Mojo - The Music Magazine

Episode 12. Island Of No Wave!

January 17th, Saturday, Sydney, Cockatoo Island, ATP Day 1

Cockatoo Island is basically a big square rock plunked in the middle of Sydney Harbour. No cockatoos to be seen, although just some rather aggressive seagulls dive-bombing the food concession area. Some monumental remnants of the island’s colourful history are to be found here: abandoned cranes and other industrial detritus from its shipyard days, mining-style tunnels carved through the rock, as well as ruined guardhouses and towers dating from when it was an imperial prison. A certain Captain Thunderbolt, a bushranger, notoriously swam to escape from here. From 1871-1880 Cockatoo Island housed the Biloela Reformatory School For Females, a home for wayward girls and there are some lively tales connected with that period.

Being an island, it’s surrounded by water of course, so there’s a speedboat reserved for the band. Captain Ron lets the Cave twins take turns at the wheel, not quite a white-knuckle ride, but not too relaxing either.

I arrive in time to catch James “Blood” Ulmer performing in the stupendously large Turbine Hall. The Turbine Hall was originally built for the manufacture of Daring class destroyers, including the impressively named HMAS Vampire). The reverb in this expansive space is overpowering. From the perimeter of the crowd where I’m listening with The Dirty 3 and Bad Seeds’ producer Nick Launay, Ulmer’s intricate harmolodic articulations and murmured vocals are rendered murky to the point of indecipherability by the uncontrolled acoustics; so I squeeze in through the throng for an up-close position.

It’s a much bigger crowd than when I first saw Ulmer back in the late ‘70s at CBGB’s, playing with a band that included Oliver Lake (and I think Ronald Shannon Jackson?). Interestingly, around 1980 Ulmer released an album entitled No Wave; and although he has never been considered part of that short-lived movement so far as I know, the jaggedly aggressive and experimental style Ulmer advocated at the time seemed to me kindred in spirit to Arto Lindsay’s (DNA, Lounge Lizards) choppy dissonance (albeit far more refined technically). This afternoon he is in blues messenger mode, playing a mix of originals including Birthright (written for his father) and re-defined classic blues such as I Ain’t Superstitious.

UK’s Fuck Buttons, one of my very favourite new bands, turned in upbeat and energetic shows at all their ATP appearances whilst deftly avoiding electronica/dance clichés. If only we had succeeded in getting Suicide onto the festival line-up (they couldn’t handle the long flight); combined with Silver Apples, Harmonia, Fuck Buttons and the très formidable Passenger Of Shit (more about him later), we would have boasted a very cool (if rather idiosyncratic) cross-spectrum of five decades of electronic rock music.

The Sydney dailies have been half-praising/half mocking this festival as a Big Day Out for oldsters. I won’t bother contesting that because I honestly don’t think it matters in the least; but the final act scheduling of Australian ‘80s band The Reels does lend some credence to that perception.

The Reels are cherished by some Aussies for originals such as Quasimodo’s Dream, an ambitious hit single that ventured dangerously into prog-rock lyricism. Personally I prefer their unabashedly effete pop covers like This Guy's In Love With You, Last Night (I Didn't Get to Sleep at All) and a crazily inappropriate string quartet arrangement of Creedence’s Bad Moon Rising. They get a thunderous round of applause at the end of their set, and I spot not a few old gay boys in the audience discreetly dabbing tears from their eyes.

Read Episode 13. Are you ready for Passenger Of Shit?