring The Song That Cheers Me Up most exclusively when I’m hungover. I think, ‘Come on, Billy Miranda “Go Ahead”, 1960 Violent Soho “In the Aisle”,2013 Rogers, stop feeling sorry for “Rusty and I were sharing “I was walking over the yourself, you did it to your- a hotel room in London in Brooklyn Bridge last month self.’ So I put on my smoking jacket and say, about ’97, and we got this and listening to the whole ‘Remember how lucky you are. Sure you record called Black Rock & record [Hungry Ghost], may be hungover but you’re not on the pov- Roll Volume 1,andithadlit- and I wanted to jump off erty line, so be grateful.’ I do that by listen- tle known rock & roll songs from the Fif- thebridgeIwasthathappy.Ican’tthink ing to Noël Coward records and wearing a ties by African-American artists, and this ofamoreexcitingrecordI’veheardinmy smoking jacket.”

42 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 If Bono says all you need is three chords and the truth, I say you need four- and-a-half chords and a lot of lies.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 43 CLASSIC SHOT

44 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 Stipe’sNewsDay,2003 Photographed by Danny Clinch

“I was photographing Michael Stipe onto another situation. Only when for an American Civil Liberties we were choosing images for my Union campaign,” recalls Danny new book, Still Moving, did I realise Clinch, “and we were in the Times how special this image was, and it Square area and had done some was the only frame like it on the photos of him in a cab and around contact sheet. It’s interesting to see diff erent areas of New York City. that a frame that you weren’t sure When we got out of the cab there was working out well happens to be was a newsstand there. I took quite the most iconic. That’s what I miss a few photographs with the about contact sheets – the idea that newsstand in the corner of the you see things in sequence in a way frame and decided to step to my that doesn’t exist anymore when right and capture the newsstand editing digitally.” itself, and as I did I noticed the vendor looking out of the window Danny Clinch on Instagram: there. I took one frame and moved dannybones64

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 45 SUBSCRIBE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WINALUXURYAUDIQ5

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JAALA

SOUNDS LIKE: Björk and Amy Wine- house duelling over a jazzy, indie art- rock fuzz FORFANSOF:, St Vin- cent, The Sea and Cake WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Jaalagarneredsomeseriousbuzzat Bigsound earlier this year, have been pinged by some major press outlets overseas (the notoriously picky Pitch- fork gave them a nod), and have al- readycuttheirteethwithaback- breaking tour with Hiatus Kaiyote (“We had only done five or so shows before that,” says singer Cosima Jaala, “itwasactuallyterrifying”).Nowthe four-piece Melbourne outfit – led by thedynamicandswoopingvocalsof main songwriter Jaala – have just re- leased debut LP Hard Hold,acon- stantly beguiling record that takes in everythingfromscruffybluestoindie rock to spun out jazz. Recorded in a cramped seven days with Paul Bend- er from Hiatus, the tracks bounce and thrum–itwasrecordedsoquickly, Jaalasays,inordertocapturethefre- netic energy of their live shows. THEY SAY: “It’sabreak-uprecord,”says JaalaofHard Hold’s origins. It’s most poignantly described on album clos- er“Hymn”.“Itsumsupthedesper- ate sort of devotion that you have to a love. When you do everything for them.”Shepausesandlaughs:“It’s kind of perverse.” HEAR FOR YOURSELF: The lo-fi blues of“SaltShaker”,orthejangly,schiz- oid “Hard Hold”. JULES LEFEVRE

48 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 I never knew I had the talent to write for another person.”

trip to Cali and, days later, Mez found my way in and it also helped me evolve as KING MEZ himself in the middle of a large group an artist. I went from solely focusing on of older and more experienced writers. my own perspective to imagining that I SOUNDS LIKE: Coast-free hip-hop with His skills promptly earned him studio was Dre and trying to fi gure out what he thickly tangled flows and tempos that time with Dr. Dre, a consulting gig on would say. [The project was] 11 months switch seamlessly the Compton project and, ultimately, of almost working every day, man. I tell FOR FANS OF: , Chance the rhyming alongside both Kendrick Lamar you, I learned so much.” Mez shows up on Rapper, Eminem and Snoop Dogg on the Number Two Compton’s “Darkside/Gone” with a verse WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: With album in America. Not bad for someone’s that begins “I ain’t never been a gangs- three scene-stealing tracks on Dr. Dre’s fi rst time out. “I was just talking to my ta”. Says Mez, “They say, ‘You so talent- highly anticipated Compton, King Mez, brother about that the other day,” he says, ed, you could’ve been made a hit if you the 25-year-old MC from Raleigh, “and I don’t even know how to put those rapped about fuckin’ bitches and gettin’ North Carolina, appeared seemingly feelings into words.” money. You would’ve been platinum!’ So out of nowhere. Born Morris W. Ricks HE SAYS: “I think it will take some time I can be viewed as an oddball to some for II, Mez has no famous cousins or viral for me to understand the magnitude of being myself – but they are really the weir- Internet buzz, but has been quietly mak- what that means,” Mez says about being dos to me.” ing waves for two years. Big Pooh from on Compton. “It’s like a dream right now HEAR FOR YOURSELF: King Mez blew Little Brother connected him with Af- . . . I never knew that I had the talent to through an amazing freestyle on Dr. Dre’s termath A&R Tyhiem Cannon during a write for another person, but that was Beats One Radio show. D WATKINS

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 49 THE FUTURE IS NOWOW

JESS GLYNNE

SOUNDS LIKE: Turning heartbreak into hope with a club’s pulsing lights guiding the way FOR FANS OF: CeCe Peniston, , Lisa Stansfi eld WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Last year, Jess Glynne’s alto was all over pop radio thanks to her cameo on “Rather Be”, the feather-light Clean Ban- dit hit that wound up nabbing the Best Dance Re- cording Grammy earlier this year. Glynne’s voice stood out among her chart compatriots for its blend of ebullience and vulnerability: Even in the brief space of a pop song, her vocal performance showed she could run the emotional gamut. Her debut, I Cry When I Laugh, which came out in September, takes cues from quite a few subgenres of dance music, from saucy house to slick electro, but her voice, which brings to mind big-lunged divas of yore, can channel longing and optimism on the same song. SHE SAYS: “I was going through a pretty hard break- up, but at the same time I was starting to live my dreams of working on my debut album. So I tried to pour all of that energy into my music and stayed focused on the positive. In the studio, I would write about hope, joy and happiness as a way to release everything that felt wrong in my heart. [I Cry When I Laugh] is essentially my own self-help guide!” HEAR FOR YOURSELF: Glynne’s voice soars on “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself”, a banger that wrings dancefl oor joy out of heartache. MAURA JOHNSTON

METHYL ETHEL

SOUNDS LIKE: A lone glam-rock house a couple of hours south astronaut fl oating deep into the of Perth in a remote coastal outer reaches of his own mind town. “I fi nd it diffi cult to work FOR FANS OF: T. Rex, Syd Bar- on things when there’s anyone rett-era Pink Floyd, Tame Im- in earshot,” he says. “If I’m as pala isolated as possible, I can go WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTEN- completely crazy and work on TION: The latest act from Aus- things until they evolve.” tralia to make waves in the THEY SAY: Webb met Thom Northern Hemisphere is this Stewart and Chris Wright, trio from Perth – a noteworthy who round out Methyl Ethel’s success story at this year’s CMJ live line-up, through Perth’s festival despite having zero U.S. thriving rock scene. “It’s a real label backing. They’re already tight-knit community,” says getting even bigger cosigns Stewart. Their friendship with he was a little nervous, I think!” at home, where Melbourne’s local stars Tame Impala came “If I’m as isolated as “He did a good job, though,” own Courtney Barnett is tak- in handy earlier this year, when possible I can go Webb adds with a laugh. ing them out as an opening Methyl Ethel played a show at completely crazy.” HEAR FOR YOURSELF: “Twilight act in January of 2016. Front- the club where Wright usual- Driving”: a melancholy lament man Jake Webb spent a solitary ly works as a sound mixer. “I Wright says. “We paid [Tame with the unforgettable line, summer recording their debut didn’t think to book anyone Impala leader Kevin Parker] “Twilight driving/Got to watch album, Oh Inhuman Spectacle, [to cover for me] that night, so 50 bucks to come and mix us. out for the ’roos.” almost entirely on his own in a we were stuck for a sound guy,” It was his fi rst time mixing – SIMON VOZICK-LEVINSON

50 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 PATRICK JAMES

SOUNDS LIKE: Honey-voiced, old-soul folkmusicthatsoundsbothexpansive and intimate, ambling and immediate FOR FANS OF: James Bay, Hozier, Stu Larsen WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Aus- tralian drama series Wonderland was short-lived, but 24-year-old Pat- rick James, who nailed a slowed- down, searching cover of the Church’s “” for the show’s soundtrack last year, looks set for a brighter future. Originally from Port Macquarie, the Sydney-based singer- songwriter, guitarist and pianist has already released three EPs, nabbed support slots with Boy & Bear and the Paper Kites, and in October re- leased his self-produced debut LP, Out- lier. The title was inspired by the book he was reading at the time, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Gladwell’s theo- ry that success in any given endeav- our requires 10,000 hours of practice resonated with James, who had spent weeks holed up in Sydney’s Alberts stu- dio self-producing the record. Just like Beck and Rod Stewart, James started his career as a busker, something that still informs the way he plays live today. HE SAYS: “When I moved to Sydney, busking became this kind of prac- tice platform where I could work on a new song and see if the audience was getting involved. When you’re busk- ing you’re basically playing to thin air and you have to get people in and do something semi-good to turn heads . . . there’s the classic support artist idea that you’re playing for half an hour to support the main act, but if you can turn heads you can get people along to your solo show. Every time I’m on stage I think I summon a bit of that busking spirit.” HEAR FOR YOURSELF: James’ gorgeous lilt on “Bugs” makes creepy-crawlies sound oddly soothing. ANNABEL ROSS

When you’re busking you’re playing to thin air.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 51 THE FUTURE IS NOWW SHOPPING

SOUNDS LIKE: Acertainratioof post-punk distilled down to the fundamentals: wiry gui- tars, emphatic rhythms and incisive lyrics FOR FANS OF: The Slits, Slant 6, consumerist critiques you can dance to WHY YOU SHOULD PAY AT- TENTION: The London band have just fi nished their fi rst tour of the U.S., including dates with Shannon and the Clams in October and Priests in November. Guitarist Ra- chel Aggs, drummer Andrew Milk and bassist Billy Easter first played together in the group Covergirl. They opted for a more “streamlined and scaled-back” approach, ac- cording to Milk, when form- ing Shopping in 2012. They’re already on to their second album, Why Choose, out now on FatCat. THEY SAY: “We’re political peo- ple, but we didn’t set out to make a political band,” says Easter. “I think it comes through cathartically,” says Aggs.

heels of his ARIA-nominated 2014 mini-al- CITIZEN KAY bum Demokracy. HE SAYS: “Every song had to be something that SOUNDS LIKE: Amped-up Aussie hip-hop that I could have a deep conversation about. One of Trojan-horses in thoughtful, intelligent lyrics the songs that people usually don’t pick up on via party-starting live funk jams is ‘Life Gives You Lemons’ – people hear it as a FOR FANS OF: , REMI, Di- party song but it’s actually about growing up as alectrix a black kid in Canberra, being a minority but WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Twenty- at the same time being infl uenced by the Aus- one-year-old Citizen Kay (real name: Kojo tralian culture of not being bothered by things. Ansah) and his family moved from Even though I was copping racism I Ghana to Canberra when the rap- “I was wasindenialandI’dlaughitoff.The per, producer and multi-instru- copping lyrics represent the battle that was mentalist was fi ve, the music bug going on inside of me, whereas the HEARFORYOURSELF: “Straight biting him at 12 thanks to a Red racism but I music represents my outside per- Lines” neatly summarises the Hot Chili Peppers live CD. Ansah’s was in denial.” sonality, where people just saw me band’s strengths: taut work dad bought him a guitar and he was as this fun dude, even though in my from the rhythm section, an soon playing and singing in bands; when his mindIwasself-consciousaboutwhoIwas.So accelerated melody on gui- voice broke he transitioned to rhyming. Cur- thewaywe’vedoneitisthelyricsaretheinter- tar, and interesting vocal in- rently splitting his time between his record- nalandthemusicistheexternal–alotofthe terplay as Milk examines ing and mixing business and playing live (for- songsonthealbumhaveasimilarconcept.” the economic and emotional mer tour partners include Public Enemy and HEAR FOR YOURSELF: Live instruments and dynamics of a relationship. Run the Jewels), Ansah’s anticipated debut smart raps coalescing on debut LP With the TOBIAS CARROLL LP, With the People, has arrived hot on the People. JAMES JENNINGS

52 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 is at 1.3 million YouTube views while “Love you aren’t playing than what you are; si- MURA MASA for That” featuring Shura racked up more lence and space are so important.” than 400,000 plays on his SoundCloud And while present-day Crossan relishes SOUNDS LIKE: MillennialR&Band neo-clas- page in only a few weeks. And back in April, his recent collaborations with upstart sing- sical minimalism meeting in a trap track fi ve of Mura Masa’s tracks were prominent- ers like Shura and Nao, he’s currently fi nd- FOR FANS OF: Jamie xx, James Blake, FKA ly featured on a Diplo & Friends mix for ing inspiration in something more person- Twigs BBC Radio 1. al. “I recently went through my fi rst really WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Taking HE SAYS: Crossan claims that Gorillaz’ “Feel terrifying break-up, and I can’t express how his moniker from a 16th century Japanese Good Inc.” video so inspired him as a lad powerful that is,” he says. “It’s not some- swordsmith, the productions of 19-year- that he learned guitar just so he could play thing to be shy of or try and avoid; cathar- old Brit producer Alex Crossan are razor- along. But he also credits his musician fa- sis is so healthy. I feel like a lot of really sem- sharp, with startling juxtapositions of el- ther for some crucial lessons beyond turn- inal records come from being deeply upset.” egant strings, honeyed R&B vocals and ing him onto Joni Mitchell and Yes. “He HEAR FOR YOURSELF: The minimal snap of snapping trap drums. While he’s working gave me the best advice about how to be a “Love for That” is led by an assured mix on his debut album, Mura Masa’s individ- mindful musician,” Crossan said. “He told of strings, woodwind and thumb piano. ual tracks are taking off : “Lovesick Fuck” me that music is so much more about what ANDY BETA

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 53 THE FUTURE IS NOW

ley’s baritone and bare examinations of ley is also interested in exploring person- GOLD CLASS relationships and identity. Already sell- al politics. “I was starting a band with four ing out shows locally, they’ve toured with male members in an incredibly masculine SOUNDS LIKE: Dave Gahan singing over an the Fall, have shows with Thurston Moore environment. At the time I felt like it was annoyed covering the Smiths. and a slot at Golden Plains lined important to identify myself as FOR FANS OF: Gang of Four, Savages, Kara- up, and are eyeing off a 2016 trip “On a stage I’m queerandafeminist.Iwasn’t te, Life Without Buildings, Interpol to the U.S. to support the North going to sayingthealbumisafeminist WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Gold American release of It’s You. embody all the statement,Iwantedtosayitin- Class only formed in 2014, after friends THEY SAY: “It was more of a cre- things that I am corporatesfeministpoliticsand from a creative-writing course pooled ative writing project at first,” and stand for.” that felt important to say. But with workmates at a Melbourne bar, but says Curley of their inception. it’s inevitable – on a stage I’m already their knack for lean, explosive “An outlet for being a bit more going to embody all the things live shows is being thoroughly celebrated. performative. My favourite places to play thatIamandstandfor.” Such energy is captured on It’s You, their were the small rooms, but now we’ve start- HEARFORYOURSELF:The excellent, declar- tensely melodic debut LP, which expert- ed playing bigger stages it’s exciting that ative churn of “Bite Down”, Curley boom- ly carves a fresh path through post-punk; you can have the same impact.” Afrontman ing,“Ifyourheartisn’tinit/makeittaste thanks largely to frontman Adam Cur- who identifi es as queer and a feminist, Cur- good.” MARCUS TEAGUE

54 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 ally opened my eyes to what it takes to SHE SAYS: “Paisley Park is a really fun place JUDITH HILL truly be an artist,” Hill recalls about her to be. [Prince] is very fun to be around, career beginnings as the King of Pop’s he likes to play jokes a lot, like sometimes SOUNDS LIKE: AsexyR&Bjourneythrough duet partner from the would-be he’ll call me on the phone to get space comeback tour he was mount- me to come down for rehearsal FORFANSOF:Prince, Darlene Love, CeeLo ingbeforehistragicdeath.More “Prince is or recording and he’d pretend to Green recently,PrincetookHillunder very fun to be someone else, and I wouldn’t WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Judith hiswing,havingherrecordher be around, he recognise his voice. He is a real- Hill has had an action-packed career, debut album, Back in Time,at likes to play ly fun spirit. We would be play- buthertimeinthespotlighthasonlyjust Paisley Park. “It’s funny because jokes a lot.” ing ping pong in between takes begun. She’s already appeared on The he told me he had never seen me or things like that. I defi nitely Voice in America and in the backing vo- in [ documen- treasure my time spent there.” calist documentary 20 Feet From Star- tary] This Is It or The Voice,” she says. “He HEAR FOR YOURSELF: On the modernly dom – but it’s the cosigns from Michael hadjuststumbledacrossmeinaninter- bluesy single “Cry, Cry, Cry”, Hill shows Jackson and Prince that take her sever- viewIhaddonewhereIstatedthatI’dlove off her immense vocal range in full. al steps ahead of the game. “Michael re- to work with Prince.” BRITTANY SPANOS

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 55 WICKED GAMES Tesfaye in New York in October

56 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com The Weeknd’s Dark Twisted Fantasy Abel Tesfaye used to be a drugged- out R&B mystery man. Now he wants to be your Michael Jackson By Josh Eells Photograph by MARK SELIGER THE WEEKND

with a trio of cult-favourite mixtapes Cash looks around and grins: “The la- that established both his sonic template bel’spayingforit, right?” – drug-drenched, indie-rock-sampling, sex-dungeon R&B – and his mysterious, feel so much better brooding persona. A press-shy Ethiopi- today. I feel amazing right an kid from Toronto who has given only now.” a handful of interviews, he has cultivated The next afternoon, Tesfaye a near-mythical image as a bed-hopping, ‘I is in a seventh-fl oor suite at pill-popping, chart-topping cipher. “We his Soho hotel, having spent most of the live in an era when everything is so exces- previous 18 hours in bed. (There was also sive, I think it’s refreshing for everybody a B12 shot involved.) When a bellman to be like, ‘Who the fuck is this guy?’ ” Tes- brings in a silver tray with a selection of faye says. “I think that’s why my career waters, Tesfaye pours himself a glass. “I sswear- is going to be so long: Because I haven’t just started being fancy, to be honest,” he ed sound- given people everything.” says. “Like, I just started learning how to stageontheoutskirtsofLondon,Abel Spend just five minutes with him, pronounce what I’m wearing.” He imitates ‘ Tesfayeiswonderingifhecansay“fuck” though, and he reveals himself: sweet, a snooty : “ ‘It’s not Bal-mane, it’s or not. Tesfaye, better known as break- soft- spoken, surprisingly earnest. When Bal-mahn.’‘Oh,sorry!’ ” out pop sensation the Weeknd, is at a re- I tell him he’s not what I expected, he When he first started recording as the hearsal for Later...With Jools Holland, nods. “When people meet me, they say Weeknd, Tesfaye was an unlikely star. “I the BBC music show, about to sound- that I’m really kind – contrary to a lot of was everything an R&B singer wasn’t,” he check his smash hit “The Hills”, a four- my music.” says. “I wasn’t in shape. I wasn’t a pret- minute horror-movie booty call featuring When talking about his art and his ty boy. I was awkward as fuck. I didn’t morethanadozenf-bombs.ForTesfaye, career, Tesfaye is blessed with a tower- like the way I looked in pictures – when that’s relatively clean, but he knows the ing self-confi dence and has no hesitation I saw myself on a digital camera, I was pensioners in Twickenham might dis- about declaring his own greatness. “Peo- like, ‘Eesh.’” Instead of his face, his album agree. So when the verdict comes back “no ple tell me I’m changing the culture,” he art and videos featured black-and-white swearing”, he nods and smoothly pivots to says. “I already can’t turn on the radio. photosofartfulnudes – a topless girl in acensoredversion–asmallgesturethat I think I’m gonna drop one more album, a bathtub, a woman’s ass in a party dress. says a lot about the kind of professional one more powerful body of work, then The aesthetic was American Apparel- he has become. take a little break – go to Tokyo or Ethi- style hipster catnip, right down to the “The Hills” is currently enjoying its opia or some shit.” Hearing him boast Helvetica font. fourth straight week at Number One, about talking shop with Bono, or name- Early Weeknd songs were atmospher- afeatmadeevenmoreimpressivebe- dropping “Naomi Campbell, who’s a good ic and chilly, their thick narcotic haze causeittooktheplaceofanotherWeek- friend of mine now”, you sliced by his broken- nd track, “Can’t Feel My Face” – Spotify’s may be tempted to see a glass falsetto. The lyrics official song of the American summer, diva in the making; or “I was were an addiction coun- and the only song about cocaine ever to you may see a 25-year- sellor’s worst nightmare: be lip-synced by Tom Cruise on network old guy who’s stoked and everything an pills, pain, shame, sero- TV.Tesfayeisjustthe12thartistinhisto- incredulous to be in the R&B singer tonin, danger. He and ry to score back-to-back Number Ones, position he’s in. his crew posted three a group that includes Elvis Presley, the After rehearsal, Tes- wasn’t,” he songs on YouTube and Beatles and . His new album, faye is in the greenroom started spamming their Beauty Behind the Madness, has sold with his two managers, says. “I wasn’t friends on Facebook, morethanhalfamillioncopiesinacou- 31-year-old Amir “Cash” in shape, or a then watched the play ple of months, and he launched a U.S. Esmailian and 35-year- counts slowly climb. “I arenatourinNovember.“I’mstilldigest- old Tony Sal. Cash is a pretty boy. don’t know how many ing it, to be honest with you,” Tesfaye says first-generation Irani- When I saw it actually was, but it of his success. “But the screams keep get- an-Canadian sweetheart felt like a million,” Tes- ting louder, dude.” who occasionally yells myself on a faye says. “Five hundred Tesfayecomesovertosayhi,dressed things into the phone plays? Holy shit!” Toron- inblackLevi’sandaRootshoodie,his like, “You may as well camera, I was to being a small town tsunami of hair piled high atop his head. bend me over a table, like, ‘Eesh.’ ” in some ways, the songs “Sorry,I’msick,”hesays,ashishandshake bro!”; Sal is a courtly were heard by Drake’s becomesafistbumpinmidair.Since charmer who grew up in manager, Oliver El- starting this promo tour a week ago, he’s Beirut during the Lebanese civil war and Khatib, who posted them to the OVO been to Las Vegas, Paris, Berlin and now now dates a former Miss USA. Right now, blog, where they promptly blew up. “Ap- London. The cold caught up with him yes- they’re trying to fi gure out how to get from parently, Drake wasn’t even fucking with terday, during a signing for 500 squealing Norway, where Tesfaye will be for promo it at first,” Tesfaye says today. “Oliver was fans at the Oxford Circus HMV. (Over- in a few days, to Texas, where he has a the one vouching for me.” heard: “I wanted to hug him!” “You didn’t show. According to their tour manager, The then-anonymous Tesfaye declined hug him? I kissed him!”) the only commercial fl ight from Oslo to all interviews. In part, it was because he Thisscenewouldnothaveseemedpos- Austin is at 8 a.m. worried he wasn’t well-spoken enough: A siblein2011,whentheWeekndappeared “What about noncommercial?” asks high school dropout, he used to do cross- Cash. The tour manager says he’ll check, word puzzles to improve his vocabulary, Contributing editor Josh Eells wrote but they’re talking about hundreds of and to this day, he often wishes he were about David Letterman in RS 764. thousands of dollars. more articulate. “Me not fi nishing school

58 12and the Ramones, or Afro- punk. But you evolve and realise your potential. And then it’s like, ‘Fuck yeah. Let’s go.’ ”

and now, a few words about the hair: The Weeknd’s hair is by far his most recognisable trait. There are Tumblrs and website listicles devoted to it; when I told the immigra- tion agent at Heathrow what I was doing in the U.K., he said, “That’s the geezer with all the hair, innit?” Tesfaye’s hair can be di- 3 vvided into roughly four sec- ttors, each with its own dis- ttinct personality (front left: fflopped-over moose ant- ller; back left: tiny octopus). TThe overall eff ect is that of a rrare double mullet: party in tthe front, party in the back. TThere’s not much to main- ttaining it, he says – just a hhard shampoo every once in a while. But there are other annoying parts. “Sleeping. I wake up with neck pains ssometimes. And not being aable to hide myself.” Tesfaye says the hair was (1) WEEKND WARRIOR With his Timberlake dropped two albums in a year, (2) partly inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat. girlfriend, model Bella Hadid. Beyoncé dropped a surprise album.” He’s He began growing it out four years ago: With early supporter Drake, who featured Tesfaye on his double- equally proud of the music itself: “I’m not “I want to be remembered as iconic and platinum 2011 album, Take Care. gonna say any names, but just listen to the diff erent,” he says. “So I was like, ‘Fuck (3) With Bulleez N Nerdz partner radio. Every song is House of Balloons 2.0.” it – I’m gonna let my hair just be what it Jesse Ray in Toronto, 2009. Drake gave Tesfaye a big boost when wants.’ I’ll probably cut it if it starts in- he featured the Weeknd on his double- terfering with my sight. I can kind of see platinum 2011 album, Take Care. But for it right now. But if I cut it, I’d look like Tesfaye, being under the wing of his fel- everyone else. And that’s just so boring low Torontonian was a mixed blessing: A to me.” – in my head, I still have this insecurity handful of songs he’d written for House of Tesfaye’s hair also prompted one of his when I’m talking to someone educated,” he Balloons ended up on Take Care. As Tes- most WTF celebrity encounters. He was says. “I don’t want them looking at me like faye said in a 2013 interview, “I was hun- at a party for Sam Smith after this year’s this fucking retard – no disrespect.” For gry. . . . I was like, ‘Dude, take anything.’ ” Grammys, at an $80 million mansion in months, no one even knew if the Weeknd Today, he says he has nothing but grati- Bel-Air. Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran were was a person or a group. That’s when Tes- tude for Drake, whom he calls “my clos- there; Disclosure were DJ’ing. “Everyone faye realised he “could run with the whole est friend in the industry at that time”. was hammered,” Tesfaye says. “Sam had enigmatic thing”, he says now. “If it back- Still, he says, “I gave up almost half of my just won, like, every Grammy, so he was fi red, I probably would have been doing album. It’s hard. I will always be thankful having the time of his life. Max Martin ac- interviews. But people were kind of liking – if it wasn’t for the light he shined on me, tually left because everyone was so drunk. me being a fucking weirdo.” who knows where I’d be. And everything Unfortunately, that was the one month I The three free mixtapes that followed – happens for a reason.” That said: “You decided to stop drinking. Everybody was House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes never know what I would say if this suc- having a great time, all these cool things of Silence (all later repackaged and sold cess wasn’t in front of me now.” were happening, and I was shaking, like – as Trilogy) – made him a darling of indie It wasn’t long before the major labels ‘Fuck, I really want a drink.’ ” circles, and Tesfaye isn’t shy about prais- came calling. But even then, few would That’s when he met Taylor Swift. “She ing them. “I probably could have toured have pegged Tesfaye for the global super- actually schooled me on my own shit,” Tes- off Trilogy for the rest of my life,” he says. star he is now – least of all him. “Never in faye says. “She was like, ‘I’ve been listening “It defi nitely changed the culture. No one a million years,” he says. “At the time, I to ‘The Morning’ [from House of Balloons] can do a trilogy again without thanking thought I’d be a punk star – grow my hair for years – it’s one of my favourite songs the Weeknd. A lot of artists started doing out, acne on my face, super-fucking-skin- ever!’ I mean, she might have just Googled

PREVIOUS SPREAD: PRODUCED BY RUTH LEVY. PROP STYLINGMILLER, BY ROB STRAUSS SHIRT STUDIO. BY AMIRI, BY SIMON JEANS COAT BY MR. COMPLETELY, BOOTS BY FEIT. THISGETTY PAGE, CLOCKWISE IAMGES, FROM LEFT: 2 things faster and quicker after that: Justin ny. I was looking at artists like Iggy Pop it. But she seemed genuine.”

59 THE WEEKND

Tesfaye says Swift went on for about 15 There’s a lot of bowing.”) His fi rst language as we want – like, literally for days.” Two minutes. “But the whole time she was talk- was Amharic, not English, and he says blocks away was a strip of hip bars and ing,” he says, “she was kind of, like, pet- his high-fl ying vocal style was infl uenced clubs. “We kind of put that part of the city ting my hair? I think she was just drawn by habesha singers like Aster Aweke. He on,” Tesfaye says. “We were legends on that to it – she must have been a little gone off still loves Ethiopian food: “It’s the best, street. If you go there now, it’s all these lit- a few drinks. And of course I’m not going man. But it’s very fattening. I think I’m tle 18-year-old kids that look like me.” to be like, ‘Hey, can you stop?’ I mean, it still burning off that fat, to be honest. For (Tesfaye says 65 Spencer inspired the felt good! But when she started petting an Ethiopian mother, if you have a chub- title House of Balloons. “We’d throw these my hair, that’s when I was like, ‘I defi nite- by kid, it means you’re doing something shitty parties and have girls over, and we’d ly need a drink.’ ” good.” Tesfaye recently bought his moth- try to make it celebratory, so we’d have bal- er a “huge house” in Toronto. “I think me loons,” he says. Another possible explana- nyone who’s heard the getting my diploma would make her much tion: The Victorian house, with its white Weeknd sing or seen his stage happier, though.” columns and gabled roof, looks a lot like moves knows the debt he Tesfaye doesn’t know much about his the house of balloons from Pixar’s Up, owes to Michael Jackson. He father beyond his name: Makkonen, also which came out around that time.) A often says it was Jackson’s Tesfaye’s middle name. The elder Tes- Tesfaye had long wanted to be a musi- music that made him want to be a singer, faye took off when Abel was one or two: cian, and he started pursuing it in earnest. and the lyrics to “Dirty Diana” that made “I saw him vaguely when I was six, and He formed a hip-hop duo called Bulleez N him want to write songs. But Jackson was then again when I was 11 or 12, and he Nerdz, rapping under the name Kin Kane. even more important to his family than to had a new family and kids. I don’t even (Abel = kin to Cain.) Later, he joined a most, because of their East African roots. know where he lived – I’d see him for, like, local production team called the Noise “People forget – ‘We Are the World’ is for a night. I’m sure he’s a great guy. I never and wrote songs he imagined being per- Ethiopia,” he says. “At home, if it wasn’t judged him. He wasn’t abusive, he wasn’t formed by Justin Timberlake, Drake and Ethiopian music, it was Michael. He was an alcoholic, he wasn’t an asshole. He just Chris Brown. He also started partying a our icon.” wasn’t there.” lot. “I never needed detox or anything,” Tesfaye’s mother, Samra, emigrated Tesfaye was an up-and-down student. he says. “But I was addicted in the sense from Ethiopia in the 1980s and settled Until eighth grade, he was in French- of ‘Fuck, I don’t want to spend this day with her mother in Scarborough, a drab immersion class, which meant he had without getting high.’ ” For a while he was neighbourhood on the east side of Toron- to speak French all day. (“It sucked. At homeless and couch-surfi ng; he didn’t talk to. She juggled several jobs – nurse, cater- recess, all the regular kids made fun to his mum for a year. “Like, ’08 to 2010 – ing, plus night school – of us – they called us those are my hazy years,” Tesfaye says. “I and when she was home, ‘Frenchies’.”) His moth- have this lyric that goes, ‘I’m not scared of she’d baby her only child. “People forget er sent him to piano les- the fall/I’ve felt the ground before.’ And in “I’m a mama’s boy,” Tes- sons for a while, but he this industry, I’m not really scared of fail- faye admits. “Everything – ‘We Are preferred pop music. ing, because I already know what it means good, I get from my the World’ is He grew up in a golden to be on the ground.” mother.” He was a quiet age of R&B when Aali- kid, and a little lone- for Ethiopia,” yah, Missy Elliott, Tim- ne night, tesfaye is ly sometimes. “I always baland and the Nep- joined in London by his wanted a brother so I’d says Tesfaye tunes were all over BET. girlfriend, Bella Hadid, the have somebody to play about his “The late Nineties real- 18-year-old runway model with,” he says. “I remem- ly formed my style – that O and Real Housewives ber lying to people that I Michael sexy downtempo vibe,” daughter. (She’s also an Olympic hope- had brothers – that’s how Jackson he says. Later he got into ful who is training to qualify for the 2016 much I wanted one.” rap – especially 50 Cent, Games in three equestrian events, which Tesfaye’s mother obsession. whose debut came out is apparently news to Tesfaye. “I read and grandmother lived when Tesfaye was 11 – that!” he says. “I hope she does. I’ve never through Ethiopia’s so- “He was and in middle school, he seen her do it, but word on the street is called Red Terror, after our icon.” started smoking weed, she’s bangin’ at it.”) Emperor Haile Selass- so soon Hendrix and Hadid (whose older sister is budding ie’s death, during which Led Zeppelin were in supermodel Gigi) just arrived from Milan tens of thousands of civilians were killed the mix. “I was the kid wearing the Pink Fashion Week, where she walked in four by a military junta. But they never talked Floyd shirt and listening to Ginuwine in shows. Now she’s hanging backstage with about it, and Tesfaye doesn’t know much my ear,” he says. the crew, waiting for Tesfaye to get back, of the history. “I actually wish Bono was When he was 17, Tesfaye says, he got smoking cigarettes and eating chicken here to school us both on it,” he jokes. “He kicked out of his school for “some inci- wings in a tight red dress. One of the guys knows more about Africa than any Af- dent” that he can’t remember. He had to asks what she’s up to. “I go to Paris to- rican I’ve ever met. I remember hearing transfer to a rougher school across town, morrow,” she says. “I can’t wait.” Tesfaye some stories from my uncles – they would away from all his friends. “Imagine start- just bought her a puppy for her upcoming chew chat and talk. But I don’t think my ing all over at Grade 11? Fuck that – peace.” 19th birthday – a little black Yorkie named mum wanted to tell those stories. I don’t He lasted six months before dropping out Hendrix. “But I’m probably going to end think Ethiopians want their kids to feel and leaving home, and he and two friends up taking care of it,” he says. like Ethiopia is a bad place.” moved into a one-bedroom house at 65 Tesfaye and Hadid have been dating Because his mother worked so much, Spencer Avenue, in an up-and-coming To- since last April. “I actually asked her to his grandmother took care of him a lot, ronto neighbourhood called Parkdale. “It be on the artwork for Beauty Behind the taking him to services at their Ethiopi- was amazing,” Tesfaye says. “No parents, Madness,” Tesfaye says. “My motive was an Orthodox church. (“It’s almost Islamic. we can do what we want, stay up as late literally to work with her.” But when she

60 declined, “I was like, ‘All seems taken aback by the right, cool – we can meet up suggestion of anything pred- face-to-face.’ ” Tesfaye says atory: “I defi nitely should’ve he loves how hardworking seen this coming,” he says. she is, and how close she is “At some point, I’ll probably with her family. “It just kind have to answer for this. But of fell into my lap,” he says. it’s consent, all of it.” “If this had happened two years ago – well,” he catches in 2013, tesfaye re- himself, “she couldn’t.” (Two leased “Kiss Land,” the years ago, Hadid would much-anticipated follow-up have been 16.) “But if I’d met to his mixtape trilogy. He someone two years ago, I was hoping it would launch probably would’ve fucked it him to the next level, but up. But I’m more – how do I it didn’t take off. “It hum- say it? – clear-thinking now.” bled me a bit,” he says. “I In his music, Tesfaye can be honest about it. No- has presented a conflict- body wants to put out music ed, frequently cold view of where the reception’s not women and relationships. great.” Tesfaye considered On Drake’s “Crew Love”, moving to Seattle, where the he brushes off a girl who depressing vibes might in- dares to distract him from spire something interesting. his art (“Take your nose But he wound up in L.A. in- off my keyboard/What you stead. “No matter how dark bothering me for?”). On my experiences were dur- “Often”, he brags about ing Trilogy, it’s nothing like turning a woman’s eroge- L.A.,” he says. “L.A. is dark.” nous zone into a meteoro- Tesfaye is back in Los An- logical phenomenon. geles tonight, having land- Tesfaye says the sex in ed early this morning. He’s his music is mostly autobi- still jet-lagged, sipping an ographical. “I mean, no girl Old Fashioned at a steak- has ever actually rained,” he house downstairs from his says. “But if that’s not what hotel. He actually rents a you mean, then yeah. I don’t house in town, in the Hol- want to sound like that guy lywood Hills, but he doesn’t where sex is not an obstacle. But I’ve had like staying there. “I think it’s haunted, to a lot of sex.” EARNED IT At Coachella, in Indio, be honest with you,” he says. “I’ve had sleep “ Tesfaye lost his virginity when he was California, earlier this year. I can paralysis. I hear voices sometimes. I heard make a girl [dance] with a beat,” 16. A friend in college took him to a toga he says. “It’s very easy. But pop the Hills are over Indian burial ground. party, and he told a girl he was a stu- music, that shit’s hard.” But maybe it’s just the wind.” dent at nearby York University. “I could Tesfaye is glad he ended up in L.A. “The have been a student at fuckin’ McDon- relationships I made here have helped me ald’s, she was so drunk,” he says. “I was so much.” He says he signed with his label, drunk too. It was the worst experience of Republic Records, specifi cally because of my life. Losing your virginity to an older is the dark. But there’s not force in it. They its success in pop radio. “I could have gone woman sounds good, but it was kinda like, want to have a good time. Everybody wants with another label that was really good at ‘Oh shit, it’s done?’ ” In general, he says, to be there. Whether they regret their branding, but I’d already built a strong he “wasn’t a ladies’ man – it was nothing choices after is whatever. But everybody brand myself,” he says. “I wanted someone like it is now”. He quotes the rapper Mike is in consent.” who could do what I couldn’t.” Jones: “The line ‘Back then, ho’s didn’t There’s a more disturbing dynamic at “One thing about Abel that people don’t want me/Now I’m hot, ho’s all on me’ is work on 2011’s “Initiation”, where Tes- realise is, he’s incredibly ambitious,” says defi nitely relevant.” faye’s narrator implies that before a girl Republic label head Monte Lipman. Tes- Part of the allure of the Weeknd’s music can be with him, she has to sleep with the faye asked the record company to help as- is its emotional chilliness – the way he cre- rest of his crew. semble some hits. In the summer of 2014, ates a world that sounds both sexy and “Back then, it was like, ‘Hey, you want Republic sent him a half-fi nished song numbed-out. Next to his darkest songs, to fucking hang out? Here’s my boys’,” by labelmate , “Love Me an R. Kelly track can seem almost wist- he says. “It’s just me documenting what’s Harder”, produced by the Swedish pop fully romantic. The debauchery can have around me. Whether it is something that wizard Max Martin. a creepy undercurrent: Tesfaye’s songs, happened to me or something I see. No- “It was a great song,” Tesfaye says, “but especially the early ones, occasionally de- body’s forcing anybody to do anything. I it was a little generic. I couldn’t hear my- pict troubling situations, like on 2011’s really do believe a woman does whatever self on it. So I changed it and made it “High for This”, where he sings about get- she wants to do.” dark.” He rewrote the lyrics and sent them ting a girl wasted before having sex with Tesfaye doesn’t seem to have spent much back, and Martin liked what he heard. her. “Everything is consent,” Tesfaye in- time thinking about the implications of “It was kind of like the label giving me

GETTY IMAGES GETTY sists. “The tone is dark, the environment these lyrics since he wrote them, and an alley-oop,” Tesfaye says. [Cont. on 105]

61 The triumphant return of Adele By BRIAN HIATT Photograph by THEO WENNER

62 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com She’s the One ADELE

sadelesteersthroughasouthlondon tocomebackandfinishit.“Ijusthadto high street in her four-door Mini Cooper, with be very patient.” Thelyricssoundlikeshe’saddressing her toddler’s vacant car seat in back and the re- some long-lost ex, but she says it isn’t about mains of a kale, cucumber and almond-milk any one person – and that she’s moved on concoction in the cup holder, a question oc- from the heartbreaker who inspired 21. “If I were still writing about him, that’d curstoher.“What’sbeengoingoninthe be terrible,” she says. “‘Hello’ is as much world of music?” she asks, in all sincerity. aboutregroupingwithmyself,reconnect- “Ifeeloutoftheloop!” Theonlypossi- ingwithmyself.”Asfortheline“hellofrom theotherside”:“Itsoundsabitmorbid, bleresponseiswaytooeasy:Well, there’s like I’m dead,” she says. “But it’s actual- thisonealbumtheentireindustryis ly just from the other side of becoming an waitingfor... “Oh, fuck off!” Adele adult, making it out alive from your late teens, early twenties.” says,givingmeagentleshoveandlet- Adele still hasn’t decided whether she’ll ting loose the charmingly untamed do a full-scale tour behind 25 –rightnow, laugh–anascendingcascadeof therehearsalsareforTVperformances. Herbandhasafewnewmembers,and forceful, cartoonish “ha’s” – that she’s especially excited to have a percus- inspired a YouTube supercut sionist for the first time, an addition in- called “The Adele Cackle”. spired by her childhood idols: “The Spice Girls had a mad percussionist,” she says. “Oh, my God, imagine,” she continues, ing a wrinkle or two, she looks strikingly In public, at least, Adele has had little greeneyeswidening.“Iwish!IfeellikeI young, with a clotted-cream complexion tosay–andnothingtosing–forthepast mightbeayeartoolate.”It’sasifherlast worthy of the cosmetics endorsements couple of years, not since she and collabo- album, 2011’s 21,hadn’tsoldamiraculous she’sturneddown. rator Paul Epworth won an Oscar for “Sky- 31 million copies worldwide in an era when Adele is fresh from a rehearsal with fall”, the first decent James Bond theme no one buys music, as if it hadn’t sparked her backing band, where she perched on songinforever.“WhenIhavenothingto theadorationofpeersfromBeyoncéto a chair facing the musicians and sang her say,”shesays,“I’dratherjustnottalk.”But Aretha,asifithadn’twoneveryconceiv- first-ever live version of “Hello”, the melan- ittakesjustafewminuteswithhertosee ableawardshortofaNobelPeacePrize. choly, surging first single from her highly- that silence isn’t exactly her natural state. “But genuinely,” she says, “I’ve lost touch anticipatedthirdalbum,25.(Sheturned “I’m just fucking waiting for Frank fuck- with music. Not, like, all music” – she’s a 27inMay,butnamedthealbumafterthe ingOceantocomeoutwithhisalbum,” fanofFKATwigs,lovesAlabamaShakes, shesays.“It’stakingsofuckinglong.”She snuck into the crowd at Glastonbury to blinks, pauses, laughs again. “That sounds seeKanye–“butIfeellikeIdon’tknow sostupid,comingfromme,doesn’tit?” what’sgoingoninthechartsandinpopu- “I always feel like this On some level, Adele refuses to allow larculture.”Shelaughsagain.“I’venotlost hersuccesstomakeittoodeeplypasther touch with, like, reality. Just with what’s is going to turn out to skin.Shestillseesherselfas“somerandom current.” Her Cockney accent is softening be a hidden-camera girl from London”, albeit one whose little lately, but she still pronounces “with” like carneedstobetrailedbyabodyguardina itendswitha“v”. show, and someone is RangeRover.Withthethrowbackclassi- She’sdrivingunderaskythatisgrey cism of its songwriting and its almost mil- anddismalevenbythestandardsof going to send me itantly organic arrangements, 21 stood to early-October London afternoons. Rain is thesideofthepopmainstream,evenasit coming, threatening Adele’s plans to take back to Tottenham.” somehow outsold everything. Adele is try- her three-year-old son, Angelo, to the zoo ing to pull off a similar trick with her ca- later. No one in the passing vehicles rec- reeritself.“Mycareer’snotmylife,”she ognises her. They never do, not in this car. says.“It’smyhobby.”Shewantstobeable “MaybeifIwentoutinfull,done-up,hair- age when she began work on it: “I’m going toreleaseheralbums,liveinpublicfora and-makeup drag,” she says. “Which it is: to get so much fucking grief: ‘Why is it while, and then return to her private ex- borderline drag! I’m not brave enough to called 25 when you’re not 25?’”) “Hello, it’s istence – for years at a time, maybe, so she do it.” Instead, she’s dressed like a grad me,” she sings at the beginning of the sin- can live enough to write the next set of studentwhobarelygotupintimeforclass, gle, as if there could be any doubt. When songs. “I think she’ll make 20 records,” says in a drapey blue-black sweater made of shefinallyputsthesongoutacoupleof hermanager,JonathanDickins.“We’re some hemplike fabric – it could almost be weeks later, it will rack up a record-set- playingforthelonggame.” from Kanye’s dystopian fashion collection ting 50 million YouTube views in its first “People think I hate being famous,” –overblackleggingsandwhitelow-top 48 hours. Adelesays.“AndIdon’t.I’mreallyfright- Converse. Her golden hair is gathered in With a young child to raise, Adele took ened ofit.Ithinkit’sreallytoxic,andI aloosebun,andshe’swearingtwinhoop an unhurried approach to making the think it’s really easy to be dragged into earrings in each ear. Her makeup is mini- album.Afullsixmonthspassedbetween it.” Early in her career, she faced frequent mal, and though she claims to be develop- writingtheversesof“Hello”andnailing musical comparisons to Amy Winehouse, thechorus.“Wehadhalfasongwritten,” whom she met only a few times: “Watch- Senior writer Brian Hiatt wrote the says producer/co-writer Greg Kurstin, ing Amy deteriorate is one of the reasons N.W.A feature in RS 767. whodidn’tknowifAdelewasevergoing I’mabitfrightened.Wewereallveryen-

64 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 HELLO AGAIN

Adele on the set of the “Hello” video: “My career’s not my life – it’s my hobby.”

tertained by her being a mess. I was fuck- a bearish 41-year-old investment-banker- bit frightened by it, and then realising that ing sad about it, but if someone showed me turned-philanthropist with a warm smile. ‘I think this must be right. This is the rela- a picture of her looking bad, I’d look at it. If She met him just as the 21 phenomenon tionship that I want to be in for as long as we hadn’t looked, then they’d have stopped was peaking. “He’s so supportive,” she says. I can possibly be in it.’ ” She hasn’t played taking her picture. That level of attention “And that takes a very big man, because I’m the whole album for Konecki yet: “What if is really frightening, especially if you don’t very successful at what I do. My last boy- he doesn’t like it?” live around all that showbiz stuff .” friend was uncomfortable with how suc- She has quit smoking (“I absolutely Adele still feels out of place among ce- cessful I was, and the fact that he had to loved it, but it’s not that fucking cool when lebrities. Earlier this year, when she went share me with lots of people.” (She’s refer- I’m dying from a smoking-related illness backstagetomeetoneofheridols,Stevie ring to the 21 dude,thoughtherewasare- andmykidis,like,devastated”)andhas Nicks, Adele found herself uncontrollably lationship in between.) maybeonedrinkaweeknow.“Iusedtobe sobbing (“like, snot, everything”). “I’m not Contrary to various contradictory ru- able to drink anyone under the table and sure if I’ll ever not feel a bit overwhelmed mours, she notes that she and Konecki stillbeabletoputonanall-rightshow,” whenIgotoplaceswherethereareloadsof have neither married nor split up. “I have she says. “But with kids, hangovers are stars,”saysAdele,whospentthefirstdec- said a million times I’m not married and torture. They just know. They pick up on adeofherlifeinthepoor,crime-plagued everyone still says we are,” she says. “But, itandjustgoforyou.” district of Tottenham. “I always feel like yeah, we’re still together. We haven’t bro- Sheisassiduousinawarm-uproutine I’mgonnagetthrownout.Orit’sgoingto ken up. We’ve never broken up. We’ve been toprotectherthroat,whichwasthreat- turnouttobesome,like,hidden-camera together. We just haven’t felt the need to ened by a 2011 vocal hemorrhage that led show.Likesomeone’sgonnasendmeback getmarried.We’vegotakidtogether.I to cancelled tour dates and throat surgery, to Tottenham.” She has recurring dreams feel like that’s a big enough commitment.” followed by that dramatic return to the of falling from tall buildings. One new track, “Water Under the stageatthe2012Grammys.Inthewake Bridge”,isabouthim.It’sanotablyclear- of her operation, her already world-shak- ince angelo’s arrival, eyed love song, with a feel vaguely rem- ingvoicebecamepalpablybiggerandpur- Adele’s life has been thor- iniscent of Michael Jackson’s “Human er-toned, and she’s added four notes to the oughly domestic – though Nature”: “If I’m not the one for you,” she topofherrange.“Itdoesmakeyourvoice, not, she emphasises, reclu- sings, “why have we been through what like,brand-new,”shesays.“WhichIac- sive: “I’ve been to every fuck- we have been through?” – and the cho- tually didn’t like at first, because I used S ing park, every shop, every rus pleads, “If you’re gonna let me down/ to have a bit of husk to my voice, and that supermarket you could ever Letmedowngently.”“Itwassortofabout wasn’tthereatfirst.” imagine.” She’s in a “very serious” relation- a relationship suddenly getting really, re- Adeleistryingtobuildstaminaforher

PREVIOUS SPREAD: DRESS BY CHLOÉ, BELT BY ADAM LIPPES. THIS PAGE: ALEXANDRA WAESPI ship with Angelo’s father, Simon Konecki, ally serious,” she says, “and then getting a possiblereturntotheroad,soshe’scutting

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 65 ADELE back on sugar, though not carbs altogether was still living with her mum even dur- The album’s melancholia about the pas- (“I’dneverdeprivemyselflikethat!”),and ing 21’s success, and they remain close. sage of time is very real, if slightly pre- hitting the gym, “to get in shape for my- “We always spoke about anything,” she mature. “I’ve had a lot of regrets since I self,butnottobeasizezerooranything says. “There was never anything I was turned 25,” she says. “And sadness hits likethat”.Herregimen?“Imainlymoan,” embarrassed about with my mum, which me in different ways than it used to.” On shesays.Smallcackle.“I’mnot,like,skip- IthinkisthereasonIneverrebelled.”To thelovely“MillionYearsAgo”,which ping to the fucking gym. I don’t enjoy it. I this day, Adele has never had so much as sounds like a Nineties Madonna ballad do like doing weights. I don’t like looking a puff of weed. mixedwith“TheGirlFromIpanema”, in the mirror. Blood vessels burst on my Adele wrote the songs for her first Adele sings, “Sometimes I just feel it’s only face really easily, so I’m so conscious when album, 2008’s jazz-tinged, largely acous- me/Who never became who they thought I’mliftingweightsnottoletthemburstin tic 19,rightupstairs.Shegotadealwith they’d be.” She’s realised that some of the my face. And if I don’t tour, you’ll catch me thepowerfulindielabelXLstraightout courseofherlifeisset,thatsomedoors backdownattheChinese!” of her Fame-style performing-arts high are already closed. “There’s a lot of things Soatage27,Adeleishealthyandset- school,mostlyonthestrengthofafew Idon’tthinkI’lleverget’roundtodoing,” tled down, with no vices and enormous MySpacedemos.(Shemadezeroconces- shesays.“NotbecauseI’mfamous,butjust responsibility: raising a child, nurturing sionstothelabel’shipethos:“Shesigned becauseIjustdon’tthinkI’lleverhavethe a career on a global scale. In short, then, to XL, and she’s talking in interviews time. Like being a journalist, or like being no fun at all? She nods, laughing: “I’m no about her favourite group being the Spice ateacher.” funatall.” Girls,”saysDickins.“She’snotsayingher Shetakesabreath.“AndI’mnevergoing It’s all happened so fast. “I do have this, favourite group is Einstürzende Neu- to be on my own again,” she says. “I’m like, overwhelming yearning for myself,” amumandI’minaveryseriousrela- sheacknowledges.“EverysingledayIhave tionship,soit’snevergoingtobejustme it for, like, a split second. It doesn’t take again.Idon’tregretanyofit.Like,those overmylife,butIhaveayearningformy- She was laid up, aren’t the things that I regret. But I feel selffrom,like,10yearsagowhenmyonly like I didn’t have very long to myself. I was responsibility was writing songs for my- but “21” kept selling: my mum’s kid, and now I’m a mum.” She self before anyone cared, and getting to laughs.“Ihad,like,afive-yearwindowof school on time. And there was something “I felt like I’d lost just being me.” soamazinginthat.Youknowwhat?What control. The bigger Around the time she became preg- annoysmethemostisthatyoudon’tre- nant, Adele was feeling overwhelmed by alisehowamazingitistobeakid.” your career gets, her own success. She was particularly Besidesherfamily,Adelemostlyhangs alarmed at 21’s insistence on selling and outwithahandfulofclosefriendswho the smaller your selling at an alarming rate while she was date back to her teen years or earlier – laidupwithadamagedvoiceanddoing one writes children’s books, another is a life gets.” nothingtopromoteit.“IfeltlikeI’dlost TV producer. “As 21 got bigger and big- controlofmylifeatonepoint,”shesays. ger,Istartedgettingbackwithallmyold “The bigger that your career gets, the friends,” she says, mentioning hopes of smaller your life gets. I found this lit- taking them on the road if she tours. “I bauten or Nitzer Ebb!”) Across the street tle, tiny janitor closet. That was my little needed them big time.” is the African Choice Market that used to space in my whole world. It was enough Soshehasasquad?“I’veheardabout be a pub where she’d get served underage, spaceforme.Itwasperfectlyfine.Butthe asquad,”shesayswithanamusedsnort. and Hollywood Nails, where she used to idea of having to give up that little space, “I wish my squadwasallsupermodels. get manicures. She returned there, to the it really frightened me.” Weare,inourbrains.IguessIhavemy proprietors’ delight, to primp for the 2012 She had just gotten over her vocal trou- own squad.”Shepronouncesthewordin Brit Awards. bles,hadwonallherGrammysandwas acomicalAmericanaccent.“It’snotasin- contemplating a move to New York when terestingassomeoftheothersquadsthat dele gazes up at she learned of her pregnancy. “All my arearoundrightnow.”Shebrightens.“But her old apartment, planswentthrough,”shesays.“Itwas maybe Rihanna can be in my squad! That her expression hard like,‘Forgoodmeasure,let’sseeifIcan wouldbereallycool.Oh,God.She’slifeit- to read for once. Her copewithallofthisandthen having a self,isn’tshe?Iloveher.” yearning for her old baby.’ But I think actually the pregnancy Adelepullsinfrontofanunlovely A self, her nostalgia, was perfect timing in the end. It might’ve three-storey brick building, next to a Tex- pervades multiple seemedlikethemostridiculoustimeto aco station. The ground floor is a discount songs on her new album. Her favourite haveababy,butIwasstartingtogetabit store.Beginningatage14,Adelelivedin trackistheEltonJohn-ishballad“When afraid of everything.” Angelo took away an apartment upstairs with her mum, We Were Young”, co-written with singer- herfear.“WhenIhadhim,itmadeevery- Penny.Herdadhaslargelybeenoutof songwriterTobiasJessoJr.,whichsharesa thing all right, and I trusted everything thepicturesinceAdelewasatoddler–he tiny bit of DNA with “The Way We Were”, because the world had given me this mir- is her least favourite topic of discussion, asongthatbroughthertotearswhenshe acle,youknow,soIbecameabitofahip- andsherefusestoattachanyimportance saw Barbra Streisand perform it in person pie, an Earth mother.” tohisabsencefromherlife.“Minewere attheOscars.Atthelastminute,Adele In fact, she says casually, “I don’t know the fourth, fifth and sixth windows,” she changed the name of another standout ifIwould’vecomebackhadInothadmy says,pointingthemout.PennyhadAdele trackfrom“WeAin’tKidsNoMore”to kid.” whenshewasjust18,andtheyhaveafun “Send My Love (To Your Lover)”. “Other- The direct sonic influence is hard to relationship that Adele might compare to wise,youmightaswelljustcallthefuck- find, but one of the chief inspirations for Gilmore Girls if she had ever seen it. She ing album Old,” she says. 25 was Madonna’s Ray of Light.“You

66 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 12There is talk of elephants and Elmo, of chocolate buttons, and macaroni and cheese before Adele fondly sends Angelo off to his nap. “Will you press the red but- ton? Peanut? Press the red button. . . .” “He’s a little angel,” she says. “All the things I really like about myself, he brings out in me, and he’s the only person that tells me no. He completely rules me. He’s the boss of me, and it’s so funny for other people to watch, because I’m the boss of everything in my work life.” She can’t help feeling guilty when her work takes her away from Angelo. “I just feel bad all the time,” she says. But 3 she took inspiration from Kate Bush’s comeback concerts. “It made me really want to hurry up and finish my record,” she says. “It made me desperate, actually, to come back.” She had read that Bush’s teenage son had encour- aged her to return to performing, and she “sort of curated this show around her kid. I left, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to wait until my kid is 16 to show him who I am.’ Because I’m very proud of what I achieved. And I wasn’t, before I had Angelo. I didn’t understand, actually, what I had achieved and how far I had come. Because ev- ROLLING eryone wants to do something with their life, and we don’t all get the (1) With boyfriend and “baby opportunity because shit gets in daddy” Simon Konecki. (2) the way. So I feel fucking so for- Adele received an MBE from tunate that the stars just aligned Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace, December 2013. (3) for me and allowed me to have the Winning six awards, including most ridiculous ride ever.” Album, Song and Record of the Year, at the 2012 Grammys. about a year and a half ago, Adele thought she might have near- ly enough songs for an album. Her know what I found so amazing about derstandably protective of her boy, even manager wasn’t so sure, and they brought that record?” Adele says. “That’s the rec- successfully suing British paps who shot the demos to Rick Rubin, who had given ord Madonna wrote after having her fi rst pictures of him, so she requests that I don’t valuable input on 21 – even though Adele child, and for me, it’s her best. I was so all describe his appearance. (He is, for the ended up jettisoning some of his produc- over the place after having a child, just record, quite cute.) tions in favour of her rougher takes. Rubin because my chemicals were just hitting For a while, she was trying to keep even listened, stroking his beard, probably. He the fucking roof and shit like that.” She his name secret, but it’s tattooed on one looked at Adele and told her, “I don’t be- felt detached from her artistic self. “I was of her hands – the same spot on the other lieve you.” The original group of songs was just drifting away, and I couldn’t fi nd that hand says paradise. “ ’Cause Angelo is lighter in tone than anything she’s done. many examples for myself where I was my paradise,” she says, with an unchar- “You know the pop songs that are fantas- like, ‘Fuck, they truly came back to them- acteristic touch of bashfulness. (Among tic, but they don’t have much depth?” says selves’, until someone was like, ‘Well, ob- other ink, she also has a huge tattoo of Adele. “They were all a bit like that.” viously, Ray of Light.’ ” Adele listened to it three doves on her back.) She didn’t fi nd “Adele was anxious to be fi nished with over and over, and was particularly cap- out until too late that Lana Del Rey also the new album and move forward with tivated by “Frozen”. “I took that song as has a “paradise” hand tattoo – a coinci- life,” says Rubin. “I stressed the most im- ‘I’ve gotten my confi dence to come and do dence Adele fi nds hilarious. “She proba- portant thing was to be true to her voice, me again.’ ” bly thinks I’m, like, some mad fangirl,” she even if that took longer and was more Back at home, it’s almost time for An- says, launching into a campy rendition of work....In the new material I heard, it gelo’snap,soAdelepullsoveragainsoshe the chorus of “Born to Die”. “I mean, I am wasclearshewasn’ttheprimarywrit- can catch him in a quick FaceTime ses- aLanafangirl,butnotacrazyone.” er – many of the songs sounded like they sion before he goes down (in real life, un- “Did you have fun at the library?” Adele mightbeonadifferentpopartist’salbum. like in the “Hello” video, she does not carry asks the little guy on the screen. “What It’s not just her voice singing any song that

GETTY IMAGES, 3 around an ancient flip phone). She is un- did you read?” makes it special.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 67 ADELE

“I actually took it really well,” Adele re- improvised melodies and lyrics, some- was“insecure”andthathermusicwas calls.“Whenhesaidit,Icouldn’tworkout timesinasingleburst.“It’simpossibleto “middleoftheroad”.“Itendedupbeing ifIwas,like,devastated,goingtocrymy question why she’s where she is once you oneofthose‘don’tmeetyouridol’mo- eyesout.AndthenIjustsaid,‘Idon’treal- sit down with her to write a song,” says ments,” she says. “And the saddest thing ly believe myself rightnow,soI’mnotsur- Jesso. “She was the first introduction I had wasthatIwassuchabigBlurfangrow- prised you fucking said that.’” Rubin and to somebody who could sing words on the ingup.Butitwassad,andIregrethang- Dickins both told her it sounded like she spot that were actually really great.” Jes- ing out with him.” They didn’t finish a sin- wasrushing.“Andthat’snotawaytomake so’s manager told him that he could hear gle song. “No! None of it was right. None anykindofrecord,”shesays.“Especially Adele’svoicefromthestreetoutsidethe of it suited my record. He said I was inse- when I’m trying to fucking follow 21.So house where they were recording, that it cure,whenI’mtheleast-insecurepersonI Iwentbacktothedrawingboard,really.” was practically shaking its foundations. know.Iwasaskinghisopinionaboutmy Earlierthisyear,shespenttwomonths SheandBrunoMarsmadeanattempt fears,aboutcomingbackwithachildin- inLosAngeles,determinedtomovefor- at an uptempo song but instead creat- volved–becausehehasachild–andthen ward on her album for real. Among other ed the unapologetically dramatic ballad hecallsmeinsecure?” sessions, she ended up Adele wanted to mod- working with the ubiq- ernise her sound, to add uitouspopauteurMax some synths and drum Martin (along with col- pads, to move away from laborator Shellback) on the young-fogey vibe theslinky“SendMyLove of 21 – on “River Lea”, (ToYourLover)”,which her track with Dan- maywellbehercatchi- gerMouse,shesings est, most modern song over choirlike keyboard ever, built around an al- chords created from her most African-sounding own sampled voice. “This guitar lick Adele wrote time, it was about try- severalyearsago.She ingtocomeupwiththe sought Martin out be- weirdest sounds that causeshelikedTaylor Icouldgetawaywith,” Swift’s“IKnewYouWere says Epworth, who co- Trouble” (“I thought it wrote two tracks on 25. wasareallydifferent “This album feels like it side to her”). But soon fitsinmaybemorewith shelookedupMartinon theculturaldialoguein- YouTube, where she dis- stead of being anachro- coveredthefullbreadth nistic to it. It’s almost of his influence, the hits like she’s trying to beat he’dwrittenorco-writ- everyone else at their ten for everyone from own game.” N’Sync and Britney Spears to Katy Perry. ABOUT A GIRL There’s roughly a full album’s worth “Send My Love” is the only kiss-off song of outtakes from 25. Adele is ruthless in on this album, addressed to the guy Adele Adele arriving at the Mercury Music her quality control, and was still mak- dated between her 21 paramour and Ko- Awards in London in September ingfinaltweakstothetracklistwhenwe necki. “It’s one of those, like, ‘I’m fucking 2008, the year her debut album 19 met. “Some songs are not fucking good finesofuckyou’songs,”shesays. was released. “I had a five-year enough,” she says. “And I think that’s Akeyearlysongwas“Remedy”,abig window of just being me,” she says. wherealotofpeoplegowrong,thinking ballad with rolling piano chords written that people will buy any old shit from you.” with Ryan Tedder, who also co-wrote “Ru- mourHasIt”and“TurningTables”,from adelecelebratedarecentbirth- 21. It feels like Adele’s own version of Bob “All I Ask”, complete with a climactic key dayatKurobuta,aJapanesepub-food Dylan’s“MakeYouFeelMyLove”,which change and Adele engaging in what she spot with a cultivated rock & roll vibe; The she covered on her first album. “When the callssomeofhermost“showoff-y”vocals. Guardian describeditasboth“insane- paincutstoodeepandthenightkeepsyou “I’ve never sung like that before,” she says. ly delicious” and “ridiculously expensive”. from sleep,” she sings, with exquisite ten- “Never sang that high. The funny thing is Tonight, she’s returned, and the restau- derness, “I will be your remedy.” It made that Bruno was hitting those notes in the ranthasarrangedforustohaveapri- hertearupasshewroteit,andithasa studiotoo.”(“She’sasuperstarandsassy vatecandlelitroominback,downasmall similar effect on listeners. “I wrote it about as fuck,” says Mars, who recalls a brief flightofstairs.Wehaveacomicallyhuge mychild,”shesays.“ButIsangitforevery- disagreement over one lyric. “Once she re- distressed-wood communal table to our- onethatIreallylove.WhenIwroteit,Igot cordedit,itbecameoneofmyfavourite selves. Sometimes it’s good to be a random my confidence back in my writing ’cause I partsofthesong.Shetoldmeshehopes girl from London. believed in myself.” I’m in the audience when she sings that As we study the menu, which is heavy On 21, she came into sessions with line live so she can flick me off.”) onfriedfood,AdeleisamusedtohearI’m Moleskine notebooks full of lyric ideas. In only one case did a collaboration go trying to eat low-carb. “Let’s cheat,” she This time, she often started from scratch, wildly wrong. She took a stab at recording says, persuasively. Behind her are vari- summoning songs from the air. Her col- with Blur frontman Damon Albarn – and ous vintage rock posters, including the laborators would play chords while Adele he ended up telling the press that Adele cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love. IAMGES GETTY

68 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 “Let’s both cheat. It’s my cheat day. Let’s go should be treated the same, including race sad record, like, for everyone else. That’s mad!” She looks at the menu again. “I’m and sexuality.” She recalls not being taken not a real record, unless I am sad.” going in! Going HAM – hard as a moth- seriously in business meetings full of men, She laughs at the reminder that her erfucker!” of encountering an attitude of “what do last Rolling Stone interview ended She glances at an empty corner. “Last you know?” “It’s like, ‘Well, I’m the fuck- with her imagining what would happen time we were here, they had a TV in there,” ing artist’,” she says, sitting up straight- if she were in a stable relationship: “No she says. “They must’ve taken it all out. But er in her chair. “ ‘So I fucking know every- music!” she joked then. “My fans will be it was showing, like, hardcore anime porn. thing, actually! Like, don’t fucking talk like, ‘Babe! Please! Get divorced!’ ” It was just mad! It’s a bit off -putting when down to me!’ ” But she doesn’t see it that way anymore. you’re eating, like, sushi and they’ve got all She enjoyed working with Sia for her “It would be a bit tragic to do a heartbreak the hardcore porn stuff on.” new album, even though the songs didn’t album again,” she says. “A cliché, not even She orders an amaretto sour – what make it (one, “Alive”, became a single for tragic! It’d be such a cliché. What if I she calls a “Days of Our Lives” drink – but Sia instead). Adele realised she had never was heartbroken? What the fuck would then changes it to a glass of sauvignon collaborated with a woman before. “I ac- I write about? ’Cause I can’t write a fuck- blanc. “I don’t know if I should be that tually love the dynamic of us both being ing heartbreak record again! So just fl ip fi erce,” she says. “I just remembered I’m in there and just fucking being bossy,” she and reverse it.” being interviewed.” says with a laugh. “And it’s all these male She does understand artists’ tempta- Adele is aware that certain critics have producers, and they’re all fucking shitting tion to create chaos in their lives. “I would used her “classy” image and music as a themselves ’cause we’re in there.” have been totally up for that had I not cudgel against the Mileys of the world. She had a kid,” she says. “I didn’t think I’d set- is really not into it. “I’d rather not be the tle down. I always loved the drama, you person that everyone gets pitted against,” know? Always wanted to be in love but she says. “If they do decide to get their “It would be always loved the drama, since I was very body out, I would rather not be that per- young.” son because that’s just pitting a woman a bit tragic to do The question of a tour looms large in against another woman, and I don’t hold Adele’s mind, and she’s giving herself any more moral high ground than any- another heartbreak until Christmas to decide. “When I’ve one else. So that has pissed me off a bit. album – not even sat down and thought, ‘What can I do to Not that I’m going to start getting my tits bring something new to the table?’ It was out now!” tragic, a cliché! just like, ‘Tour.’ Because I haven’t done it She continues to think out loud. “Would properly.” As she sees it, this album might I show my body off if I was thinner? Prob- Even if I really was be her last chance for many years to hit ably not, because my body is mine. But the road – once Angelo is in school, she sometimes I’m curious to know if I would heartbroken.” doesn’t want to take him out. have been as successful if I wasn’t plus- Adele has always had stage fright, with size. I think I remind everyone of them- a particular fear of opening her mouth selves. Not saying everyone is my size, but onstage and having nothing come out. it’s relatable because I’m not perfect, and I o you think ev- Which is peculiar, because she’s already think a lot of people are portrayed as per- eryone will be dis- lost her voice and regained it. “But it didn’t fect, unreachable and untouchable.” appointed that happen midshow,” she says, waving off the She finds a lot of the questions she’s I’m happy?” Adele idea. She also has the unlikely vision of faced on these issues to be blatantly sexist. asks. It’s a couple of walking out onstage and seeing only fi ve “I’ve been asked ‘Would you do Playboy?’ ‘D days after our din- people in an arena. so many fucking times, it’s ridiculous,” she ner, and she’s wear- She dreads having more throat prob- says. “And is that because I’m a woman or ing a similar leggings-and-sweater en- lems. “If my throat goes, then I’ll never be because I’m fat?” semble, with the glam addition of glit tery able to do a tour again,” she says. “I’ll be Then again, she took note of the fuss Margiela boots. We’re sitting in her man- able to get my throat fi xed again and do made over a certain male celebrity when ager’s bright, modern office on a quiet studio work, but do I want to do some- he slimmed down. “What I found really Notting Hill street, decorated with sports thing and then fail at it and be too scared interesting was the big, big deal that was memorabilia and some of Adele’s priz- to ever try it again?” made out of Chris Pratt. When he lost all es. She points out her Ivor No vello song- Wherever she does perform, she prom- of his weight, it was, ‘Oh, my God, who writing award in the corner but neglects ises to embrace her old stuff , joking that would have known he was so fucking fi t?’ to mention her Diamond Award next to it, she’s “forever 21”. “Being defi ned by any It was a lot of attention on when he used to which commemorates more than 10 mil- record is a dream come true when you’re be bigger. I’ve never seen that with a guy.” lion copies sold in the U.S. an artist,” she says. “It’s like when I go and Adele has been so busy the past few Adele knows that her songs have been see certain bands – not to name any – and years that she’s only faintly aware of the a solace to her fans. “If my music can heal they don’t play their fucking big gest hit? newfound prominence of feminism in the anyone’s heart, then that is, like, the most Cunts! That really annoys me. pop-cultural discourse. “If there’s a move- satisfying thing ever,” she says. “I don’t “To the general public, it’s not about ment, that’s great,” she says. “Who’s doing think the record has a vibe of ‘Whoo-hoo, your body of work,” she says. “In most it? Will you ask me if I’m a feminist? I I’m totally happy!’ But with me being in a cases, it’s about the song that reminds don’t think many men in interviews get brighter space with my love life, will my them of something in their lives. They asked if they’re feminist.” fans be disappointed in me that I can’t take you into their heart. I don’t ask the question, but she wants fi x their broken hearts with a song that is “That’s, like, the biggest thing ever.” She to answer anyway. “I’m a feminist,” she brokenhearted? I don’t want to disappoint smiles, eyes alight with all the music left says, sipping wine. “I believe that everyone them. But at the same time, I can’t write a to be made. “You have to play that song.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 69

My Life in 15 Songs Billy Gibbons

ZZ Top’s guitarist on how the Stones, Devo and abackwoodscathouseinspiredsome supercharged Texas-blues classics By David Fricke

RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 71 Billy Gibbons

was country blues – not that shiny hot-rod inger-guitarist billy gibbons of zz top electric stuff . But there was a magnetic ap- can remember exactly when his life in music truly peal: “What can we take and interpret in some way?” began: Christmas Day 1962. He was 13 and “the

fi rst guitar landed in my lap”, Gibbons says, a fond Heard It on the X Fandango! 1975 smile breaking through his trademark beard. “It Those border stations from Mexico would was a Gibson Melody Maker, single pickup. I took come in like a police call. XERF could be picked up in Hawaii, parts of Western Eu- Soff to the bedroom and fi gured out the intro to ‘What’d I Say’, by rope. It was fascinating to hear all of that Ray Charles. Then I stumbled into a Jimmy Reed thing.” He hums blues and R&B on the radio. And Wolf- one of the legendary bluesman’s signature licks. “He was the good- man Jack, who was on XERF – man, he made the stuff out of control. luck charm. I’d play Jimmy Reed going to sleep at night – and in “Heard It on the X” was a celebration, the morning.” • At 65, Gibbons – born in a Houston suburb, the son acknowledging that infl uence. To this day, of a pianist-conductor – has played the blues for more than half a Frank, Dusty and I share the same infl u- ences. It’s in the fi rst line: “Do you remem- ber back in 1966?/Country, Jesus, hillbil- century, across 15 ZZ Top albums with I remember him tiptoeing across the hall ly, blues/That’s where I learned my licks.” bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank at the hotel: “Come in here. Do you know What you were hearing was indelible. Beard, including the 1983 10-million- how this is done?” He was learning chops selling smash Eliminator. That record, off Jeff Beck’s fi rst record, Truth. Tush Fandango! 1975 with its synthesised riffs and modern- We were in Florence, Alabama, playing in ist grooves, refl ected the long-standing Just Got Paid Rio Grande Mud 1972 a rodeo arena with a dirt fl oor. We decid- adventure in Gibbons’ devotion to the This was inspired by Peter Green’s open- ed to play a bit in the afternoon. I hit that blues, from his teenage psychedelic band ing fi gure in [Fleetwood Mac’s] “Oh Well”. opening lick, and Dave Blayney, our light- the Moving Sidewalks up to his new solo I was living in Los Angeles, sitting on the ing director, gave us the hand [twirls a debut, Perfectamundo, a peppery Afro- steps of this apartment. It was raining and fi nger in the air]: “Keep it going.” I leaned Cuban twist on his roots. “We don’t pos- I couldn’t go anywhere, so I was trying to over to Dusty and said, “Call it ‘Tush’.” ture ourselves as anything other than in- learn this fi gure. It got all tangled up. And [The Texas singer] Roy Head had a fl ip terpreters,” Gibbons says of ZZ Top. He it stayed tangled. side in 1966, “Tush Hog”. Down South, also notes something the late producer Jim the word meant deluxe, Dickinson told him after the band made La Grange plush. And a tush hog Eliminator: “He said, ‘You have taken Tres Hombres 1973 was very deluxe. We had blues to a very surreal plane. And it still You had this explosion of the riff going, Dusty fell holds the tradition.’ Southern rock. But Texas in with the vocal, and we was different – South- wrote it in three minutes. 99th Floor ern enough but off to the We had the advantage (Moving Sidewalks song) side. We were extolling of that dual meaning of Non-album single 1967 the virtues of our prox- I looked the word “tush” [grins]. Nobody could escape the British Invasion. imity to Mexico and that It’s that secret blues lan- “99th Floor” was part Beatles and part gunslinger mentality. over and guage – saying it without Rolling Stones. The triplet drumbeat came “La Grange” was one of saying it. off “Taxman”; the chord change was from a the rites of passage for a Hendrix Rolling Stones single. The 13th Floor Ele- young man. It was a cat- I Thank You vators were a band from Austin – we start- house, way back in the was in the Degüello 1979 ed drifting into what they were doing: psy- woods. The simplicity of I remember hearing the chedelic sounds. The idea for “99th Floor” that song was part of the wings, Sam and Dave single on was, if the Elevators were going up, I was magic – only two chords. wide-eyed, the radio in Houston; I going further. And the break coming was turning the corner out of the solo – those grinning. onto the Gulf Freeway, Red House notes are straight Rob- going to my grandmoth- (Jimi Hendrix song) ert Johnson. He did it as er’s house. Shortly there- Are You Experienced 1967 a shuffl e. I just dissected after, we were off to Mem- A buddy said, “There’s a song that you the notes. phis to record. I got to the oughta hear.” He was talking about “Red studio and said, “Man, I House”, by Jimi Hendrix, and that com- Jesus Just Left heard that Sam and Dave pletely turned us upside down. It was Chicago song. I’d forgotten how blues taken beyond. Then the Sidewalks Tres Hombres 1973 good it was. It’s that keyboard part.” Lo got hired to join the Experience tour in There was a buddy of mine when we were and behold, the very clavinet used on their 1968. We didn’t have enough material for teenagers – everybody called him R&B Jr. recording was in the studio. We fi red it up, 45 minutes, so we started doing “Purple He had all these colloquialisms. He blurt- and it was ready to go. There was no way Haze”. I looked over and Hendrix was in ed out “Jesus just left Chicago” during a we were going to do Sam and Dave exact. the wings, wide-eyed, grinning. We had phone conversation and it just stuck. We But if you’re going to take a shot, make it seen his showman antics from older blues took what could have been an easy 12-bar a good one. That album was our fi rst for guitarists. But he had a vision and aura. blues and made it more interesting by add- Warner Bros., and they were doing such ing those odd extra measures. It’s the same a good job. The song was our message – Senior writer David Fricke wrote chords as “La Grange” with the Robert not only to the fans and friends but to the about Kurt Cobain in RS 763. Johnsonlick,butweirder.RobertJohnson label guys.

72 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 track had this heavyweight bass line from a synthesiser. You know who was poppin’ at this time? Depeche Mode. I went to see them one night, and it was a mind-bend- er. No guitars, no drums. It was all com- ing from the machines. But they had blues threads going through their stuff . I went backstage; I had to meet these guys. They were surprised – “What brings you here?” I said, “Man, the heaviness.” We became friends. Martin Gore was a guitar player trapped behind the synthesisers. He was like, “Man, let’s talk guitar.”

My Head’s in Mississippi Recycler 1990 My buddy Walter Baldwin spoke in the most poetic way. Every sentence was a visu- al awakening. His dad was the editor of the Houston Post. We grew up in a neighbour- hood where the last thing you would say is, “These teenagers know what blues is.” But our appreciation dragged us in. Years later, we were sitting in a tavern in Memphis called Sleep Out Louie’s – you could see the Mississippi River. Wal- ter said, “We didn’t grow up pickin’ cotton. Hombres We weren’t fi eld hands in Mississippi. But my head’s there.” Our platform, in ZZ Top, : Gibbons was we’d be the Salvador Dalí of the Delta. and ZZ Top, Left: Gibbons It was a surrealist take. This song was not nd from right) a big radio hit. But we still play it live, even he Moving if it’s just the opening bit. alks with rix, 1968. I Gotsta Get Paid La Futura 2012 I heard “25 Lighters” [a 1998 Houston rap single by DJ DMD, Lil’ Keke and Fat Pat] when it came out. It was so pecu- k. Devo was a big liar I couldn’t forget about it. We were in m – and the B-52s the studio and [co-producer] Rick Rubin parents’ car, watching cars coming in the as song “Party Out of called up: “We need one more song.” Our opposite direction. And I could name ’em Bounds”. Our song “Party on the Patio” engineer Gary Moon was in the other all. My dad bought a Dodge Dart – an en- was an extension of that. [The critic] room, watching Lightnin’ Hopkins on try-level, economy-priced car. It had no Lester Bangs played it for some punks in YouTube. An earful of that prompted me radio. The only amenity was a heater – talk New York, and they dug it. It proved we to blurt out “25 Lighters”. Gary said, “I en- about miserable, driving in that during weren’t just a boogie band. We had this gineered that.” Isn’t that ironic? those Texas summers. The sound you hear New Wave edge. We put the two [sounds] together for “I on the intro is that 1964 Dart. Gotsta Get Paid”. It was legit ghetto. Hip- I still have that car. It would not die. Gimme All Your Lovin’ hop is the cry of angst that propelled the I do very little mechanic work, but I was Eliminator 1983 blues. If blues is the highest of highs, low- at a speed shop in Pomona, California. We had dabbled with the synthesiser, and est of lows and all points in between, what The head honcho saw me with a wrench, then all this gear was showing up from comes out runs right through hip-hop. going under a car, and said, “God, get out manufacturers. We threw caution to the of there. That exhaust system is hot, and winds. This was one of the fi rst tracks Treat Her Right that beard is like a bale of hay.” But I love that started unfolding. (Gibbons solo song) those crazy automobiles. That video was the big car connection. Perfectamundo 2015 I started that project, building the Elim- The tune had a Texas legitimacy. The Roy Groovy Little Hippie Pad inator [ZZ Top’s customised 1930s Ford Head single came out of Houston. And it El Loco 1981 Coupe], in 1976. We were shooting in was not about girls. It was about heroin. I saw Devo doing a soundcheck at a Hous- California, but I still owed the builder That a hit like that got through in 1965 ton club, a country & western bar, of $150,000. I went to the accountant: “It’s – that’s as blues as you can get, saying it all places. I had heard their fi rst album on the album cover. Can I get a write-off ?” without saying it. and kind of dug it. One of the guys in the “Yeah, you’re promoting your business.” The Afro-Cuban thing – it seemed to band was playing a Minimoog, and he did I scared up the dough and paid it off . make sense there. The song goes so far this fi gure on it [hums a bouncy robotlike back that most people like this because of riff ]. He was just noodling around. But it Sharp Dressed Man Eliminator 1983 the feel rather than “What an interesting was enough. I went to see a fi lm. The credits were roll- twist on that old song.” But there is that What came out of that was “Groovy Lit- ing, and one of the players was described constant presence: Texas. It’s this thing

PREVIOUS SPREAD: GETTY IMAGES. THIS PAGE: GETTY IMAGES, 2 tle Hippie Pad” – same fi gure. It was a di- as “Sharp Eyed Man”. That started it. The that helps make everything cool.

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 73 Buddy Guy at home in Orland Park, Illinois, in August BY PATRICK DOYLE

PHOTOGRAPH BY DANNY CLINCH

BUDDY GUY MAY BE THE LAST BLUES GREAT OF HIS ERA, BUT HIS MOJO’S STILL WORKING

hen buddy guy bar. The waitress already has his Heinek- is in town, he en with a glass of ice ready; it’s his reg- leaves his house in ular drink, despite the fact the staff are Orland Park, Illi- wearing T-shirts advertising Buddy Brew nois, around 7:30 (“The Damn Right Beer”). “When I go p.m. and makes home tonight, I don’t wanna be caught the 40-kilometre drunk,” he says by way of explanation. drive up I-55 to “The Buddy Brew is a little stronger. downtown Chica- That’s why a lot of people like it, man – go, listening to you get your money’s worth.” B.B. King’s Blues- At this point in his life, Guy is the ville station on satellite radio on the way. greatest living Chicago bluesman, and He drops his big white Lexus in his usual one of the most infl uential guitar players prime parking-garage spot, then walks ever. But for more than 50 years, he’s also down the block on Buddy Guy Way to his been a club manager. He started manag- club, Legends. Tonight is a little slow; ing in 1961 at Club 99 in Joliet, Illinois, just a few people from the Hilton across where he once booked Little Walter for the street, eating at scattered tables on a 90-cent bottle of Seagrams gin. The the checkerboard fl oor. Rolling Stones and Muddy Waters came Wearing a white Legends baseball cap, to play Guy’s tiny old club the Checker- a Hawaiian shirt and a bracelet engraved board Lounge in 1981 (although their en- with nothing but blues, Guy stops tourage fi lled up 55 of the club’s 65 seats – and looks around for a minute, flash- “I didn’t hear my cash register ring once,” ing a big grin, his gold-and-diamond- said Guy). capped teeth sparkling. He takes a seat The walls of Legends are covered in at his stool in the corner of the L-shaped guitars donated by visitors: Jeff Beck, 7 5 Eric Clapton, Jimmie and Stevie Ray Attheageof79,Guystillplaysmore break it, and I can’t. As soon as I hear Vaughan. “Eric don’t come around any- than150showsayear–bluescruises,ca- birds, it sounds like somebody calling me.” more,” Guy says of Clapton. “He can’t sinos, state fairs, even, ironically, a Hen- Guy’s mother would also rise at 4:30 even look at whiskey.” The Stones will drixtributetour.Butafterthedeathofhis a.m. to cook on the wood stove of their still visit, though – all four band mem- friend B.B. King earlier this year, some- shotgun-style one-storey house in Letts- bers enjoyed a rare night out together at bodyhastokeepdoingit.“WhenB.B. worth, Louisiana – on a good day, bis- Legends in June. (“Keith hasn’t slowed passed away, I kind of woke up and said, cuits and fried eggs from their sharecrop- down nothing,” says Guy. “He drank ev- ‘I’mthelastonehere’,”saysGuy.“It’salit- per farm, which she’d put in a bag for Guy erything I was selling in the club – moon- tle scary.” and his four siblings to take to school. The shine, gin, whiskey, everything. Son of a “He’s the top honcho now, you know?” kids would kill the chickens. “We’d live to bitch is made of iron, man.”) saysKeithRichards.“He’sthegodfa- eat, and eat to live,” he says. “When I got Sometimes Guy sticks his head in ther now.” big enough to catch a fi sh, [my parents] areas the staff thinks are below his were the happiest people in the world.” pay grade – he gets testy when drink his morning, like Guy loves talking about farm life: milk- lines get too long, or when bartenders most mornings, Guy ing cows in the morning, herding cattle, leave the cash register open. He proud- wakes up at 4:30 and picking cotton with his siblings. Guy says ly notes that merchandise sales in- is at the supermarket that he didn’t know what electricity was crease 90 per cent when he’s in the room. by seven. When I until he was 12 or running water until 16; “Most clubs are not surviving because show up at his bunga- the family drank rainwater stored in bar- of DUI and non smoking,” he says, “but low-style suburban rels. “Wasn’t no such thing as acid rain they come see me sitting at the bar and home, he is simmer- back then,” he says. “You could be walking take pictures.” ing ribs in garlic, on- home from school after a rainy day, and Legends is one of the few major Chi- ions and bell peppers, you could just lay down on the ground and cago blues clubs standing. “I think if I as his mother’s sauce recipe cooks in a drink out of a horse’s track.” He smiles. “It closed my club, there might be two left,” hadasweettaste.” says Guy. When he first arrived here, in Guywasbornin1936;JimCrowwas 1957,“therewasn’tevenspacetohavean- “WHEN B.B. PASSED afactoflife.Herememberswalkingto otherclub,thereweresomany.Youcould school with his siblings while the white workChicagosevennightsaweek.They kidstookthebus.“Theywouldpassuson were small, 40 to 50 people. But Muddy AWAY, I WOKE UP AND the gravel road,” he says. “The dust looked wasplaying,SonnyBoyWilliamson,all like fog coming, and we’d run off to the of ’em. No cover charge.” sideoftheroadtoavoidthedust.Andthey Guy’srealcareerbegannotfarfrom SAID, ‘I’M THE LAST ONE wouldbespittingandthrowingstuff atus. here at the South Side’s 708 Club, where We never let it bother us. Because that’s he developed his unhinged live show – thewayitwas.”Hetellsthestoryofwhen playing overdriven licks behind his back, HERE’,” SAYS GUY. his parents’ white landlord told his son he orwithhisteeth.Hisfirstnightthere, could no longer hang out with Guy. (Years Watersstoppedby,invitingGuyintohis later, the friend visited Guy: “He came to car for a salami sandwich and convincing “IT’S A LITTLE SCARY.” my house in Louisiana and cried, asking him not to return home to Louisiana. Two me,‘Doyourememberthat?’AndI’dsay, decades younger than players like Waters ADDS RICHARDS: “HE’S ‘Itwasn’tyou.Itwasthem.’”) and Howlin’ Wolf, Guy would become the “My parents were very religious,” says heir apparent to the greatest generation of Guy.“Mymamausedtosay,‘Ifyouget bluesandR&Bplayers.“Hewasayoung- THE GODFATHER NOW.” slapped, turn the other cheek, so they erbluesmusicianinafieldtotallydomi- can slap the other side.’ They didn’t teach nated by much older guys,” said Clapton. us no hate.” “He was standing with the masters, hold- separate pot. “I cook for myself, so I just That lesson may explain why, when ing his own.” trytomakeenoughfortomorrow,”he Guy first moved to Orland Park more “Hejustblewmyheadoff,”saysJeff says.“It’sjustaroutinething. thanadecadeago,hedidnotgetangry Beck,whosawGuyonhisfirstEnglish “Igotallofthisshippedtomefromthe when he woke up one snowy morning and tour in the mid-Sixties. “He came off the South,”Guycontinuesasheopensabig discovered someone had egged his home. stageattheendofhisactandwalked cupboard of seasonings, containers with Instead,aftercleaningitup,hegotout through the crowd, playing one-handed, nameslikeMemphisMojoandSpiceSu- his snowblower and cleaned every neigh- the guitar above his head. I’d never seen preme.“Igotsomeshityoucan’tevenlet bor’s sidewalk. “They said, ‘A black man anything like it. He walked through the it pass by your face. Everything here is gets eggs thrown on his house, and he’s crowd, and it was like a bunch of disci- spicyexceptmytomatosauce.I’mfrom still plowing snow off everybody’s side- ples following him out of the building. Louisiana,man!”Onthetopshelf,there’s walk, corner to corner?’” Guy says. “And Thenhecamebackandfinishedhisact. ajugofmoonshineinaplasticcontain- we were the best of friends after that.” This was pre-Hendrix, pre-everybody.” er.HegetsitfromafanfromTennessee. IntheSixties,Guydidnotechothere- Jimi Hendrix would watch Guy from the “You want some for breakfast?” Guy asks sentment of some of his peers toward the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival and withagrin.(RichardsapprovesofGuy’s white rock bands that became rich play- Manhattanclubs.AndwhenClaptonsaw corn liquor: “It’s very, very good,” he says. ing the blues. “When those songs would Guyin1965,heremembered,“Iwant- “And there’s a lot of it.”) comeon,Iheardalotofguyssay,‘Idoit ed to do what he was doing – a blues trio! Aftercooking,he’llgobacktobed better’,”saysGuy,gesturingtowardhis Iwouldbetheslickfrontman,awhite (friendsknownottocallbetween1and indoor pool. “My answer to that is, if you Buddy Guy.” 6p.m.)beforedrivingtotheclub.“Iget swim 10 lengths of a pool and I swim two, threeandahalfhoursofsleepatnight, you’re doing something I ain’t. Associate editor Patrick Doyle wrote threeandahalfintheafternoon,”hesays. “The British did more for us than any about Keith Richards in RS 769. “It’sbeenlikethatfor50years.Itryto record company,” he continues. He likes

76 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 JustafterGuyfinishedeighthgrade, hismotherhadastroke,and“everything Smokestack changed”, he wrote. “She could no lon- ger smile....I’d be hungry for that smile Lightning fortherestofmylife.”(Guyplaysapol- ka-dotStratasatributetohismother; beforeherdeathin1968,hepromisedhe (1) Guy onstage in wouldsomedaybuyherapolka-dotCadil- London in 1965. “If lac.)Guydroppedoutofschool,andthe youbringmeout family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, onstage, I’m going where Guy worked on a conveyor belt at a to give it to you,” he beer factory, at a service station gassing says.In1970,he up cars and as a janitor at LSU. He’d hear toured with Janis on the radio hits like Waters’ “Hoochie Joplin, the Grateful CoochieMan”andElmoreJames’“Dust Dead and the Band. My Broom”, playing them on his guitar (2) Playing in 1969 during breaks. He eventually learned that withEricClapton, all those acts were in one place. “I said, ‘If whocalledGuy“the Ievergetachance,I’mgoingtoChicago, best guitar man’,”hesays.“JusttoseeMuddy–that’s player alive”. what it was all about.” (3) With B.B. King OnenightinBatonRouge,Guyspent in1993.Theymeton 50 cents to hear New Orleans electric the Chicago club bluesman Guitar Slim at the Mason- scenein1958and icTemple.Guyremembersbeingthe became best first one to the gig and being confused friends, later touring when he heard Slim’s guitar but couldn’t the world several seehim.Afterthebandstartedplaying, times together. “He Slim entered the club from outside, his was the nicest man Strathookeduptoa45-metrewire.“He you would ever was slick as grease and dressed to kill,” want to meet,” Guywrote,“flamingredsuit,flaming says Guy. redshoes,red-dyedhair”.Hesaysnow, “Whatever these guys had, I wanted a pieceofthat.” By then, Guy had started perform- ingn in juke joints and roadhouses. He 1 boought a long cord and began doing Slim’smoves.“Iwantedtoplaylikel 3 2 B.B.B King but act like Guitar Slim,” heh says. The stunt is still part of Guy’s act;a these days, he prowls clubs with hish wireless guitar, usually stopping ata the bar to throw back a shot of cognac. Guywouldgrowintoadynam- ic, even confrontational, perform- er.(OnenightatLegends,Iseehim tell a loud customer to “shut the fuck up”fromthestage.)“Buddymade it nasty and naughty,” says Carlos Santana. “B.B.’s nice, Buddy is not, to tell the story about how the Roll- andImeanthatinagoodway.He ing Stones only agreed to appea can take off people’s heads with a on the popular show Shindig! i few nnotes.Hecomesfromthatgenera- Wolf came on the show with them. “That R&Bchart.GuyaskedCoottoplaythe tion like Albert King and Albert Collins brought tears to my eyes,” Guy says. “They songseventimesinarow.“Iwatchedhim –itwascalledthecut-and-shootcrowd.” let white America know who we were.” pick the thing with his fingers and pro- Guy arrived in Chicago on Septem- Every Christmas, Guy’s father would duce a sound that gave me goose bumps,” ber 25th, 1957, the date he calls his “sec- invite an acquaintance, Henry “Coot” Guylaterwroteinhisautobiography, ond birthday”. (“Buddy has a phenome- Smith, to the house to entertain the fam- When I Left Home.Guytookwiresoff nal memory,” says Richards. “He can tell ily.“Wehadacaseofbeerandajugof theirscreendoorandtriedtoimitatethe you the time of day he arrived in Chica- wine, and he’d drink it up and play, and sound. “I’d also take a rubber band and go and what train he was on.”) At first, then go to the next house,” says Guy. putitupagainstmyearandbangawayas Guystayedwithafamilyfriendnamed Coot stomped and sang songs like John long as I could hear something,” says Guy. Shorty, who’d also moved from Louisiana. LeeHooker’shit“BoogieChillen’”,ahyp- “I just loved the sound.” Finally, when He crashed on Shorty’s bed during the notising riff with no discernible melo- Guy was 13, his father bought Coot’s gui- daywhilehewasatwork,andwalkedthe dy that in 1949 became the first elec- tar for $4.35. The first song Guy learned streetsatnight,drinkingcoffeeindiners,

GETTY IMAGES, 3 tricbluessongtohitNumberOneonthe to play was “Boogie Chillen’”. waiting for Shorty to wake up.

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 77 Six months after arriving, Guy was plifi er up loud as I could get, dropping the solo.’ And this motherfucker wrote that I broke, ready to call his parents for a tick- guitar on the fl oor and letting it ring for got in Eric’s way!” et home. But then, as he tells it, a strang- fi ve minutes,” says Guy. But if “I hit a note Guy’s sensitivity might explain why er on the street noticed him with his gui- and let it ring in the studio, Leonard Chess Santana unfailingly tells him how special tar case and invited him to the 708 Club, would say, ‘Get out of here with that.’ ” he is when they are together. “If he doesn’t where Otis Rush allowed him to sit in. Guy found an outlet with longtime col- wanna see that himself, that’s his own The bar owner called Waters, who came laborator Junior Wells on groove-driven business,” Santana says. “But when he’s to watch. “I was telling people how hun- classics like 1965’s Hoodoo Man Blues, around me, I do nothing but validate that gry I was,” says Guy. “And when he heard which Guy played on under a pseudonym man all the time. I tell him, ‘Man, you’re me play, he said, ‘Well, how can you play for another label. Then around 1967, with just as important as Einstein. You’re just like that and be hungry?’ ” blues disciples like Clapton and Hendrix as important as fucking Nikola Tesla. Waters became a “father fi gure” to Guy. on the rise, Guy finally left Chess. He You’re just as important as Coltrane and “Muddy taught me how to drink,” he says. got some small satisfaction when Leon- Billie Holiday. You’re a trailblazer with “Hegavememyfirstdrinkofwhiskey ard asked him in for a meeting. “The first sound–andyou’restillalive.’” andtoldmeitwouldstopmefrombeing thinghesaidwas,‘Iwantyoutokickme shy.Andstilltothisday,wheneverI’ve in my ass’,” says Guy. “And I said, ‘What?’ uy’s driveway be- gottoplay,I’vegottohavemyshotbe- Hesaid,‘Becauseyou’vebeentryingto gins across the street foreIgoonstage.” show us this shit ever since you came here from a golf course in Or- Waters’ friend Willie Dixon opened the land Park. It takes 400 doorforGuyatChessRecords,where,as metres to reach a large a session guitarist, Guy earned a reputa- “BUDDY MADE IT NASTY barn that stores a ’55 T- tion for being punctual and easygoing. “I Bird, a ’56 Ford Edsel wasthestudent,”hesays.Heplayedon and a Ferrari that Clap- hits by Little Walter and Sonny Boy Wil- AND NAUGHTY,” SAYS ton encouraged him to liamson, classic records like Waters’ Folk buy. (“I don’t want it no Singer andWolf’s“KillingFloor”.“They more now, ’cause you can’t hardly get in called about 7:00 in the morning, and SANTANA. “HE CAN TAKE there when you’re my age,” says Guy.) The hadbeentryingtodoitallnight,”says large brown three-storey home, which fea- Guyofthelatter.“Ididitintwotakes, tures wood-panel walls and ceramic coun- and Leonard Chess said, ‘See, you moth- YOUR HEAD OFF WITH tertops, was decorated by his ex-wife, Jen- erfuckers,ItoldyouIcouldcallasonof nifer. He’s considering putting it on the abitchwhowouldknowhowtoplaythe market – it’s too big for him; he’s almost fuckin’shitintwoseconds.’” ONE NOTE. HE COMES never swum in the pool – and buying an “YoucanfindanoldChessrecording apartment in downtown Chicago. andpickhimoutprettyquickly,”says This hot August morning, Guy is stir- DerekTrucks.“Hejusthadavibe–itre- FROM THE CUT-AND- ring oxtail stew, which he’ll drop off at mindsmealotofthegreatfunkrhythm the club later. “It’s for my ex-wife so she players that came after. It’s not overdriv- leaves me alone,” he jokes. Guy is friend- en, but it’s blown out in the most beau- SHOOT CROWD.” ly with both his former wives, who can tifulway–stinging,cleanandconcise.” sometimes be found hanging out at the Guymade$15forhisworkon“Killing bar or in the offi ce at Legends. The entire Floor”. He made more during those years and we was too goddamn dumb to listen. family – wives, 10 kids, umpteen grand- drivingatowtruck.“I’ddrivethattruck So now this shit is selling and I want you kids – celebrated his 79th birthday to- until it was time to play guitar,” he says. to come in here – you can have your way gether here at the house and at the club. “Ikepttheguitarinthetruck,andthen in the studio.’ But by then I was gone.” Guy’s grandson Keith has been crashing Iwouldjustgointothedressingroom, After leaving Chess, Guy found a home upstairs, and today is shooting hoops in takeashowerandgostraighttothegig on the hippie circuit, playing the Fillmore the driveway. andplaytillfourinthemorningandlay and touring on the 1970 “Festival Ex- Guy and his second wife, Jennifer, di- downinthecar.” press” tour with Janis Joplin, the Grate- vorced after 11 years in 2002. His fi rst It wasn’t much better for the established ful Dead and the Band. “I thought maybe marriage, to Joan, whom he met shortly names: Guy learned that King was only I’d get rich and make that kind of money after moving to Chicago, lasted from 1959 making enough “to get from one town to if I followed those [rock] guys,” he says. “I to 1975. “She told me, ‘It’s me or that gui- thenext”.“Muddywastheonlyonewho liked the women better than the reefer. I tar’,” he says. “A musician’s life is not easy had a house,” he says. “Lightnin’ Hop- said, ‘Y’all go smoke, and I’ll watch these on a family. . . . The two [marriages] I had, kins didn’t have a house like that, or Little little gals.’ ” He sometimes wonders what I was never here. And they would come to Walter.” Chess became notorious for get- would have happened if he had moved to me and say, ‘I’m tired of being by myself.’ tingartiststosignawaypublishingrights: the U.K. in the mid-Sixties, where Hen- And I said, ‘What the hell do you think I “EverytimeIwenttoChessandIhad drix got his early buzz. “If I had went to do when I’m on the road?’ I go to one lit- wrote a song that they thought was pret- England, I probably would have been big- tle room. When you play at the club, you ty good, they’d tell me to let Willie Dixon ger than bubblegum,” he says. got a crowd. But otherwise, I’m by myself.” hear it,” says Guy. Dixon was Chess’ main Guy tends to talk himself down. “I’ll tell He hasn’t stopped looking for someone. A&Rman,talentscout,producerand you, man, those guys were naturals – B.B. “I see a lot of good-looking women, and I songwriter.“He’dsay,‘That’saprettygood King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Joe Turner,” have women call me and all that, man,” song,butyouneedastrongerline.’Andif he says. “All those guys, man, had some- he says. “But I haven’t had any luck. In the hechangedoneword,itwashissong.” thing that God gave them. . . . I don’t have last three years, I didn’t go to bed with ’em. Chess was uninterested in Guy’s wild- that.” A few times, he refers to a local re- I just had conversation and brought them er, more adventurous playing or in him view of his performance with Clapton at out here and fi xed them a good dinner.” asarecordingartist.“Attheclub,I’dbe the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival. “Eric Guy heads into his living room and jumping off the stage, turning that am- called me out to play, and he said, ‘Take a points out some of his favourite mem-

78 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 who I am,” Guy says. He fi rst heard King’s 1951 hit “3 O’Clock Blues” as a teenager in Baton Rouge, and it became an early song in his repertoire. In 1958, King stopped by Guy’s regular gig at the 708 Club, and off ered words of encouragement, telling Guy to use straight picks, not fi nger picks. “I couldn’t believe he was talking to me,” Guy says. Later, when Guy was gigging at a Chicago nightclub that was in danger of going out of business in the Sixties, King played there for free. Guy and King toured the world sev- eral times together until 2011, with Guy opening. “Him and I were the last ones still travelling around, taking the music around the world,” he says. Guy was im- pressed with King’s work ethic; he played 250 dates per year into his seventies. “The last time we was talking, I said, ‘B, you know all the money in the world ain’t no good if you can’t use it’,” Guy says. What’d they talk about on tour? “Oh, it was mostly profane,” Guy says with a laugh. “With B.B., he’d play two chords and it was back to the women.” (Guy likes to tell a story about King giving advice on Key to the Highway Viagra’s side eff ects: “Take the headache.”) When he heard King’s health was fail- Above:Guyperformingathis ing, Guy travelled to visit him one last Chicago club, Legends. Right: time at his home in Las Vegas, but some Receiving his Kennedy Center of King’s kids said he didn’t want to see Honor from President Obama. anybody. “Families go crazy if they think “It’s a long way from picking you got $10, and they’re gonna fi ght about cotton to picking the guitar in it,” says Guy. “He was the nicest person the White House,” Guy said. you would ever want to meet. And I know damn well he wouldn’t have told those people not to let me see him when I fl ew orabilia collected over his 60 out there to see him.” years in the business: a photo Guy said goodbye to King at his funer- of him grinning onstage with al in Mississippi in May. “They let me get a Clapton at the Royal Albert little bit closer to his casket than anybody Hall in 1990; a thank-you note else – special treatment,” he says. “But I from Mick Jagger for appearing in Shine a Guy played Antone’s nightclub in Austin, had very little time to just sit there and re- Light. There’s a photo of Guy with his fam- he invited Vaughan and his older broth- member the greatest things he had said to ily and the president and fi rst lady from er Jimmie onstage. “He became like a big me and what we had done together. There the fi rst of four times Guy was invited to brother to us,” says Jimmie. “It was such a were a lot of cameras. They showed a fi lm the Obama White House. “He’s from Chi- trip.” Guy played with Stevie Ray at Wis- of him playing, and I said, ‘Man, that’s cago, so he knows,” Guy says of Obama. consin’s Alpine Valley in 1990 – Guy took what made me wanna keep playing.’ ” “As soon as he put his arm around me, I a diff erent helicopter back to Chicago; Guy’s assistant Annie stops him; he said, ‘Mr. President, it’s a long way from Vaughan’s helicopter crashed, killing him needs to tape a few social-media videos picking cotton to picking the guitar in the and four others. thanking his Twitter followers and pro- White House.’ And we laughed.” Guy is still supporting younger blues moting an appearance at a Las Vegas blues Guy points out a painting of Hendrix, players. He routinely lets kids onstage festival. Guy has touring down to a sci- and tells the story of the day Hendrix to show off , most notably Massachusetts ence. “I just saw that we get to play my brought a reel-to-reel recorder to tape teenage guitar prodigy Quinn Sullivan, hometown of Baton Rouge,” he says at Guy’s guitar workshop at Newport. “Ev- who fi rst played live with Guy at seven. one point. He’ll have an overnight bus ride eryone was saying, ‘Hendrix is here’,” Guy “Parents will bring ’em around and ask, after the show, but he’s happy, because says. “I’m like, ‘Who?’ We went back to the and if they can play, I’ll give them an op- he’ll get to stay in the house he just bought hotel and played until the sun rose. He was portunity,” Guy says. “Because when I there and cook for himself: “I get off work, so damn good, so creative.” went to Chicago, everybody looked at me they rush me to the house, I take a shower, Next to that is a painting of Stevie and said, ‘Who are you?’ I don’t ask, ‘Do take a bowl of soup, come downstairs with Ray Vaughan, playing his guitar behind you have any experience?’ I just say, ‘Can my bag and head to the next gig. his back – a trick he learned from Guy. you play this?’ If he says, ‘Yeah’, I say, “B.B. King dedicated his life to the “That one’s priceless,” he says. Vaughan ‘Come on up!’ ” blues until he couldn’t go no more,” says had been a fan ever since he heard Guy In the corner of the room, there’s a Guy. “Muddy, Wolf, all of them did it. Be- singing and playing alongside Wolf and jukebox stocked with records of the guys cause they loved it as much as I do. And Waters on the 1963 American Folk Fes- who did the same thing for Guy: Little now I’m gonna do it myself. I think I owe

GETTY IMAGES, 2 tivaloftheBluesLP as a kid. Whenever Walter,WatersandKing.“Theymademe that to them.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 79 The Dark njuly15th in pitts- burgh, David J. Hick- ton, a grey-haired U.S. attorney in a crisp dark suit, stepped out before O an American fl ag to an- nounce the feds’ latest victory against online crime. “We have dismantled a cy- ber-hornet’s nest of criminal hackers, which was believed by many to be im- penetrable,” he said. “We are in the pro- Net cess of rounding up and charging the hornets.” By the next morning, more Inside the Web’s secret than 70 people across the world had been charged, arrested or searched in space for drug dealers, whattheDepartmentof Justice called “the largest coordinated international law-enforcement effort ever directed at arms traffickers, hackers an online cybercriminal forum”. After an 18-month international in- vestigation led by the FBI, known as and political dissidents Operation Shrouded Horizon, hackers onasitecalledDarkodewere accused of wire fraud, money laundering and con- – all funded by the spiring to commit computer fraud. The trail of crimes was massive, with one member compromising companies in- U.S. government cluding Microsoft and Sony and another swiping data from more than 20 million victims. HicktonsaidDarkode posed “one of the gravest threats to the integ- By David Kushner rity of data on computers in the United States and around the world”. Its com- ILLUSTRATION BY SEAN McCABE puters were considered “bulletproof” from the law by running on offshore servers – including one traced to Sey- chelles, the remote island nation in the Indian Ocean. “Cybercriminals should not have a safe haven to shop for the tools

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The Dark Net oftheirtrade,”saidFBIDeputyDirec- that’sjustaGooglesearchaway.Butdive lifeinprison.InAugust,hackersdumped torMarkF.Giuliano,“andOperation belowandyou’llseethevastexpanseofthe the personal information of 36 mil- Shrouded Horizon shows we will do all we Deep Web: all the data that search engines lion users of Ashley Madison, the cheat- can to disrupt their unlawful activities.” can’tfind,whichismuchlargerthanthe ers’ website, on the Darknet. After ISIS Atleastforabit.Twoweekslater, Surface Web. This includes anything be- claimedresponsibilityforashootingout- “Sp3cial1st”, the main administrator of hind a paywall (like Netflix), a password- side a Prophet Mohammed cartoon con- Darkode, posted a retaliatory statement protected site (like your e-mail) or a Web test in Texas in May, the Darknet was sin- onanewwebsite–underscoringthefeds’ page that requires you to do your search- gled out for blame. Michael B. Steinbach, struggletopolicetheInternet.“Mostofthe ingthere(likewhenyou’retryingtofind assistantdirectoroftheFBI’scounter- staff is intact, along with senior members,” court records). terrorism division, told the House Home- Sp3cial1st wrote. “It appears the raids fo- TheDarknetlurksintheDeepWeb, land Security Committee that encryption cusedonnewlyaddedindividualsorpeo- becausethesitestherecan’tbefoundby tools have given such terrorists “a free plethathavebeenretiredfromthescene search engines either. But here’s the big zone by which to recruit, radicalise, plot foryears.Theforumwillbeback.”He difference: The Darknet is composed of and plan”. Without the ability to adequate- vowed the organisation would regroup on people and sites that want to remain anon- ly monitor the terrorists online, Steinbach the Web’s deepest, most impenetrable re- ymous and, unless you’re using the Tor went on, “we’re past going dark in certain gion,theDarknet–aspacewhereany- browser, are nearly impossible to find. Tor instances. We are dark.” one, including criminals, can remain vir- lets you peruse the Surface Web, just as Despite the high-profile busts of Dark- tually anonymous. And the Darknet could youdowithFirefoxorSafari,butitalso ode and Silk Road, the Darknet is thriv- never be shut down – thanks, convenient- allows you to surf Amazon and Silk Road. ing. According to an August study by re- ly,tothefeds,whocreateditandarestill Using a regular browser like Firefox, you searchers at Carnegie Mellon University, financing its growth. can be identified by your Internet Proto- criminals earn an estimated $100 million The Darknet (sometimes called the col(IP)address,thenumericalcodethat ayearbysellingdrugsandothercontra- DarkWeb)worksontheTorbrowser,free can be traced to your unique device. But band on hidden websites using the virtu- software that masks your location and ac- ontheDarknet,yourlocation–andthe al currency bitcoin, the digital cash that tivity. Originally designed by the Naval locations of the people overseeing the sites doesn’trequireacreditcardorbankto Research Lab, Tor receives 60 per cent yousearch–remainhidden.Mostpeople process the transactions. The feds aren’t of its backing from the State Department use Tor for law-abiding privacy purposes. just battling bad guys adept at hiding on- and the Department of Defense to act as In fact, according to the Tor Project – the line, they’re also facing a massive rush of asecurenetworkforgovernmentagen- government-funded nonprofit that main- ordinary people looking to score anony- cies as well as dissidents fighting oppres- tains the browser – Darknet surfing ac- mously. “Given the high demand for the sive regimes. It is a privacy tool that has countsforonlythreepercentofTorusage. products being sold,” the CMU research- been used for both good and evil. Over the (And criminal activities are just a frac- ersconclude,“itisnotclearthattake- past decade, Tor has empowered activists tion of that.) But because the Darknet is so downs will be effective.” to spread news during the Arab Spring; it seemingly shadowy and mysterious, it has Though a lot of people think you have hashelpeddomestic-violencevictimshide become ominous in the popular imagina- to be some kind of hacker to navigate the from online stalkers; and it has allowed tion, a creepy catchall that includes every- Darknet, it’s surprisingly easy to sell or ordinary citizens to surf without advertis- thing scary lurking online: terrorists, pae- buyillegalgoodsandservices.Clickon ers tracking them. But at the same time, dophiles, dope dealers, hackers-for-hire. Tor,anditlookslikeanyotherbrows- theDarknet,whichTorenables,hasbe- Inthepastyear,someofthosescarier er–completewithitsowncartoonish come the primary cove for criminals like elements have been surfacing. In May, the onion logo – though it moves more slow- Ross Ulbricht, imprisoned founder of feds sentenced Ulbricht, founder of Silk lybecauseofcomplexroutingbehindthe SilkRoad;thehackersbehindtherecent Road–theonlineblackmarketthatgen- scenes.Insteadofendingina.comor.org AshleyMadisonattacks;andtheinter- eratedroughly$200millioninsales–to Web address, Darknet sites end in .onion national crew busted by the feds in July. and are often called onion sites. Since As an instrument for both activists and Google doesn’t crawl onion sites, you need criminals, Tor presents an increasing- to use rudimentary Darknet search en- ly difficult problem for law enforcement gines and listings such as the Hidden Wiki tosolve–exacerbatingthehaplessgame Darknet or Onion Link. of whack-a-mole facing those who try to retail sites Black-marketDarknetsiteslookalot bring law to the most lawless part of the like any other retailer, except there are Net. And the battle over the Darknet’s fu- function like categories for, say, benzos, psychedel- ture could decide the fate of online pri- icsandusedAK-47sinsteadofwoksand vacyintheU.S.andabroad.AsHickton Amazon, but lawn ornaments. On Silk Road 3, a site tells Rolling Stone, “It’s the Wild West unaffiliated with the original one, you can of the Internet.” you can search by category, or scroll down to see pictures and descriptions of bestsellers: 1 hink of the web as an purchase g90percent-puritycoke,x10methylphe- iceberg. Most people only nidate XL 18 mg (Concerta/Ritalin), and seetheso-calledSurface psychedelics so on. Vendors are verified and rated by Web above the water: all the and AK-47s thecommunity,justasoneBayandother T news and gossip and porn shopping sites. instead of ButwhilenavigatingtheDarknet Contributing editor David Kushner seemseasyenough,lawenforcementhas istheauthorofthenewaudiobook woks or lawn amuchmoredifficulttimebustingthe “Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: And Other bad guys for one simple reason: The same

True Gaming Stories”. ornaments. tools that keep government agents and PREVIOUS PAGE: DEMONSTRATION IMAGES USED IN ILLUSTRATION BY PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; AHMED MAHMOUD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; MARCO VACCA/GETTY IMAGES; HUSSAIN ALI/PACIFIC PRESS/LIGHTROCKET/GETTY IMAGES 1 he can easily be followed. But if he takes a series of trains between several cities – Feds and Paris to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Ma- Geeks Unite drid, Madrid to Berlin – he’s harder to trace. This was essentially how Syverson and his team designed the solution. In- (1) U.S. Attorney stead of a spy in Paris directly accessing David Hickton a computer in Berlin, he would be rout- announced charges stemming from the ed through a random series of computers Darkode site in July. along the way, hiding where he was based. (2) Drugs confiscated They called the network the Onion Rout- from a Darknet ing, evoking this layered means of online vendor in Germany in access. March. (3) Tor If only military people used Tor, though, founders Syverson it’d be obvious that the traffi c was govern- (bottom centre), ment-related. “We wanted to have a net- Dingledine and work that would carry traffi c for a variety Mathewson (top, from left) continue to of users,” Syverson says, “so you don’t nec- develop the browser. essarily know if this is a cancer survivor looking up information or somebody from the Navy.” In order to do that, 2 Syverson and his team made a decision he calls “central to the security of the system”: They designed Tor to be freely avail- able online and open-sourced, which meant it could be as- sessed and improved by anyone around the world. The Tor network wasn’t just designed to hide who is access- ing websites, it was created to give websites the ability to mask the locations of the serv- ers hosting them. One of the ideas was to provide a kind of secret bunker for government thing for the honest people who need to websites, so that if they were under at- protect themselves.” tack, agents could visit a hidden version Since its inception in 1923, the NRL of the site online without hackers tracing has been the military’s most esteemed re- them. These were the sites that ended with search and development lab, inventing ev- .onion. The Tor creators call them “hidden erything from radar to GPS. In 1995, Sy- services” sites – today, it’s more sensation- verson and his colleagues conceived a way ally known as the Darknet. to make online communications as se- In 2003, Tor software was publicly re- 3 cure as possible. The idea was to provide a leased. Word about the browser spread on means for anyone – including government forums among privacy advocates and re- dissidents anonymous keep criminals employees and agents – to share intelli- searchers, and it soon became the most virtually invisible too. “This is the crime gence without revealing their identities or resilient and important tool for anyone scene of the 21st century, and these traf- locations. With funding from the Depart- seeking to preserve their anonymity on- fi ckers are fi nding all kinds of ways to ment of Defense, Syverson brought on two line. Geeks, agents and activists formed cover their tracks,” says Karen Friedman scruff y graduates from the Massachusetts a volunteer network of nodes that routed Agnifi lo, Manhattan’s chief assistant dis- Institute of Technology, Roger Dingledine Tor traffi c anonymously across the world. trict attorney, who’s among those leading and Nick Mathewson, to help bring his vi- Before long, people could reliably surf the the fi ght against criminals online. “Law sion to life. Like Syverson, Dingledine – Internet without being traced – out of enforcement has to play catch-up.” a ponytailed privacy activist from Cha- sight of anyone who wanted to know who pel Hill, North Carolina – saw the project they were, where they were travelling or aul syverson, a 57-year- as a way to empower everyone in the age what they intended. old mathematician at the of online surveillance. “How can we build U.S. Naval Research Lab, a system that gives you privacy in the face or’s early adopters created Tor as a means of the large governments who are surveil- weren’t criminals – they were P for people to communi- ling the Internet as much as they can?” dissidents. One of them is cate securely online. “We certainly were Dingledine asks. “That’s a really hard re- Nima Fatemi, a black-clad aware that bad people could use it,” search problem.” T 27-year-old Iranian who says Syverson, wearing an M.C. Escher To understand how the problem was serves as a key Tor evangelist – helping T-shirt in his cluttered offi ce in Washing- solved, imagine a spy taking a train from others around the world use the software

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: GETTY IMAGES; POLIZEI SACHSEN; BRENNAN NOVAK ton, D.C., “but our goal was to have some- Paris to Berlin. If the spy travels directly, to fi ght oppressive regimes. “We needed

83 ROLLING STONE The Dark Net something different to connect to the In- ternetsafely,”hetellsme.“IfoundTorand thought, ‘This is the tool.’ It was peace of mind.” In the summer of 2009 in Tehran, Fa- temiwasrunningforhislifefromriotpo- liceaftershootingphotosofaprotest.“I felt it a duty because so many people out- side of Iran had no idea that we were pro- testing,” he says. “The state TV was just showingphotosofflowersandstuff.”As soldiers chased him, Fatemi tore through thestreets,leapingoverafallenwoman, andturnedintoacourtyardwhereasym- pathetic family gave him cover. “The po- licewouldattackmeasifIhadanRPGon my shoulder,” Fatemi says. It’sdangeroustobeasocial- mediaactivistincertainpartsofthe world. Recently, a blogger in Brazil was beheaded, and another in Bangladesh waskilledwithmachetes.InIran,blog- gerSoheilArabiwassentencedbytheSu- preme Court to be hanged for “insulting the Prophet Mohammed” in Facebook posts. (His sentence was later commuted to two years of mandatory theology study, butheisservingaseven-and-a-half-year jail sentence for insulting the Supreme Leader.) This year, four secular bloggers were murdered in Ban- gladesh alone. Atthetimeofhisnearcapture, The Fall of Silk Road Fatemi had been uploading pho- tosthatwereusedonFacebook Ross Ulbricht, the 31-year-old and Twitter to spread breaking founder of Silk Road, was sentenced news of the Iranian government’s to life in prison in 2013. Before crackdown on dissidents. Under being taken down by the FBI, his increased scrutiny, he’d turned to site sold items ranging from drugs Tor to continue working anony- to fake IDs on the Darknet. mously – and to help himself and hisfellowactivistsstayoutofjail. Fatemi held private workshops in Iran,teachingfriendsandfam- With the Tor Project still largely being ily how to use the software and financed by the DOD, Mathewson and thus strengthening the network, Dingledine have kept the software and as more users meant more nodes community evolving. For Mathews- withwhichtorelayandhidethe on, a bushy-bearded 38-year-old sci-fi online traffic. “We spread the tool every- political website about democracy can fan, its continuing spread among activ- where,”hesays. get you thrown in jail,” says Jeremy Gillu- ists throughout the world exceeded his InthedecadesincetheTorsoftware la, a staff technologist at the EFF. “That’s dreams.“I’dbegettinge-mailsfrompeo- has been released, it has spread viral- the most life-and-death reason why Tor ple saying, ‘I’m pretty sure your software ly beyond the U.S. government and into needs to exist.” saved my life’,” he recalls. “I’d say, ‘I’m very theactivistcommunity.Thisisfuelledin DuringtheArabSpring,Torhelped glad you’re alive, but I’m just this person part by the Electronic Frontier Founda- facilitate protests throughout the Mid- who’sbeenwritingsoftware–IhopeI tion, the digital-rights group which used dleEast.NasserWeddady,a39-year- don’tscrewanythingup!’” to fund and still champions Tor as a pow- old Mauritanian-American activist, was erful pro-democracy tool. Jacob Appel- livingintheStatesandbeganpromot- njanuary27th,2011, baum,thenotedactivistwhohasworked ing the underground browser – becom- Ross Ulbricht, operating closelywithEdwardSnowdenandJulian ing one of the most influential social- under the pseudonym Al- Assange, calls it “surveillance resistance”. mediadissidentsduringtheuprising. toid, announced the launch By using Tor in place of another browser, “TherewouldbenoaccesstoTwitteror O of the first black-mar- protesters and journalists can log on to Facebook in some of these places if you ketsitetoexploitthecloakingpowersof Twitter or surf dissident chat rooms with didn’thaveTor,”hesays.“Allofasud- the Darknet. “I came across this website farlessriskofbeingtrackedbyagovern- den,youhadallthesedissidentsexplod- called Silk Road,” he posted on a drug ment that might imprison them or worse. ing under their noses, and then down the forum called Shroomery.org, posing as a

“Therearecountrieswherebrowsinga road you had a revolution.” customer.“It’saTorhiddenservicethat FREEROSS.ORG; TOP: U.S.FROM JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

84 ROLLING STONE claims to allow you to buy and sell any- pany pawning a solution: Hacking Team, thing online anonymously.” a software-security fi rm based in Milan, Ulbricht, who ran the site as Dread Pi- which equips governments to fi ght back rate Roberts, was the fi rst to fully exploit DARKNET’S against criminals, activists and dissent- Tor’s potential for fostering a new kind BLACK- ers on the Darknet. As Hacking Team of criminal enterprise. It was more of a CEO David Vincenzetti wrote to his pri- novel idea than a technical feat. Ulbricht, MARKET vate mailing list after Comey’s remarks, or anyone running an illegal Web page, “The Darknet can be totally neutralised/ could simply create it on the Tor hidden BOOM decrypted. The right technology to accom- network. This made it diffi cult not only to plish this exists . . . Just rely on us.” Launched in 2003, fi nd who was hosting the address, but also The e-mails came as part of a breach the online criminal cove who was visiting it. But Ulbricht went fur- in July by an unknown attacker against ther by using bitcoin to make the subse- now has sales up to Hacking Team’s internal database. They quent transactions just as hard to track. $180 million a year revealed that the FBI has spent almost By the summer of 2011, word of the $775,000 on Hacking Team software Darknet hit the press and the pols. In a and services, including tools that, as Vin- July news conference about Silk Road, cenzetti suggested, specifi cally targeted Sen. Chuck Schumer, of New York, de- 28 criminals on the Darknet. In one e-mail monised drug sellers and buyers who were Approximate number of illegal from September, an FBI employee want- “hiding their identities through a pro- Darknet black markets online ed to know if the latest version of Hack- gram that makes them virtually untrace- ing Team’s spyware could still “reveal the able”, and called on the Drug Enforcement true IP address of target using Tor. . . . If Agency to crack down. Time magazine 70 not, can you please provide us a way to de- called the Darknet “a haven for crimi- Percentage of Darknet feat Tor . . . ? Thank you!” (When contact- nals . . . where drugs, porn and murder live sales that consist of pot, ed, the FBI said it does not comment on online”. The Daily Mail warned that “hir- Ecstasy or coke specifi c tools and techniques.) ing a hitman has never been easier”. Of course, this can all seem nutty, Many activists in the Tor community, wasteful and insidious that one end of however, wince when they hear the word 9,386 the U.S. government is trying to crack “Darknet”. Criminal sites, they say, repre- Estimated number of unique the secret code funded by another. When sent a tiny fraction of .onion traffi c. For I ask Syverson how he feels about the gov- vendors on the Darknet them, the focus on criminality obscures ernment trying to compromise Tor, he de- Tor’s greater intent. “I don’t think very clines to comment, saying that this is out much of the term ‘Darknet’,” Mathewson of the scope of his work. Mathewson, how- says with a groan. “I think it’s pretty much 35 ever, shrugs off the seemingly bizarre sce- a media creation.” Number of vendors nario. “It’s not like people are being fol- Whatever it’s called, powerful agencies selling more than $1 million lowed around by shadowy agents,” he are still taking the Darknet seriously. Ac- of illegal product quips. “I guess we kind of always assumed cording to an Edward Snowden leak in the NSA tries to break all interesting new October 2013, the NSA, during a top-se- encryption.” cret presentation in 2012, considered Tor $150-$180 Eric Rabe, spokesman for Hacking a threat. “Tor stinks,” reads the title of one Team, will not confi rm or deny the FBI’s NSA slide. “We will never be able to de- million use of the company’s tool. But he was anonymise all Tor users [but] we can de- Total annual sales on all Darknet quick to promote its software, which, he anonymise a very small fraction. ” (When tells me, allows a client to see whatev- markets combined contacted by Rolling Stone, the NSA er a target is doing on a computer or mo- declined to comment.) In another of bile device, including surfi ng the Darknet. Snowden’s revelations, Britain’s intelli- In the wrong hands, such a tool could be gence agency, the Government Commu- $475,000 used to infi ltrate or infect a victim’s ma- nications Headquarters, dismissed the Average sales per week on Silk chine. And the market for this product democratic potential of Tor as “pseudo-le- Road during March 2012 is only growing, as agencies try to break gitimate uses” that paled next to the “bad Tor, which Rabe calls “the front door to people” who ruled the Darknet. the Dark Web”. He goes on, “Clearly, Tor As a result, law-enforcement agencies $300,000 is used very broadly for criminal activity. I began seeking new ways to infi ltrate the Average sales per day on Silk don’t think even the most staunch human Darknet. In July, Interpol held its fi rst- Road during summer 2013 rights activists would say that’s not true.” ever training on “identifying the methods But most activists view the govern- and strategies used by organised crime ment’s battle against the Darknet as the networks and individuals to avoid detec- $7,000- new Reefer Madness, a misguided attack tion on the Darknet”. That same month, on something becoming increasingly en- FBI Director James Comey explained to $30,000 dangered: privacy and anonymity online. a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee the “There are a lot of governments around Average price of a gun agency’s plight in tracking encrypted com- the world that are trying to prevent peo- munications. “The tools we are asked to on the Darknet’s largest illegal ple from reaching these sites,” Dingledine use are increasingly ineff ective,” he said. market for weapons tells me one afternoon at a cafe in Phila- But according to e-mails recently delphia. When I ask him which other gov- leaked online, there was at least one com- ernment agencies are trying to break Tor,

85 ROLLING STONE The Dark Net he gives a shrug. “The simple answer is And just like other criminal enterprises ration, he tells me, came from his tours of ‘I don’t know’,” he says. “And that’s real- – like drugs and weapons – it has migrat- law-enforcement agencies, which seemed ly disturbing.” ed from the streets to the hidden corners woefully unprepared for rooting out crim- of the Internet: anonymous forums, en- inals online. “They were using Google and an kaufman, the chip- crypted chats, subscription services and Bing as part of their jobs,” he says. “The per white-haired innova- other sites that search engines are unable things they were looking for weren’t online tion head at the Defense to locate. This problem gave DARPA the through those mechanisms – they were in Advanced Research Proj- idea to take action. “It started that sim- the deeper Darknet.” D ects Agency – the DOD’s re- ply: ‘This is terrible, we should do some- Government agencies and law enforce- search and development wing – is a for- thing about it’,” Kaufman recalls. ment now work closely with DARPA to mer video-game designer who quit his What they did was create Memex: a customise Memex for their needs, and job to fi ght real-life criminals. In a dark- search engine that works on the Deep Web are also exploring its use for fi nding ISIS ened conference room in the agency’s non- and Darknet. Memex can crawl the hid- recruiters hiding online. The technolo- descript Arlington, Virgina, headquarters den Web, fi nding sites and storing data so gy is part of a booming industry based on in June, he turns on a large high-defi nition it can later be scoured, just as one would taming the Darknet. So called “threat in- monitor to show me how DARPA is trying search the Surface Web with Google. It’s telligence” firms – such as iSight Part- to win the Web’s ultimate game: cops and the latest and most important weapon ners, which compared robbers in the digital age. for online investigators and represents a to “military scouts” – charge clients like By way of example, he pulls up an ad for new phase in the confl ict that may expose banks and government agencies as much a prostitute named Cherry. In her photo, the hidden Internet like never before. As as $500,000 to comb the Darknet for po- she’s thin, Asian, and looks 19 but could be Kaufman shows me, with just Cherry’s e- tential hackers. According to Gartner, a in her thirties. Her description reads that mail address and a click, Memex displays a technology research fi rm, the market could she’s five feet four, has shoulder-length glowing matrix of associated leads: phone reach $1 billion by 2017. brown hair and no tattoos or piercings. numbers, massage-parlor addresses, pho- But could exposing the Darknet ulti- Cherry is a sex-traffi cking victim, just one tos associated with her online ads. mately kill the last place remaining for In- of an estimated 600,000 to 800,000, ac- Memex is the brainchild of Dr. Chris- ternet privacy? Online freedom fi ghters cording to the U.S. State Department, topher White, a former DARPA program hope Memex won’t have the same eff ect on who are moved across international bor- manager. Just 33, White earned his acco- those using the Darknet for legal means. ders each year. This is the fastest-growing lades as DARPA’s senior offi cial in Afghan- “Memex might be a fascinating and pow- crime industry in the world, pulling in an- istan and, in the past couple of years, set erful tool, but, like any other tool, it can be nual profi ts of nearly $100 billion. his attention on the Darknet. The inspi- used for good or ill,” a cybersecurity blog-

HOW TOR EMPOWERS INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISM The secretive browser is not just used by criminals – it allows activists to fi ght oppressive governments anonymously

Kenya China Russia Egypt Iran

In January, journalists The Great Firewall, the Freedom fi ghters in During the Arab Spring, Activists like Nima Fa- and human rights lead- Chinese government’s Russia use Tor to access activists in Tahir Square temi have relied on Tor ers launched AfriLeaks, eff orts to block or banned sites, but the used Tor to access the in Iran to provide a whistle-blower site to censor the Internet, has “Safe Internet League”, Internet and com- information and aid. expose corruption in been used to stop politi- backed by the country’s municate with other “The government only Africa – home to three of cal dissidents from using three largest mobile protesters throughout sees that you’re con- the top 10 worst-ranked Tor. But China faces a di- providers, supported a the Middle East after necting to Tor,” he says. countries for free press, lemma – it can’t shut off ban on Tor in Febru- regimes restricted Web “They don’t see what according to the Press the Internet completely. ary. “Do not forget access. “There would you’re doing there.” In Freedom Index. The “China has to walk a fi ne that Tor is an American be no access to Twitter March, Tor was attacked service relies on Tor to line because they can’t development and it’s or Facebook in some by the government, ensure the anonymity of get their corporations used by American intel- of those places if you which succeeded in cut- its sources in Kenya and off the Internet,” Dingle- ligence agencies,” the didn’t have Tor,” activist ting the browser’s users across the continent. dine says. SIL said. Nasser Weddady says. by 20 per cent.

86 ROLLING STONE seen (though this doesn’t mean they’re not there) – and the fi rst guilty pleas of its users are coming. Eric “Phastman” Crocker, a 29-year-old from Binghamton, New York, recently pleaded guilty to violating anti- spam laws after he was busted for selling malware. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 23rd, and faces up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fi nes. But as the feds count their victories, the people who depend on anonymity are still fi ghting for their lives. In August, Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court decided to review the controversial case of Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old blogger sentenced to a decade in prison and 1,000 lashes, after being ar- rested in June 2012 for allegedly criticis- ing the kingdom’s clerics. Badawi, who has since won a PEN Pinter Prize, personifi es the importance of preserving online an- onymity and freedom – made possible by the same software that powers the Dark- net. Speaking out in support of Tor, Cal- ifornia Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren is among the small group of lawmakers who believe the feds shouldn’t lose sight of its original purpose. “Tor was developed with support by the U.S. gov- ernment to promote free- dom,” she says. “That’s Aiding the Arab Spring why we support the cre- ation of Tor and remains A protester raising the Egyptian flag the core reason why Tor in Cairo in March 2013. Nima Fatemi exists.” (right) used the Tor browser to As the battle continues spread news of revolt in Iran and over the Darknet, Tor’s is now its top proponent. popularity only becomes more mainstream. Face- book now off ers a .onion version of its site on Tor ger recently posted online. “That same for those wanting to feel technology can very well be put to use to less watched. In June, invade privacy and trace the fl ow of legiti- speaking at an event for mate and private data.” EPIC, a privacy and civil “Privacy is a huge issue,” says Kaufman, liberties nonprofi t, Apple who recently left DARPA to become dep- vices protocol which could help to de-an- CEO Tim Cook railed against government uty director of Google’s Advanced Tech- onymise server locations,” they wrote. In eff orts to crack consumer devices. “Remov- nology and Projects group. Memex has other words, something in Tor seemed se- ing encryption tools from our products al- built-in limitations. It can only comb con- riously fucked. together, as some in Washington would tent on the Deep Web and Darknet that is They seemed to be referring to a new like us to do, would only hurt law-abid- publicly available – those sites that aren’t MIT study that claimed to have found cru- ing citizens who rely on us to protect their password protected or behind a paywall. cial weaknesses in Tor that allowed re- data,” he said. “The bad guys will still en- This limits Memex’s ability to bust a site searchers to break the anonymity of its crypt; it’s easy to do and readily available.” like Dark ode, which required passwords users. “We have recently been discover- Mathewson predicts that other Web for users. Memex won’t kill the Darknet ing suspicious activity around our serv- browsers like Firefox will build Tor into – but it will make it a lot more exposed to ers,” the Agora administrators continued, their functionality, and he hopes that pri- law enforcement. “I think the world is bet- “which led us to believe that some of the vacy will become “a default mode of com- ter with transparency,” Kaufman tells me. attacks described in the research could be munication on the Internet” within fi ve going on.” And, for safety’s sake, they were years. But the circuitous chase will sure- n late august, administra- temporarily taking their site off the Dark- ly continue. For all the activists using tors for the online black market net until they found a fi x. As of this writ- these tools to better the world, there will Agora, one of the biggest hubs for ing, Agora is still offl ine. be criminals employing the same tools buying dope after the bust of Silk For the time being, the cops battling to exploit it – and law enforcers hunting I Road, took to the DarkNetMar- the Darknet have reason to celebrate. them down. “I’m as concerned about pri- kets forum on Reddit with a warning. “Re- Despite the braggadocio of the Darkode vacy rights as anybody,” says U.S. Attor- cently research had come that shed some forum alum, who promised they’d resur- ney Hickton, “but would you have us do

FROM TOP: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; MARIEL IEZZONI MARIEL IMAGES; DESOUKI/AFP/GETTY KHALED TOP: FROM light on vulnerabilities in Tor Hidden Ser- face on the Darknet, they have yet to be nothing?”

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@rollingstoneaus rollingstoneaustralia rollingstoneaus NEW ALBUMS ...... Pg. 89

TECH ...... Pg. 98

MOVIES ...... Pg. 102

DVDS ...... Pg. 104 Diving Back Into the River The Boss answers a 35-year old question then opens the fl ood- gates on his reasons

Bruce Springsteen The Ties That Bind: The River Collection Sony ★★★★ BY MICHAEL DWYER “Woulda made a great single album.” That’s been the lazy fan’s rush to judgment since the double-LP dreamtime of the White Album and Exile On Main St. A million blogs and playlists are devoted to proving it now. Still, funny how wrong they all sound. In the shadow of the Clash’s fl awless London Calling, Bruce Springsteen caught some fl ak for The River in 1980. The rau- cous frivolity of “Sherry Dar- ling”, “I’m a Rocker”, “Ramrod”, “Cadillac Ranch” and espe- cially (ooh-ooh I got a) “Crush On You” fell foul of the pause button on many a righteous cassette. As it turns out, the Boss al- ready had his answer to the “What if?” question. The unis- sued single version of his dif- ficult fifth album makes its offi cial debut here, third in a 4-CD sprawl that illustrates yet again what an embarrassment of riches he had not just stuff ed in his late Seventies notebooks but fully realised on tape with his E Street Band. The chief surprise about the 10-track version is that fi ve didn’t make the double – at least in the form we know. “Cindy” and “Be True” are win- some teen romances, all “little

Illustration by Sonia Kretschmar RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 89 REVIEWSMUSIC girl” pleading and music box tinkle, presumably to shake What else up the prevailing Darkness On could he the Edge of Town (which might say? Cobain in 1994 easily have been a double too: check the copious outtakes on Cage the Elephant 2010’s The Promise). Tell Me I’m Pretty Sony The garage rockabilly take of ★★★★ “You Can Look (But You Better Kentucky rockers fi nd their Not Touch)” is almost too comi- perfect match in Dan Auerbach cal and the curiously detached draft of “Stolen Car” fails to The marriage of the Black Keys’ haunt anything like the killer Dan Auerbach with Kentucky denouement of the album we garage jammers Cage the El- know. ephant was always going to be On that score, key tracks a fortuitous pairing. On Tell “The River”, “The Ties That Me I’m Pretty Auerbach takes Bind”, “The Price You Pay” and the rein as producer and in- surprise hit “Hungry Heart” jects a fuzzy focus to Cage’s were evidently never in doubt, usually scattered creations. but no “Point Blank”? No “In- Where once they’d duck and dependence Day”? The unsur- weave from psych to blues to prising verdict is that whaddya punk, now there’s a renewed know, he got it right back in ’80 interest in scuzzy, early Sixties by blowing it all out to 20 tracks jams: the loose swagger of “Cry with all their lightweight and Baby” and “Sweetie Little Jean”. heavyhearted contradictions. Singer inhabits the swaggering cad character with Hegotitright...blowing a winking grin, but his best mo- itoutto20tracks. ments (“How Are You True”) Revealing Kurt are reserved for when he stops This much, hardcore fans chasing prospects and looks at perhaps already know. All but himself in the mirror to wonder 11 of the 27 rare tracks gathered Cobain At His what it’s all for. JULES LEFEVRE here have already surfaced on B-sides or the Tracks clear-out of ’98 – although again, some in altered states. Most Raw Those 11 form a de-facto “new” album at the front half Rare demos, stoner experiments and more of Disc 4, which opens with a unearthed from late star’s home archives Dallas Crane classic pair of urban panora- Kurt Cobain Montage of Heck: Scoundrels Nylon Sounds/Rocket mas from the rev-head street ★★★★ The Home Recordings Universal ★★★★ poet king. With its trademark Triumphant, stonking return skating organ and rolling drum This powerful collection – a companion to from Oz-rock vets fi lls, “Meet Me In the City” is an the HBO documentary Montage of Heck – explosive Saturday night call- plays like Kurt Cobain’s phantom memoir. Nine years on from 2006’s Fac- to-action from a freshly busted Director Brett Morgen went through 200 tory Girls, that Dallas Crane jailbird to – well, the sax player hours of cassette tapes to fi nd these song have grown into a smarter, bet- is sure up for it. sketches and demos. Some of the 31 tracks will resonate ter band is no surprise. That “The Man Who Got Away” is only with deep Nirvana scholars, and the album could be they’ve given themselves a mas- another neat twist on “burning seen as stretching an incredible legacy a little too thin. But terful Don Walker-ish over- rubber and spilling gasoline”, a it’s surprising how much of it is compel- haul certainly is. Scoundrels ling, even revelatory – including a pair KEY TRACKS: is intelligent, bluesy, mature small time crime mystery that “She Only Lies”, bleeds from silver screen to of acoustic instrumentals (“The Happy “Rehash”, “Do Re and unpredictable; the work mean streets. Guitar”, “Retreat”), the gruelling “She Mi (Medley)” of rock & roll lifers wrestling That’s where the rest unfolds, Only Lies”, and Cobain’s last recorded with a world larger than wast- naturally, from the doomed song, “Do Re Mi (Medley)”. ing away in an Abbotsford bar. lovers “running through the As in the film, the feedback loop between Cobain’s Dave Larkin isn’t just the tip- rain” in “Little White Lies” to tormented upbringing in Aberdeen, Washington, and his toed screamer of yore, giving the more ominous company pained genius is revealed starkly. On the demo for “Rehash”, “Come to Light” and “I’m Sorry of “Night Fire”; from the noir he works a power-sludge riff and yells “solo” and “chorus”, Darling” the requisite amount shimmy of “Chain Lightning” telescoping the music into a more fully formed future. Just of soul to properly accompany to a scrabbly acoustic demo of a few tracks later, he gives a spoken-word reading that de- a drunken late night bar-stool “Mr Outside”: a fringe-dweller scribes a teenage suicide attempt. It’s one of many moments apology. The Pete Satchell-led character portrait too chirpy here that show how Cobain could be at once self-cancelling lilt of “Lucky Me”, meanwhile, for Nebraska. and self-mythologising, scarily aware that even if he hated when paired with Larkin’s mus- himself and wanted to die, his most inchoate or slapdash cly “Disillusioned” makes for an KEY TRACKS: “MeetMeInthe creations deserved a chronicle. He was right, of course, in inspired moment, spiralling off City”, “The Man Who Got Away”

spite of himself. JON DOLAN into reality and regrets. J.C. IMAGES GETTY

90 ★★★★★ Classic | ★★★★ Excellent | ★★★ Good | ★★ Fair | ★ Poor Ratings are supervised by the editors of ROLLING STONE. Retracing the Memory Former Pink Floyd leader’s inessential return to the well Enya Dark Sky Island Warner Roger Waters The Wall Sony ★★½ ★ Questionable return of the Roger Waters can’t leave ‘Orinoco Flow’ singer The Wall alone. Since his third solo album in 1992, She counts her millions in a 19th the ex-Pink Floyd leader Century castle in Dublin, for has devoted himself to heaven’s sake. The whole world revisiting the group’s 1979 conceptual knows her name, and what ev- behemoth – the account of alienation ery blessed one of her records and decline of surrogate rock star, “Pink”. sounds like: one of those Elvish This live album accompanies the 2014 forest dream sequences from fi lm of the same name. It draws from Lord of the Rings, essentially – Waters’ massive 2010-2013 tour, where the mercilessly extended DVD he performed the record in its entirety version. So why Enya has agreed 219 times. Divorced from the arena show’s visual ian man shot by police following the 2005 London to release another one exactly excess – which included a giant wall erected be- bombings, and “The Last Few Bricks” just filler to like them after seven years of tween stage and audience – it suff ers. allow a set change. dignifi ed silence is simply un- The band sound pedestrian; a fl accid “Mother” The second half is more KEY TRACKS: fathomable. Its maddeningly “One Of My has the crowd oohing at unknowns; we can only successful as dynamics shift, Turns”, “Comfort- repetitious cycles of made-up assume the explosions. Worse, David Gilmour’s recreating the original. But ably Numb” gibberish and light orchestral vocal parts are handled by session vocalist Rob- that’s what nags. The Wall’s sky worshipping come in two bie Wyckoff , whose featureless work ignores the brilliance was a band’s icy portrayal of a mental speeds: tub-thumping row- album’s sensation of opposing consciences. deterioration that mirrored their own. Now boats-in-the-mist (“The Loxian There’s non-album additions to pore over too. Waters can only retrace the memory, reflect Gate”) and fl accid pseudo-clas- Among them, “The Ballad of Jean Charles de the excess. The warm thrill of confusion is sical outtakes from Cats (“So I Menezes” is a wan tribute to the innocent Brazil- gone. MARCUS TEAGUE Could Find My Way”). New age? Old rubbish. M.D.

The Holy Soul Billy Gibbons Kerser Fortean Times Damn You Hard Feelings Elefant Tracks and the BFGs Next Step ABK/Warner ★★★★ ★★★★ Perfectamundo ★★★½ Gareth Liddiard cranks up the Veteran fi nds balance on Concord ★★★ Staunch south-west Sydney fuzz for Sydney underdogs impressive fourth outing ZZ Top guitarist goes solo, rapper continues to grow throws a loose, groovy party The Holy Soul arrive steeped in Sydney emcee the Tongue has Over the course of his fi ve al- underground cred: they’ve col- been an enigmatic charac- On his fi rst-ever solo outing, bums, Kerser has evolved from laborated with members of Can ter ever since he dropped his ZZ Top’s handsomely beard- battle-rap hero to chart chal- and Pere Ubu, the Drones’ Ga- fi rst album back in 2007. Part ed Billy Gibbons marries his lenging underdog. Here, a re- reth Liddiard produced their battle-cat, part smokey laid- band’s bedrock Texas-blues fl ective tone and unexpected latest album, and Dave Graney back bluesman, his joints have boogie with more recent ob- do-as-I-say lecturing displace and Clare Moore even sing always fought to contain his sessions, most prominently his shock value swagger, with back-ups on a song. The Sydney versatility. Hard Feelings nails Afro-Cuban rhythms. It’s the the enlistment of production- quartet swing between fuzz- the mix. It might be the pro- sound of a Havana moon shin- hire outlet, Sinima Beats, coat- ily melodic garage and more duction, which leans more on ing down on Rio Grande mud. ing the tracks with a clean, smouldering, sprawling medi- electronica than before, or the Gibbons’ musical anthropol- pop polish. While old habits tations, though “There’s a Hair evenly blended bravado and ogy is loving and loose, with die hard – snarky jabs at local on the Soap” nods to Drones- vulnerability, but consistency nods to hip-hop and funk (the rappers (360, Allday) remain, style derangement with gnash- and fl ow reign supreme. Beats “Legs” callback “You’re What’s and there are few stanzas that ing guitar and Trent Marden’s are mostly slick and spare, call- Happenin’ Baby”), Stones-y don’t reference his home town leering vocals. But there are ing to mind and rock & roll (on “Piedras Ne- of Campbelltown – Next Step more than just two sides to this 808s-era Kanye. Guest spots gras”) and Sixties soul (a tight is a mark of maturity, dictated band: “History Part II” jum- are similarly polished, from slide through Roy Head’s 1965 by its nostalgic trace of past bles heavy Hendrix psych with Jeswon and , to the hit “Treat Her Right”). Un- mistakes and noble attempt to a wry, jazzy lightness, and “In stunning pipes of Mataya on fortunately it doesn’t all come be unbound by circumstance. Bed by Nine” nails twanging, “You Got Me”. It’s the Tongue’s together seamlessly. But the Not without its cliché cringes, Creedence-esque rock. It gels fl ow, though, that holds togeth- same rumbling gravitas that but far and away the MC’s most surprisingly well – all the more er what might be the record of fi red Eliminator keeps things complete and considered work robust for their variability. D.W. his career so far. DAN FINDLAY fl owing. JON DOLAN yet. JONNY NAIL

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 91 REVIEWSMUSIC

Jaala Placebo Hard Hold MTV Unplugged Universal Wondercore Island/ADA ★★★½ ★★½ Debut record holds a lot of Brit rockers struggle with a promise for Melbourne act format that doesn’t suit

Recorded in a seven-day blitz Placebo’s power derives from with Paul Bender of Hiatus their shiny, uncomplicated Kaiyote, Hard Hold is about as sound (expertly captured on frenetic, playful and delight- record by producers such as fully scattered as you would David Bottrill) and their strik- expect from such a condensed ing visual sense. Beneath the creation. That shouldn’t be mis- aesthetics, there’s often not taken for thinness though, be- much real songwriting going cause there’s a lot of ideas to un- on – which makes them an odd pack here. There’s the scruff y, pick for the newly rebooted low slung blues of “Lowlands”, MTV Unplugged franchise. the rocky crunch of “Salt Shak- Quiet and slowed down, with- er”, the spin-out indie jazz of out glossy music videos or bold opener “Hard Hold”, the latent Young in album artwork, these songs are gorgeousness in closer “Hymn”. New York, robbed of much of their power. Singer Cosima Jaala’s vocals re- 1988 It’s not all bad: Brian Molko’s main endlessly arresting, warp- voice remains resonant, and the ing and snaking in and around deep cuts will please fans. Early the rhythms. Ideas shoot off in single “36 Degrees” sounds gen- all directions, but Hard Hold tly nostalgic, and “Hold On To manages to remain focused; a Young Digs Me” works well with piano and fascinating display of potential. strings. But nothing here truly JULES LEFEVRE Back Into captivates. DAN F. STAPLETON His Archives A lost season of brass, blues The Sticks and balls rewrites history Leah Senior The Sticks Summer’s on the Ground Broken Stone/Remote Control ★★★ Neil Young Flightless/ Remote Control ★★★★ Debut LP of sonic left-turns from Bluenote Café Warner ★★★★ Melbourne folk singer’s intimate, experimental electronic trio inviting debut Fans, critics and bean counters tend to agree Live, Sydney trio the Sticks that Neil Young misplaced his mojo in the A song titled “How I Miss the have made a name for them- 1980s. His label sued him for making dud Womb” and music self-de- selves conjuring improvisa- records, and though he won that day in court, scribed as “green wallpaper, tional electronic songs. Ac- it took til Freedom for the broader jury to low lamps, blinds drawn” tells cordingly, the group’s debut is concur in ’89. you all you need to know about one of wilful experimentation: This latest revelation from his vast Archives Performance Melbourne-based folk singer opener “It Follows You” sounds Series hails from just prior to that popular renaissance, Leah Senior’s debut: this is in- like the lost theme to a Sev- culled from 10 months touring his ensemble blues album, sular and intimate music, akin enties horror fi lm; track two This Note’s For You. It’s not the fi rst to suggest that his to eavesdropping on someone “Deep Fried” dips into Dam- Eighties hiccup was purely studio related, but it is the most else’s private, prettily conveyed Funk-on-bad-acid warped persuasive proof that his blistering focus as a live performer thoughts. Senior’s gentle voice funk. Standout “Sidestep” is all never waned. is mostly only accompanied by celestial synths and angelic vo- The raw, horny fanfare of “Welcome To KEY TRACK: acoustic guitar, the occasional cals, but by album’s end you’ve the Big Room” sets a tone that bites more “Don’t Take Your cameo from a cello or fl ute al- Love Away From been sucked through a black than it swings. Young solos just as dirty Me” most feeling like an intrusion. hole (“Machine with Con- but more lyrically in blues mode, and the The lyrics cover well-worn crete”) and spat out the other band cranks and sweats no less when the tempo slows for an themes like seasons (“Autumn side into David Lynch’s dark- almost 10-minute smoulder through “Don’t Take Your Love Evening”), the elements (“The est nightmare (“In Secret”). Away From Me”, or the sleazy creep of “One Thing”. Storm”) and various landscapes It’s too scattershot to hang to- The surprises aren’t all this good. A couple of tunes re- (“Red Dirt”), Senior ultimately gether as a cohesive LP, playing called from his highschool band the Squires sound, er, a succeeding by bringing clever more like a series of intriguing bit like that. But all of the tracks you know sound better in wordplay and an assured sense sketches instead of a compel- the heat of these moments and the epic “Ordinary People” of self to an album of simple,

ling whole. JAMES JENNINGS crowns a generous serve of unreleased essentials. M.D. elegant songs. J.J. GETTY IMAGES

92 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 BOOK

From the Stage to the Page The Dirty Streets White Horse Alive Naturalsound It’s a Long Way: From ★★★★ Acca-Dacca to Zappa, Heavy electric soul from 1969-1979 Memphis threesome Philip Morris The hit-and-miss phenomenon Echo ★★★★ of the blues ‘power trio’ works best when the band’s lead guitar Philip Morris was only keeps to the low, weighty notes 15 when he started and stays away from meander- shooting for Go-Set ing solos in favour of robust riff s. magazine, but it was The Dirty Streets generally ful- the beginning of an association that AC/DC (with fil that requirement, though helped him get up George Young) at there is little progression from close with some of the biggest stars a secret gig in their previous two albums. of the Sixties and Seventies – as he re- Cremorne, 1979 Their formula owes a debt to counts in the prologue to his live snaps both Blue Cheer and, particu- of Led Zeppelin in Sydney in 1972, “My Go-Set and setting – his live shots often feature members larly, Spooky Tooth (as on the pass got me everywhere”. Morris’s recollections of of the audience, a snapshot of how gig-goers were highlight “Accents”), along with his experiences with the artists he shot – a who’s dressing and acting in the Seventies, while the live the fi nest modern proponents of who of rock & roll stardom, from Johnny O’Keefe set-ups themselves are a throwback to a time be- soul-blues-rock, Howlin’ Rain. (he was his official photographer) and AC/DC (he fore giant LED screens and laser lights. Morris was was in the studio as they recorded Dirty Deeds, responsible for shooting the live image of Peter The throaty vocals of Justin and at myriad gigs) to the Stones, , Garrett that adorned Midnight Oil’s Head Injuries Toland add extra swagger to a Paul McCartney and many more – add worthy album – the original version (and story behind it) wonderfully rough LP driven colour to the book, but it’s Morris’s photos that are is here – just one of many moments in Australian by feeling rather than fi nesse. the true stars of the show. What stands out most music history the photographer captured through It’s been done plenty of times of all is how Australian they are in their framing his lens. CASS WALLACE before, but when done this well, it is still riveting. BARNABY SMITH

Danzig jennylee Cass McCombs Boots Skeletons Nuclear Blast Right On! A Folk Set Apart: Rarities, AQUARIA Columbia ★★½ Rough Trade/Remote Control ★★★ B-Sides & Space Junk, Etc. ★★★½ Former Misfi ts frontman takes a Warpaint bassist keeps things Domino/EMI ★★½ Enigmatic Beyoncé/FKA Twigs/ trip down memory lane dreamy and couched Singer/songwriter’s warts and RTJ producer lifts the veil all round-up Glenn Danzig’s premise of cov- Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Lindberg The producer/songwriter be- ering 10 tracks that infl uenced embraces her regular band’s Cass McCombs is a wry clas- hind ‘80 per cent’ of Beyoncé him sounds intriguing, but the slippery pulse on her solo de- sicist, held in high-esteem by (2013), Florida native Jordy results largely disappoint. Some but, even recruiting drummer musicians and fanboys but Asher explodes the moodier choices work, like Elvis’s “Let Stella Mozgawa. Singing in haunting the dead zone be- R&B innovations of that re- Yourself Go”, which mirrors her Cat Power-esque drawl, tween the charts and critics’ cord with this confounding de- the Presley sneer and swagger Lindberg embraces diff use ar- lists. This 11-year collection of but. Claiming that “there’s only Danzig’s incorporated into his rangements and opaque lyrics demos, one-off releases and ex- three things sonically ever hap- own horror-punk allure, and that don’t exactly value extro- perimental collaborations has pening”, with instruments and the Troggs’ “With a Girl Like version. Still, the songs slowly curio merit, but will struggle to sounds periodically dropping You”, whose garage sensibili- assume fi rmer shape with re- win fans not already tuned in. in and out of focus, it’s an ex- ties he reveres. Unsatisfying, peated listens, and tracks like The half-cooked sketches can ercise in subtraction, as Boots though, is the interpretation of “Never” and “Off erings” stand be a slog, but there are enough dismantles and reassembles Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.”, where out among these eerie, mean- gems here to prove a worth- just-barely pop-R&B-ground- the vocals are off-kilter and dering lullabies. “Riot” and while document of both his ed tracks to create something lack power. Perhaps the most “White Devil” are more vola- method and his madness. See that’s equal parts polished and successful cover is the Everly tile, with screamed male vocals, the psychedelic lope of “Twins” fragmented. While Asher’s rap Brothers’ “Crying In the Rain”, while “Off erings” is downright recalling a spacey Tame Im- amid the stabbing synths and as his undulating range adds a hooky by this album’s subtle pala, and the kooky country of industrial eff ects of “C.U.R.E.” veil of dark spice. Interesting, standards. Still, with nearly ev- “Three Men Sitting On A Hol- is plenty urgent, his vocal never as is its intent, Skeletons cannot ery song delivered at a gauzy low Log”. At least his voice – a quite fi lls the space staked out be judged as a Danzig album as distance, you wish Lindberg detached and attractively age- by tracks like “Oraclies”. Lyri- such, more as a quirky inter- would step closer to the mic and less croon – is there to guide us cally, it’s all a little nebulous mission. ROBYN DOREIAN truly announce herself. D.W. through. MARCUS TEAGUE and unfocused. GARETH HIPWELL

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 93 REVIEWSMUSIC Grimes Raises

The Fumes Givers Bloodless ABC Music the Stakes New Kingdom ★★★½ Liberator/Glassnote Records ★★★ Sydney noir-blues outfi t expand Shape-shifting pop diva ups her game, stays Catchy choruses swamped in too line-up, musical scope delightfully weird much detail on genre-blurring LP Grimes Art Angels Remote Control ★★★½ On their fi rst two records, the Louisiana five-piece Giv- Fumes proved themselves a On her 2012 breakthrough, Visions, singer- ers are aptly named: they formidable blues-rock force; producer Claire Boucher (a.k.a. Grimes) was come from the ‘more is more’ Bloodless, the band’s third LP an indie-rock fan’s platonic ideal of a pop star school of songwriting, cram- and fi rst since 2009’s Sundanc- – blurring moody electro and moodier R&B ming sounds, styles and shift- er, fi nds their oeuvre expand- in music that she made herself on Garage- ing time signatures into every ing considerably. Bloodless sees band, turning the underground into her own diva stadium, available space. Members have guitarist/singer Stephen Merry all while implying that actual pop success was something backgrounds playing in zydeco, (one of Australia’s fi nest voices, she could take or leave. Since then, she’s signed to Jay Z’s jazz and Cajun groups and their one marinated in life) adding management fi rm Roc Nation, toured with Lana Del Rey infl uences run the gamut from not just bassist Ryan Hazell, and moved from Montreal to L.A. But the big news on her new wave to world music. They but a raft of extra-curricular fourth album is how much she’s upped her game as a writer invoke a restless, upbeat energy musicality (harmonica, piano, and a singer, giving her music new polish and resonance. and prove they have a knack for slide) to the line-up. It makes Art Angels has a sharper, sleeker sound a big chorus, but this follow-up for a pensive and intoxicat- that sneakily suggests she made the leap KEY TRACKS: to debut In Light suffers the “Venus Fly”, ing mix of swampy delta soul to working with big-name producers “Life In the Vivid same fate as its predecessor: (“Broke a Chain”), moody – when in fact, as always, she did every- Dream” despite the talent on display, it’s Southern rock (“Lonely As You thing herself. far too overstuff ed and leaves Are”) and gothic blues mixed Boucher, who recently compared herself to Phil Spector, the listener aurally exhausted. with backcountry biker punk loves to refract her voice into multi-tracked swirls, making If Givers learn to withhold even (“Why”). With its blend of pe- desire, physicality and identity itself seem forever in fl ux. just a little, they may have a culiarly dust-blown Australian “I could live in the world like a stranger,” she sings on the shot at being a band people love noir, Bloodless has been well sombre “Life In the Vivid Dream”, and on “Kill V. Maim”, rather than casually appreciate worth the wait. JAYMZ CLEMENTS she switches genders altogether, singing “I’m only a man/ at a safe distance. JAMES JENNINGS Do what I can”. It’s the radical hallmark of an artist who loves upending convention, pulling from any style that suits her and making all these surprising gestures seem natural. On “Venus Fly”, she gets together with Janelle Monáe for a global feminist fl oorshaker that sounds like Gwen Stefani on an M.I.A. bender. The title track rides a funky guitar line Sophie adjacent to Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” and some Lanterns On the Lake Product Warp/Inertia avant-Britney cooing towards a line that could be ad copy for Beings Bella Union ★★★ her transformative eclecticism: “Everything I love becomes ★★★ Of-the-moment pop guru everything I knew.” JON DOLAN Atmospheric third LP from gathers his hiccupping hits emotive Brits

London producer Sophie de- This English quartet’s previ- buted with 2013’s “Bipp”, re- ous LP, Until the Colours Run vamping pitch-shifted pop (2013), was accomplished but tropes to make ultra-artifi cial overwrought, with its ambi- dance music. Two years later tions towards a sweeping, cin- he’s produced Madonna and ematic grandness. Even Radio- Charli XCX and ventured into head, a major infl uence, have a J-Pop hit-making. This quickie sense of humour. This is all very singles collection also sees re- dramatic, thanks to swelling lease as a sex toy and other orchestral flourishes, stirring ‘products’, but that doesn’t percussion and the expressive mean the tracks can’t inspire vocals of Hazel Wilde. The fi n- sincere emotion – see the bal- est tracks are those that are lad “Just Like We Never Said simplest, such as “The Crawl”; Goodbye”. Last year’s trap- elsewhere the record is char- fl irting “Lemonade” is the clear acterised by intricate instru- highlight, roughing up its sug- mental textures and bombas- ary skittering with a darker, tic production. The result is a brasher edge, but other songs heavy melancholy, and though lack its manic stickiness. You there is plenty to admire – in- can hear why Sophie rocketed cluding Wilde’s enigmatic lyr- to fame, but there’s too much ics – stamina and patience are filler here. DOUG WALLEN required. BARNABY SMITH

94 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 A Star is

Grave Pleasures Born Dreamcrash Sony ★★★★ Perth YouTube sensation breaks out Finnish Goth rockers weave a with a stellar debut album romantic, macabre web Troye Sivan ★★★★ Rising from the smoulder- Blue Neighbourhood EMI ing ashes of Beastmilk, Grave At just 20 years of age, the South Pleasures’ debut record is a African born, Perth raised Troye potion of demented Gothic Sivan is already a prominent player pop-rock. The album was re- in the scene of career-hopping mil- corded in an allegedly haunted lennials. Until recently he’d been studio, and embraces the eeri- coasting as a famous YouTube personality with ness (real or imagined) of such over four million channel subscribers, as well as a setting. The band’s musical being a budding actor (he starred in X-Men Ori- past has produced a patchwork gins: Wolverine, and as the title character in the densely intricate and helium light. Single “Wild” of usually distinct genres and successful South African franchise Spud). is all hitching beats and catching breaths; “Talk sonic contradictions. While But to be cynical and dismiss Blue Neigh- Me Down” rests on a pillowy orchestral bed with the apocalyptic chants of “this bourhood as bottled zeitgeist an unshakeable chorus hook; “Fools” falls down will be the end” are propelled KEY TRACKS: music from another child star “Blue”, “Wild”, a deep slope of house synths. by a catchy twin guitar riff in is to be wilfully short sighted, “Ease” The best is further in the detail: the deluxe “No Survival”, “Lipstick On for its charms are many. At its version’s “Blue” has co-writer Alex Hope’s vocals Your Tombstone” is fuelled by core, Sivan’s soft and honeyed curling through the delicate piano instrumen- slinky punk-pop. Flirting with vocals command attention, fi lled with the kind tation. There are, of course, lyrical platitudes themes of dreams, reality and of heady and unchecked emotions that can only aplenty, but Sivan delivers these quiet gems of humanity as a post-apocalyp- be mustered up by someone at age 20. It hovers young wisdom with enough humility so as to be tic species with an expiration amid electronic production that manages to be endearing rather than precocious. JULES LEFEVRE date, Grave Pleasures toast the inevitable end in the only way they know how. SALLY MCMULLEN

Nots CeeLo Green Baroness We Are Nots Heavenly and Heart Blanche Atlantic Purple Abraxan Hymns/Cooking Vinyl ★★★½ Rounder ★★ ★★★★½ Grotty post-punk with an ear for ★★★ CeeLo gets his goofy groove on Tragedy births Baroness’s fi nest the old school There’s nothing funny about this again, but the magic is gone record to date album of tasteful folk and roots Memphis quartet Nots wring Five years after the ridiculous, Purple documents the trau- just the right amount of anxious Renowned funnyman Steve impeccably catchy, chart- ma of a near-fatal bus crash momentum and spiky unrest Martin has long since proved conquering “Fuck You”, CeeLo Baroness were involved in in out of a rumbling nest of dis- his deep chops as a bluegrass Green is trying on his funky- 2012. Frontman John Baizley torted guitars and synth. Their banjo-picker; if you’re looking weirdo Prince shoes again. This lyrically recalls it and its opi- 27-minute debut is scrappy for wild and craziness (or even time, they don’t quite fi t. His oid aftermath, beginning with and immediate, stacked with any discernible vocal pres- fifth album, Heart Blanche’s “Morningstar”, its blusterous short songs riding out primitive ence), you’ll be disappointed campy soul grooves come and drums and riffs evoking the repetition. Natalie Hoff man’s with this follow-up to his debut go in spectacular waves, lifted propulsion of the 37-year-old punky yelp exudes cool, and she LP with Edie Brickell, 2013’s by some of Green’s best-ever into the windscreen and back; has a knack for angst-ridden Love Has Come For You. He’s vocal work, but are drowned tasting his blood, his left arm mantras as well as bratty asides happy to play the tasteful back- by the album’s pretentious decimated. What makes the like “We know you’re capable ing partner in songs that hon- tendencies – see “Robin Wil- narrative so powerful is the of words”. As much seedy fun our musical traditions and mix liams”, a ponderous requiem amalgam of new drummer Se- as these songs are, they start them up a little, too. “Won’t for dead celebrities. He’s far bastian Thomson and bassist to sound naggingly similar to Go Back” endearingly recalls better on his most simple pop Nick Jost: a compelling whirl each other by LP’s end. Rather the 1980s college-hippie pop tunes, like the fun “Est. 1980s” of profi ciency. Crafted in Bai- than a deal-breaker, it simply Brickell pushed up the charts and the sweet “Music to My zley’s Philadelphia basement, makes it all feel like a sustained with the New Bohemians; the Soul”. In an era where disco has Purple is raw, pounding and af- fever dream, punctuated by elegant piano ballads “I’m by found a second life all over the fecting, yet ultimately sensitive slightly diff erent tactics as Nots Your Side” and “Way Back in pop charts, Green’s throwback and declaring hope. The most chase the spectre of post-punk’s the Day” shade nicely between barely makes a thud. dynamic, robust guitar album prickliest bands. DOUG WALLEN jazz and country. JON DOLAN BRITTANY SPANOS this year. ROBYN DOREIAN

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 95 REVIEWSMUSIC

The pontiff at the Vatican, October

Fourteen Nights At Sea Arca Minor Light Hobbledehoy Mutant Create Control/Mute ★★★★ ★★★ Melbourne post-rock collective Genre-busting auteur stokes summon instrumental doom thrills but lacks focus

Fourteen Nights At S ea are Venezuelan producer Arca re- aware that true heaviness turns for more murky mood- comes not from giant riff s or setting. His sprawling second pounding rhythms, but from album ranges from diff use to the art of restraint. It’s an almost operatically robust, understanding they employ most often evoking a haunted throughout their third album, house collapsing on itself. Many nowhere more so than on the of the 20 tracks strike an omi- fi ve-and-a-half-minute “Minor nous chord despite not feeling Light”, its droning, bubbling completely developed. “Sinner” soundscapes and sense of im- combines muddy beats and pending dread engulfi ng you trickling piano, while churchy despite a complete absence of organ turns wonky on “Soich- melody. The other five songs iro” and the closing “Peonies” adhere more closely to the warbles through pitch shifts. post-rock rulebook employed Full of shuddering turbulence, by the likes of Neurosis, Cult the longer title track is the best Of Luna, Mono and Isis, al- thing here, and Arca could have beit without any vocals and a greatly improved the other bigger emphasis on surging, compositions if he’d devoted downbeat, textural melodies; the same degree of attention the perfect soundtrack to the to them. So much of Mutant, desolate photo that adorns the though, is fl eeting to the point album cover. ROD YATES A Papal Sermon of frustration DOUG WALLEN WithaBeat Progressivepontiffpreachespeace Jeff Lynne’s ELO on a surprisingly proggy album Julien Baker Alone in the Universe Columbia Sprained Ankle Spunk ★★★½ Pope Francis Wake Up! ★★★½ ELO still successfully mining for Believe Digital ★★★ Stirring debut from promising AM gold 45 years after forming Memphis belle Pope Francis’ message of peace and economic Since ELO’s split in 1986, the justice has been an inspiration to millions of To describe Sprained Ankle as highest praise the mega-selling peopleallovertheworld.How’shismusic? ‘intimate’ is an understatement, band were usually aff orded was Um...infallible! such is the hushed, vulnerable that of ‘guilty pleasure’. 2001 Wake Up! sets his speeches and prayers cooing of this 20-year-old. comeback Zoom stalled, but (in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English) to pop, rock Backed solely by either acous- then 1978’s “Mr. Blue Sky” be- and classical compositions performed by Italian session tic or electric guitar or piano, came a synch staple and a laud- musicians, several with roots in the country’s Seventies rock Baker’s songs are mostly ele- ed 2014 live return caused a scene. You can hear that influence in the gant meditations on loneliness critical re-evaluation that jetti- tubular synth noodling that opens “An- KEY TRACK: and youth, evoking the softer “Wake Up! Go! soned the ‘guilty’ prefi x. It may nuntio Vobis Gaudium Magnum!” Other Go! Forward!” side of Martha Wainwright lack nourishment, but Alone songs nod to Francis’ South American and, on her best tracks (“Brittle in the Universe is still comfort background. The only song in English, “Wake Up! Go! Go! Boned”, “Blacktop”), the idio- food of the highest order: famil- Forward!” is the most rocking, riding heraldic metal riff s syncratic songwriting of Jesca iar, warm and instantly satisfy- and a fi re-tongued solo into a sermon on activism. Hoop. Occasionally she does ing. Nothing here rivals their Usually, the music – some of which is quite lovely – veers veer towards the predictable biggest hits, but singer-song- closer to the New Age neoclassicism of Vangelis or Kitaro, (“Everybody Does”), yet such writer-multi-instrumentalist- a warm fi t for Francis’ tender, elegant speaking voice. But blemishes are redeemed by the producer Jeff Lynne, ELO’s sole if the sonics bathe us in soft Sunday-morning light, the vitality of the stark instrumen- constant, proves he’s still got a message is pure punk-rock redemption. Speaking to an tation: Baker is a refi ned folk- good ear for a classic pop-rock amped-up Brazilian crowd on “La Iglesia No Puede Ser Una infl uenced guitarist to go along tune, making Alone a worthy ONG!” he entreats, “I want the noise to go out, I want the with her expressive and quivery addition to ELO’s sizable cata- church to go out onto the streets.” Keep bringin’ the noise, vocals. A compellingly intro-

logue. JAMES JENNINGS Your Holiness. JON DOLAN spective debut. BARNABY SMITH GETTY IMAGES

96 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 REISSUES Mac’s Double Trouble Fleetwood Mac’s sprawling 1979 double album gets Love Reel to Real High Moon expanded even further ★★★½ Fleetwood Mac Love-ing reissue treatment for sprawling 1974 album Tusk Warner ★★★½ After Rumours con- Seven years on from the ka- quered the known uni- leidoscopic Forever Changes verse in 1977, Fleetwood (1967), Arthur Lee had become Mac pretty much had a an increasingly mercurial fi g- blank cheque for their ure, assembling a new band in follow-up. They sure did cash it in, and it the wake of the underwhelming was not at all what the record company False Start (1970) ahead of this, or the fans expected. Tusk is a strange, Love’s seventh album. Reel to sprawling double album that fi nds its three sing- megahit album in pop history, featuring chants, Real is a curio in Love’s history, er-songwriters pulling in diff erent directions. shouting, background chatter and the University employing funk and disco amid It’s also the record where Lindsey Bucking- Of Southern California Trojan Marching Band. a general sound comparable to ham goes into full Brian Wilson mode as far as Even more bizarrely, it was a Top 10 hit. Chicago’s brass-happy AOR, production is concerned. His songs layered mul- Despite the new approach, Christine McVie while songs such as “Which tiple stringed instruments in odd combinations and Stevie Nicks continued to do what they Witch Is Which?” revisit Lee’s and utilised off -kilter rhythms, while his vocals always did – the former’s lovelorn ballads (“Nev- psych-folk heyday. The patchy veered between silvery whis- er Make Me Cry”) and mid-tempo piano-pop original LP is for completists pers and hiccupping yelps. KEY TRACKS: (“Think About Me”); the latter’s West Coast only, yet the 12 bonus tracks “Tusk”, “Sara”, The likes of “The Ledge”, “Think About Me” romantic mysticism (“Sara”, “Angel”). (outtakes, alternative takes “Not That Funny” and “What It’s a long, strange trip, whether you go for the and rehearsals) are intriguing Makes You Think You’re the One” were loose, single re-mastered CD, the 3-CD expanded ver- – mostly they’re bouncy rock twangy, fuzzy and off beat, in stark contrast to the sion with outtakes, demos and remixes, or the jams. An enlightening addition plushness that pervaded Rumours. The title track deluxe 5-CD, two-vinyl LP, one-DVD version, to the catalogue of one of rock’s is possibly the most bizarre follow-up single to a which includes two live discs. BARRY DIVOLA most quixotic talents. B.S.

The Sound of a Nation Waking Up Archie Roach Charcoal Lane 25th Anniversary Edition Festival/Warner ★★★★½

Archie Roach OAM is an incomparable storyteller – as Messengers guitarist Steve Connolly discovered at a gig in the late Eighties. Connolly, along with Paul Kelly, would co-produce Roach’s towering 1990 dbdebut.tU Urged db by his Uncle Banjo Clarke to commit his own stories to song, Roach, a survivor of the Stolen Genera- tions, stunned pre-Mabo Australia with his eloquent, gently-delivered chronicle of the experience of living black in a nation preoccupied with fl oating dollars and recession and yet to say sorry (the iconic “”). His ultimate transcendence of dispossession, homeless- ness and alcoholism (“Down City Streets”) continues to elate. The bonus tracks here fi nd Roach performing joyfully alongside late wife Ruby Hunter in a string of 1990 live recordings, while the reissue’s excellent covers include Marlon Williams/’s heartsick “I’ve Lied”, Paul Kelly/Courtney Barnett’s barebones “Charcoal Lane”, and fi red-up homage “The Children Came Back”, spearheaded by rapper Briggs and featuring Roach and Dewayne Everettsmith. GARETH HIPWELL BOTTOM: TONY MOTT TONY BOTTOM:

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 97 Christmas TECH GIFT GUIDE Wireless Speakers Take Flight

After years of being a niche item, Bluetooth speakers you’re updating your stereo system, building your own are everywhere, from bedrooms to the beach. Now a home theatre or just jamming on the go. Want hi-fi new breed of wireless systems is pushing the technol- sound without the cables and fl oor speakers? Need a ogy (and volume levels) to new heights, off ering rock- speaker you can take on the Serengeti? Or just want solid sound and an array of gee-whiz features, whether something to charge your phone? Read on. JOHN LONSDALE

The Next Level Sonos Play 5 RRP $499 per speaker

Those familiar with the Sonos Play family of wireless speakers will probably think they know what to expect from the lat- est incarnation of the Play:5. They’d be wrong, as this is a major step-up, even for a company that regularly provides new functionality in the form of free updates. Sure, the Play 5 has gotten a handsome facelift, but it has also been redesigned from the ground up, with a completely new speaker design. Straight out of the box it delivers signifi cantly more bass – it’s got 6 drivers, including 3 mid-woofers and 3 tweeters, but it’s when you use the Play: 5 in conjunction with the new True- play tuning system that you notice how much of an improvement in sound this brings to the party. The easy-to-use True- play app maps your room and adjusts the Play:5 (or any other Sonos speaker) to sound great no matter where you’ve got it placed in your home. The Play:5 comes in black or white and can be placed hori- zontally or vertically, depending on your preference. Like previous incarnations, it works as a stand alone speaker as well as a stereo pair, but we thought it sounded incredibly impressive as a single unit. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: DEVIALET; FUGOO; ULTIMATE EARS; BRAVEN; MASS FIDELITY

98 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 Tech Gift Guide

Supercharged More Traveller Braven 805 Hi-Fi, From $200 Less The 805 travels well – it can rock a party and charge your smartphone Wi-Fi through its USB port at the same time – but it sounds good enough for your home. Pro move: Connect two 805s to produce big left-and- right stereo audio wherever you are.

The Nouveau Standard Jack-Of-All- Devialet Phantom Trades From $US1,990 Peachtree Nova 220SE Digital Amp The price is no joke, but RRP $US1,599 this rugby-ball-size, 750- watt French powerhouse Audio nerds will lose it can fi ll the great hall of for this jack-of-all-trades your chateau in the Loire amp that provides up to Valley with deep-bass 350 watts per channel of thunder without breaking power to any system and a sweat. You can play has a built-in digital-to- Spotify or Tidal playlists analog converter for through its dedicated optimising lossless audio smartphone app, and from streaming or hi-def expand it up to 24 units if services like Pono or TIDAL. Those in the you want to soak multiple know reckon that a good rooms in champagne digital to analog sound. converter is worth its weight in gold.

Aff ordable Killer UE Roll From $150 Indestructible Sculptural This small water-resistant Bluetooth speaker deliv- Beats Turntablism ers surprisingly rich sound Fugoo Tough XL Rega RP10 Turntable for the price, plus you can From $US330 With Cartridge from attach it to anything with $US6,495 The Little Cube its integrated bungee The Fugoo Tough XL cord – and it looks great. sports an impact-resis- This skeletal turntable That Could tant outer cage protect- looks cool, but there’s a Mass Fidelity Core ing a sealed water- and method to the madness: From $US599 sand-resistant main Stripping away unneces- body. You can listen to sary mass means less This 6x6x4-inch Blue- its 360-degree sound for vibration for sweet- tooth cube delivers 35 hours per charge, and sounding vinyl. Rega have been making hi-end full stereo sound for even put in a request to turntables the tradi- 12 hours per charge, Siri or Google Now tional way for decades, pervading your room if you’re somewhere with so when they decide to with its Wave Field Wi-Fi. (But why would mess with tradition, you Synthesis technology. you be?) You can also know it’s for sound tech- One unit will cut it, but buy a carrying strap. nical reasons. The addi- you can connect up to But its coolest trick? Drop tional cartridge (needle) eight overall. it in three feet of water, will be a substantial part and it will still play all day. of the price.

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 99 Tech Gift Guide Simple High-End Hi-Fi You no longer need a rack of equipment and giant speakers to fi ll your home with great sound. Here’s how to assemble a killer system with a small footprint By Jesse Will

I want to get back into records but ditched my old setup. Where ROCK BOX should I start? The tiny Sprout All you need is a turntable with a built-in phono pre-amp, amp’s plus powereddkspeakers. Plug th e AUDIO-TECHNICA onboard AT-LP120-USB 300 udio-technica.c into the DAC makes 75-watt-per-channel AUDIOENGINE A5+ speakers ($399; digital audioe neusa.com and you’l robabl e blown away. sources sound like classic vinyl.

What’s the least-complicated, Can I get a multiroom system best-sounding system I can get? with high-end sound?

For audiophiles, whole-home wireless systems pres- Ditch your old receiver for the PS AUDIO SPROUT ($799; ent a trade-off : The convenience means you have to ac- psaudio.com), a 50-watt-per-channel amp that excels at cept compressed sound quality. But the new BLUESOUND system (components priced from $299; bluesound.com) handling sources both old (vinyl) and new (digital, via Blue- plays 24-bit hi-res audio fi les from sources like HDtracks. tooth, USB or coaxial); the compact chassis hides a phono pre-amp, a headphone amp and a DAC. Then build out your system with the BOWERS & WILKINS CM5 S2 ($1,600 a pair; bowers-wilkins.com), a space-defying bookshelf speaker with an uncommonly rich midrange, thanks to its tough composite drivers and one-inch tweeters separated from the cabinet via a ring of cushioning gel.

100 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 Music Gear For Boffi ns Gift ideas for the special musician in your life, whether they’re a professional rocker or just a big dreamer By Matt Coyte

The Next-Gen Gibson Gibson Les Paul Standard 2016 HP From $US3,149

Gibson’s 206 range off ers a choice between Traditional models that embrace the classic action and feel of yesteryear, and High Performance, which come loaded with new technology such as next generation GFORCE automatic tuning, advanced pick- ups and the Soloist necks, built for faster shredding and modern playing styles. Tough choice Gibson! We’ll take one of each.

The Mixer of the Future Soundcraft Ui-16 RRP $1,099

These days having a mixer that can be controlled from a slick interface on your iOS or Android device saves both time and real estate in your portable rig. The Soundcraft Ui-16 has an integrated Wi-Fi router allowing you to plug in your mics and your speakers and mix your show from wherever suits you. Perfect for DJs and solo performers.

In-Ear Workhorses Double Time Smashing Distortion Shure SE215 Sound Isolating Keeley Electronics 30ms Double Wren and Cuff Eye See Pi Headphones Tracker RRP $US225 RRP $195 RRP $US199 The Electro Harmonix Big Muff pedal is a Musicians have been using Shure’s in-ear The classic sound of Abbey Road’s double- classic, and purists spend a lot of time look- headphones for years as part of their tracking emulation comes to life thanks to ing for lost or rare variations of the revered on-stage monitoring set-up, but now the one of the guitar pedal-world’s most re- fuzz box. Wren and Cuff specialise in mak- aff ordable SE215s bring this sound isolating vered geeks, Robert Keeley. This eff ect does ing replicas of rare Big Muff s including this experience (the design shields over 90 per more than just convincingly double your ode to the integrated circuit models of the cent of the ambient noise) within reach of sound – you can tweak it in myriad ways to Seventies. Used by Smashing Pumpkin Billy everyone, not just stadium rockers. create subtle to trippy eff ects. Corgan, it sounds like a 747 taking off .

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 101 WORTHY Suff ragette is a movie that matters The Struggle Is Real The early battle for women’s rights gets the prestige-drama treatment By Peter Travers

Suffragette Meryl Streep shows up for a ers through this movie even to feel genuine rage when the Carey Mulligan, Helena spiky cameo as militant ad- when the contours of the story prime minister rejects the vot- Bonham Carter, Meryl vocate Emmeline Pankhurst, fl irt with the trite. It helps that ing-rights bill. In tandem with Streep who suggests that her ladies two women are at the helm – pharmacist Edith Ellyn (a bril- Directed by Sarah Gavron stop being genteel and start director Sarah Gavron (Brick liant, bracing Helena Bonham ★★★★ throwing bricks. Then there’s Lane) and screenwriter Abi Carter), Maud fi nds the stirring Emily Wilding Davison (Nat- Morgan (The Iron Lady). of a revolutionary inside herself. whynow?youaskyourself alie Press), who thought she In lesser hands, Maud’s od- The price is losing everything. that question while watching could win attention to the yssey from workslave to activ- There are times when the Suffragette, a vibrant, vigorous cause by stepping in front of ist would have been a catalogue movie piles on troubles with too movieaboutthefightforvot- King George’s horse at the 1913 of female anguish. We see Maud heavy a hand. At other times, ingrightsforBritishwomenin Epsom Derby and getting her- slaving at the laundry along- Suff ragette blazes with a fi re theearlypartofthe20thcen- self stomped to death. She was side her husband, Sonny (Ben that cannot be denied. And you tury.Thenthelightdawns.The right. A high price for a media Whishaw), and too near her see it all on Mulligan’s wonder- sad truth is that gender bias has spotlight. handsy boss, Mr. Taylor (Geoff fully expressive face. For all the never stopped spreading its tox- What makes Suffragette a Bell). Another co-worker, Vio- rich detail added by cinema- insandIdon’tmeanjustthe relevant rabble-rouser, besides let Miller (the excellent Anne- tographer Edu Grau, produc- currentraceforU.S.President. Mulligan’s fi erce, aff ecting per- Marie Duff ), pushes her to join tion designer Alice Norming- Isthemovieatruestory?Not formance, is the way it won’t the Women’s Social and Politi- ton and costume designer Jane really. Carey Mulligan’s charac- bow to the kind of Hollywood cal Union. Still, Maud is reluc- Petrie, it is that human face that ter, Maud Watts, is a fictional formula that tsk-tsks about how tant, preferring to hide her head makes this feminist history re- composite meant to represent bad it was then – only to wrap at home, caring for her hus- latable to this generation and to the women of the time, con- everything up with a comfy band and young son. When fate generations to come. In a sea of tent to work and be exploited banner that says, “You’ve come intervenes – as it does in this Hollywood escapism, Suff rag- by their bosses and husbands a long way, baby.” The feminist type of fi lm – Maud is called ette – fl aws and all – is a movie until, well, they aren’t anymore. struggle continues. And it pow- on to testify in Parliament and that matters.

102 ★★★★★ Classic | ★★★★ Excellent | ★★★ Good | ★★ Fair | ★ Poor January, 2016 Truth By the Sea ard setting cinematic sail with As we drift in no gripping Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, the doomed 1820s voyage of direction, perhaps the biggest Robert Redford Brad Pitt whale-ship The Essex. The blunder is the 1820s whale- Directed by James Vanderbilt Directed by Angelina Jolie wash-up is a nautical yawn. men becoming spokesmen for ★★★★ ★½ Unlike Herman Melville’s fa- contemporary environmental mous read about the rabid hunt concerns. Such a forced anach- this probing look at writer-director Angelina for a white whale, The Essex ronism cements the disap- television news is a trip into the Jolie’s attempt to emulate Eu- wasn’t steered by obsessed pointing pointlessness of How- dark side of journalism. CBS ropean art cinema is a slow, Captain Ahab. As recounted ard’s fishing trip. BEN MCEACHEN producer Mary Mapes (Cate sodden, stupefyingly dull take to Melville (Ben Whishaw) by Blanchett) climbs a slippery on a 1970s marriage gone bad. surviving shipmate Thomas Trumbo slope when she organises a seg- Jolie plays Nessa, and her hus- (Brendan Gleeson), The Essex Bryan Cranston, Helen ment for 60 Minutes II, with band, Brad Pitt, is Nessa’s hus- was led by a greenhorn captain Mirren, John Goodman CBS News anchor Dan Rather Directed by Jay Roach 1 (Robert Redford) at the helm, ★★★½ suggesting that a young George W. Bush pulled strings in 1968 a hollywood screenwrit- to dodge Vietnam by taking er goes broke fighting for his Texas Air National Guard pilot principles. Sounds like a biopic training. slog, and sometimes it is. Luck- Juicy stuff, especially in ily, Trumbo has a powerhouse light of the Swift-boat scan- Bryan Cranston to light a fire dal that tainted John Kerry’s under the moldier clichés in campaign. Bush-bashing could John McNamara’s script. shift the election. Mapes feels Cranston plays the hell out of confident thanks to her re- Dalton Trumbo, who got rich search team, including Lt. Col. writing movies in the 1930s Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid), and 1940s. Trumbo had a big journalism prof Lucy Scott personality to match his ego. (Elisabeth Moss) and freelanc- He’d write in his bathtub, booze er Mike Smith (Topher and cigarettes at the ready, 2 Grace). But the team (1) Helen Mirren barking at wife Cleo (Diane relies heavily on sup- and Bryan Cranston Lane) and their three children porting documents talk movie shop in if they disturbed him. reportedly written Hollywood drama Trumbo’s bubble burst when in 1972 and 1973 by Trumbo. (2) Pitt he joined the Communist Party. Bush’s command- and Jolie in the In 1947, he was called to testi- er, the late Lt. Col. dull-as-dishwater fy before the House Un-Amer- Jerry B. Killian, that marital crisis By the ican Activities Committee, label Bush a no-show. Sea. (3) Cate along with nine other screen- Blanchett and When the Killian doc- Robert Redford writers. He refused to name uments are discredit- strategise in Truth. names and spent nearly a year ed, Mapes is fi red and in jail. As part of the blacklist- Rather is sent into re- ed Hollywood 10, Trumbo lost tirement. band, Roland. The Pitts, job, home, fortune and famous End of story. Or it would it must be said, suffer friends, and used a pseudonym be if Mapes hadn’t written a gorgeously. Vacation- to write Roman Holiday and 2005 book, Truth and Duty: ing at a swank hotel in The Brave One, winning two The Press, the President, and Malta, they spy through Oscars that he couldn’t take the Privilege of Power, an ap- a peephole at newlyweds credit for. ologia of sorts. And if screen- next door (Mélanie Lau- Kudos to director Jay Roach writer James Vanderbilt (Zo- rent, Melvil Poupaud). for not wallowing in misery. diac), making a rattling-good Nessa and Roland bare- His movie is bracing and buoy- directorial debut, hadn’t seen ly talk. When they finally 3 ant when Trumbo takes on the book as a basis for a hell- do, you pray they’ll shut gossip gorgon Hedda Hopper raiser of a movie. up. “I smell fish,” Nessa says, George Pollard (wet Benjamin (a wicked Helen Mirren) and That it is. Blanchett burns on sniffing. Nah. What stinks is Wallker). Cue stereotypical is- writes cheapies for the King a high fl ame, and Redford fi nds the movie. sues with decision making and brothers (Stephen Root and the wounded dignity in Rath- respect, especially as first mate a hilarious John Goodman). er. But not enough to give the In The Heart of the Sea Owen Chase (stoic Chris Hem- When Kirk Douglas hired Mapes team a pass. The real Chris Hemsworth, sworth) is a whale whisperer. Trumbo to write Spartacus in story here is how the CBS boss- Benjamin Walker If none of that hoists your 1960, the Commie witch hunt es, tasked to entertain and win Directed by Ron Howard mainsail, Howard’s aimless was exposed as the sham it ratings, pushed to get the piece ★★ adventure won’t either. Moby was. Witch hunts haven’t gone, aired before it was ready and Dick’s heartbeat of crazed pur- they’ve gone global (ask the then pushed to throw Mapes the world has never suit is nowhere in sight. In- folks at Charlie Hebdo). Cran- and Rather under the bus. It’s seemed too fussed with know- stead, step aboard for maritime ston shows us there’s nothing not a pretty picture, but it gives ing more about the true story standards (Stormy weather! retro about watching Trum- this movie the harsh ring of behind epic tome Moby Dick. Splintering masts!) in a limp bo in his glory, speaking truth truth. That hasn’t stopped Ron How- tale of survival. to power.

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 103 Driving to a Dignifi ed Death

Distinctly Aussie take on a WAYT road trip with a diff erence lCatoni By Michael Adams s o

Last Cab to Darwin Michael Caton, Ningali Lawford-Wolf Directed by Jeremy Sims ★★★

When Broken Hill cab- bie Rex gets the bad news that his cancer is back and gonna kill him painful- ly within three months, he drives 3,000 kilometres to Darwin to embrace death with dignity under recently passed eu- thanasia laws. That’s the premise of Reg Cribb’s play of the same name – loosely based on the real 1990s case of taxi driv- er Max Bell – now opened up cinematical- ly by director Jeremy Sims. ford-Wolf, superb). How this irascible fella demonstrate visual fl air without resorting As Rex, Michael Caton is a picture of fi nds himself on his road trip, aided by in- to tourist-ad fl ash. restraint, refusing to play to his natural digenous larrikin Tilly (Mark Coles Smith But the dual destinations – death and comic charm. His cabbie’s an old-school in a star-making, show-stealing perfor- Darwin – prove a bit of a cul-de-sac. Jacki Aussie bloke: content to pass hours talk- mance) and kindly British nurse Julie Weaver’s doctor never convinces, and ul- ing shit with his hi-vis mates at the booz- (Emma Hamilton), is the real heart of timately the fi lm seems on surer ground er; unable to admit loving his spikily-sweet Last Cab. The outback journey also lets with its feelgood sub-plots than its seri- Aboriginal neighbour Polly (Ningali Law- Sims and cinematographer Steve Arnold ously big question.

Mission Impossible: Vacation The Man From Ricki and the Flash Rogue Nation Ed Helms U.N.C.L.E. Meryl Streep Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner Directed by John Francis Daley Henry Cavill, Armie Directed by Jonathan Demme Dir. by Christopher McQuarrie ★★★½ Hammer ★★★ ★★★★ Directed by Guy Ritchie Using Mark Ronson & Mysti- ★★★ Ricki is a rock chick ageing dis- Ah, Tom, we can forgive much kal’s “Feel Right” early in this gracefully, gigging in dives and Scientology nonsense when film sets the tone. Like that Like James Bond fi lms of yore, paying the bills by bagging gro- we see you for-reals clinging song, Vacation is a crassly de- this is as much about style and ceries. But her daughter’s sui- to an Airbus during take-off rivative blast that you can’t Savoir faire as it is action and cide attempt brings her back at the start of the fi lm. It’s an help but like. This reboot has adventure. Not that we’d trade into her estranged family’s orbit exhilarating, insane and non- grown-up Rusty recreating his in Daniel Craig for Henry Cav- with results that are funny, dra- sensical sequence, pretty much childhood trip to Walley World, ill and Armie Hammer, but matic and TV-movie mawkish. like the rest of this spectacu- with the trip a framework for there’s breezy fun here you no Unsurprisingly, the ace Streep lar. The IMF team is disband- set-pieces and self-mocking longer get now 007’s gone to makes us believe she’s a gui- ed and Ethan Hunt has to go self-discovery. Going balls-out grit. This 1960s-set reboot of tar heroine belting out Jenny underground to expose the for gross-out gags, from pedo the TV show has the boys as Lewis-penned tunes and she Syndicate… blah-blah… oper- jokes to poo baths, this is al- rival U.S.-Soviet agents team- spars excellently with real-life atic shoot-out in Vienna… blah- ways tasteless but often eye- ing up to retrieve a nuclear war- daughter Mamie Gummer, blah… fi nale chase and fi ght in wateringly funny. There’s game head that’s fallen into the claws Kevin Kline and an aff ecting London. Eminently forgettable, work from Ed Helms, Chris- of Aussie Elizabeth Debicki’s Rick Springfi eld. This is unusu- immensely entertaining, with tina Applegate, Chris Hems- delicious femme fatale. Direc- ally fl uff y stuff from writer Di- Swedish actor Rebecca Fergu- worth and Leslie Mann, but the tor Guy Ritchie orchestrates the ablo Cody and director Jona- son a great addition as duplic- show’s stolen by Steele Steb- hijinx with dry wit, going for than Demme, but it hits a sweet itous agent Ilsa Faust. bins’s foul-mouthed bully tyke. laughs as often as thrills. MOR spot.

104 ★★★★★ Classic | ★★★★ Excellent | ★★★ Good | ★★ Fair | ★ Poor January, 2016 THE WEEKND and it doesn’t test me at all. I could make a when I see someone like that. Our tables girl go like this” – he does a little shimmy- were beside each other, and the owner of [Cont. from 61] “I think that’s where the dance – “with a beat. It’s very easy. I did the club knew how important he was to starsalignedforme. When I see an open- it so much I can’t do it anymore. But pop me, so he introduced me.” ing” – he punches his fi st in his palm – “I music? That shit’s hard, dude.” Or the time he met the Band’s Rob- penetrate it.” bie Robertson at Canada’s Walk of Fame. The song was released that September. hree days later, tesfaye is “Robbie’s from Scarborough too, actual- “If people didn’t like it, I would’ve been across the country at Studio 8H ly. I met him and Peter Fonda together – like, ‘Let’s sweep it under the rug.’ But peo- T in NBC’s Rockefeller Center, at a those guys know how to party. I’m an avid ple were fucking with it.” The song went to rehearsal for Saturday Night Live. Across fi lm-watcher. Growing up, I loved any- Number Seven in the U.S. and marked a the room, host Amy Schumer is posing on thing Scorsese and De Niro, and Rob- turning point for Tesfaye – the beginning a chaise lounge in a black-lace Eighties bie’s been Scorsese’s friend for years, and of his mainstream conquest. He followed Madonna dress. Tesfaye is soundchecking consulted on Scorsese’s music. So he’d that with “Earned It”, from the 50 Shades the same two songs he always does: “Can’t tell me stories about them. I live for these of Grey soundtrack, a slinky BDSM slow- Feel My Face” and “The Hills”. SNL want- moments.” And then, most charming- jam that sounded like nothing else on pop ed him to do “In the Night” instead, but ly, there’s the time he simply overheard a radio and rode to Number Three on the it’s a tough song to sing live, and he didn’t conversation between LL Cool J and Den- U.S. charts. Then he went into the studio feel ready. Even he can recognise his lim- zel Washington at an Oscar party. “That’s with Martin to craft some hits of his own. itations: “I’m not known as the greatest when I was like, ‘You know what? I think “His whole operation is just genius,” singer right now,” Tesfaye says, “but I’m I fuckin’ made it, dude.’ ” Tesfaye says of the producer. “I was told also not known as the guy who fucking At 3 a.m., after the SNL afterparty, Tes- he doesn’t do this very much, but he would sucks, you know?” faye will board a private jet that will take him to Austin for his headlining slot at ACL fest – his last festival of the year be- fore he shuts down to prep for his own “The worst thing anyone can say about tour. There will be fi reworks and a pyro an artist is, ‘He could have been great.’ display during “The Hills”, and 30,000 people singing along to “Can’t Feel My I was always scared of being that guy Face”. During “Often”, he’ll change the hook to say, “Ask how many times I come where it’s like, ‘He could have been big.’” to Texas/I say Austin!” and then after- ward, he’ll run offstage into a waiting SUV and enjoy a police-motorcycle escort actually sit on the fl oor with us and come After the camera-blocking, a produc- on the way back to his hotel. up with ideas. I feel like usually he’ll col- er comes over to ask Tesfaye’s team if he’ll It’s a long way from his fi rst big festi- laborate, but he’s not as passionate or shoot a couple of promos with Schumer val gig, in 2012 at Coachella. “Coachel- as hands-on. I felt superhonoured, you and cast member Kate McKinnon. At fi rst la was the fi rst show I did in the States, know? It was some real Michael-and- they decline, but Tesfaye knows what a big and I hated my performance,” he says. Quincy, John Lennon-and-Paul McCart- deal SNL is, so he agrees. He looks nervous “I was scared shitless. I got off stage and ney stuff .” Martin ended up co-produc- as he takes his mark and stares at the cue thought I did pretty good, then I watched ing three songs on the album: “Can’t Feel cards. “Are you ready?” Schumer teases. the tape, and it was a nightmare. I saw all My Face”, “Shameless” and the forthcom- “It’s not easy. . . .” the comments, and I wanted to kill my- ing single “In the Night”, another Jackson They do a few takes, Tesfaye playing self. I remember telling my agent, ‘You homage that could become the Weeknd’s the straight man while Schumer and Mc- need to book me as many shows as possi- biggest hit yet. “If it works, it’s going to be Kinnon improvise wackily. He’s funny – ble. That guy onstage is not a star. That’s huge,” Tesfaye says. “It’s like that load that just the right amount of deadpan. When not a legend.’ ” you’re trying to hold in – I’m just waiting he asks about a typo on one of the cue So Tesfaye got to work. He took some for the money shot.” cards, Schumer playfully smacks his dance lessons, trying to build confi dence The Weeknd’s mixtapes, and even Kiss shoulder: “Well, look who can read!” The and learn how to perform. And he played Land to an extent, relied a lot on atmo- director says they have it, and Schum- lots of shows. “I was performing my ass sphere and mood, their hooks cloaked in er turns and gives Tesfaye a hug: “You off ,” he says. “My touring was booming. a woozy codeine haze. Beauty Behind the were so good!” An embarrassed Tesfaye Everybody was confused – I don’t have Madness is more like a cocaine bump: smiles, makes two fi nger-guns and blows a hit song, and I’m doing two nights at shorter, tighter, more energetic. “It’s all his brains out. Radio City? I’m not saying I’m Beyoncé, about songs for me right now,” he says. At the broadcast Saturday night, Tes- but I feel like I went after it and nailed it.” “The production can be cool and crazy- faye is joined by surprise guest Nicki When it came down to it, Tesfaye was sounding, but that’s just special eff ects. If Minaj, who raps on a brand-new remix of driven by fear. “I think the worst thing you can’t strip it down and play it on piano, “The Hills”. But the highlight for him was anyone can say about an artist is, ‘He it’s not a good song.” He cites Radiohead meeting Louis C.K., who was “just chill- could have been great’,” he says. “I was al- as an example: “I love Radiohead, they’re ing backstage”. “He was in the middle of ways scared of being that guy where it’s one of the greatest of all time. But can you a conversation,” Tesfaye says, “and I was like, ‘He could have been big. He could break down their songs and play them on like, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever gonna see have been a star.’ I was afraid I’d see some- piano? Maybe not.” you again, so in case I don’t, I just want to body else up there and be like, ‘You’re To Tesfaye, writing pop songs is a whole tell you how much I admire your work.’ I trying to tell me they’re better than me? lot harder than writing cool songs. “Some don’t think he recognised who I was, but Why? Because they’ve got a couple of people are like, ‘Oh, yeah, just sell out and he was supersweet.” smash records? I can do smashes. I could do pop music.’ So you fucking do it, then! Tesfaye has had lots of these idol en- fi gure it out.’ It’s not easy. Can I be honest with you? counters lately. There was the time he “And to be honest with you, it’s been, What all these kids are doing right now? met Leonardo DiCaprio at an L.A. club. “I what, a couple of years now? And it feels I could do that in my sleep. I listen to it, don’t get star-struck, but I get star-struck great. I feel great.”

January, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 105 THELASTPAGE Albert Hammond Jr The Strokes guitarist and solo artist on being aggressive with cops and loving Thor By Rod Yates

The last record I bought The last It was mine [Momentary Masters]when it came out! I always buy my albums when record I they come out.Iliketoseethewholeexpe- bought? It rience. Even when they have pre-orders I’ll was mine!” pre-order my record just so I can see what it’s like for a fan to get it. If there’s any mis- takes I can goyellatsomeone![Laughs] I’ve been doingthatalways:Idownloadit, I pre-order it, and I buy it on vinyl. Did the shop assistant recognise me? No, they had no idea. They actually even had it stocked as the artist was Momentary Masters, not Albert Hammond Jr, that was funny. My last meal would be If you’re on death row, I wouldn’t want a big burger and be all farty and bloaty as they’re injectingme.Idon’tevenknowif you can enjoy a last meal to be honest, with all the adrenaline and emotions that are running through. I don’t think I’d want to eat. I’d want a big plate of drugs. [Laughs] The last time I was starstruck My wife and I go to screenings in New York, and we went to see Age of Ultron, and saw Chris Hemsworth [who plays Thor]. He’s really tall and handsome and he walked up andIshookhishand.Ithink my wife and I had a little crush on him. The last time I threw a tantrum Today. I was in the car and I was throw- ing a tantrumtomywife.Iwasjusttired. We barely sleptandI’msickandIwasjust being a little kid. What was it about? Ev- erything and anything. The last time I played drunk Probably First Impressions of Earth The last time I ate something I regretted on the brakes and move the car a bit. Luck- tour. I probably played on all kinds of stuff On the road I usually regret whenever I ilyfortheNintendoskillsofmy youth I was on any one of those shows [laughs]. Could decidetoeatsomethingtoolateatnight. able to avoid any collision. The thing is, I’m I function? Looking back on it now prob- WeirdlyenoughI’msosensitivenowthatI aniceguy,butwhenitcomes to authority ably no, not great, I would have played a don’t drink or do drugs, that eating too late at the airport or the police, I immediate- lot better had I not been. I canleavemewakingupfeel- ly just enjoy being aggressive with them. I think there’s this weird belief OUT NOW ingterrible.It’snotaserious don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’ve re- that [being high] takes an thingtomostpeoplebutit’s allygottostopdoingit.It’snot fun for any- edge off , so you can feel a lit- quite a serious thing for me. one around, but I immediately become a tle freer. It’s a fi ne line to do I get depressed after a while little obnoxious. that, being freer and actual- if I do that. The last time I exercised ly losing playing well. The last time someone was I try to exercise every day. But it was The last thing I stole rude to me probably a week ago ’cause the tour’s been I don’t think I ever stole Unintentionally in the pretty crazy. If I wasn’t on tour I’d exer- anything. Put it this way, Momentary car. We were leaving Salt cise fi ve days a week. I do diff erent weight in the early days when [the Masters Lake City, and we’re in a big training. Strokes] were playing and Hammond Jr will tour sprinter van, carrying a lot The last book I read we would get like $40 for a Australia in February, of gear in the back, a lot of I read a few [at the same time]. I’m read- show, the band would give hitting the Mountain weight. And we’re in the car- ing Sapiens [by Yuval Noah Harari], and it to me to hold onto ’cause Sounds Festival as well pool lane, and this woman I always try to get my hands on a Robert they knew that I would keep as headline dates. out of nowhere pulls right in Ludlum book, just for pure entertainment. it safe. frontofmeandIhadtoslam They’resomuchfun. IMAGES GETTY

106 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com January, 2016 EXCEPTIONAL DIGITAL CLARITY MEETS SEAMLESS OPERATION. GLX-D Wireless Systems Introducing Shure’s Guitar Pedal Receiver

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