the vignettes.

An ode toThe White Stripes and The Vignettes

2011-02-03T18:09:00.000+11:00

So as everyone heard the white stripes have announced they are no longer a band. I first heard/saw the white stripes on the MTV music video awards in 2001 when I was 16.
It was absolutely astounding.
They played a medley of 'Fell in love with a Girl', 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground' and 'I think I smell a Rat'. I spent weeks on Napster downloading those songs, and it wasn't until the following year that I got the album White Blood Cells.
Never had rock and roll grabbed me in this way before. I started realising my old friends that listened to hip hop were dicks, and the weird chicks who hung out at the bottom of the school were awesome.
I dyed my hair black to be more like Jack White. I started really listening to music and trying to find more that grabbed me in such a powerful and sincere way. My life became devoted to rock and roll.

I followed the White Stripes devoutly, discovering their earlier albums 'The White Stripes' and 'De Stijl' were equally powerful, and loved everything they did after with 'Elephant', 'Get Behind Me Satan', and 'Icky Thump' (though enjoying each release less and less). I bought live dvds and biographies, any magazine with their picture on it, b-sides and vinyls. I was smitten.

Now the evolution onto The Vignettes.
Shortly after leaving school, and the release of Elephant, I came to another realisation; I didn't just want to listen to rock and roll, I wanted to make it. I went to my musician uncle Stuey, who gave me my first guitar and guitar lesson at 19. By then I was uncovering everything from Led Zeppelin to the Von Bondies (who i saw live and met that same year) and started my very first band 'The Vinettes', named after our mutual love of The Vines, who also instigated my love of rock and roll. The Vinettes only played 1 gig (which we have on film), and then disbanded. We were a three piece with all of us rotating instruments, and the line up always one guitar, drums and vocals. 2 girls and a guy. That format seems to have stuck with me ever since. When I moved to Sydney I managed to get my friend Nay to move with me to start the band again with my girl Katie on drums, and the new name, 'The Vignettes'. I got the name from a NIN interview about the film clip 'closer' where trent said, "The vignettes in the video made me enjoy the song again". Amazing.
Nay ended up leaving and we were stuck with gigs booked as a 2 piece. We followed through and had a reasonable career, getting played on Triple J with 3 songs, Wild, The Rich and Could've Been from our 1st EP, getting to play Come Together and Playground Weekender festivals, and building a reasonable fan base around sydney. We released 2 EPs (Out of Home, On our Own) and 1 album (DIY/FU - vinyl only)
As a 2 piece though, we never escaped the stigma of being a cheap version of The White Stripes. Similarities came from our simple playing styles (which came from having barely learned our instruments), having a guy guitarist and female drummer; and our song writing structure, which was just generic rock style. Really our intent was to imitate bands like DFA 1979, Wolfmother, Muse and numerous others, but that never really broke through. Eventually we came to loath the white stripes for the constant comparisons and jokes about our playing styles when we never even tried to sound like them.
Finally, realising we could take this format no further with the equipment we had and the song styles we loved, we left The Vignettes behind to indulge in new endeavors; going back to the line up of 2 girls, 1 guy with Bang! Bang! Rock n Roll.
The White Stripes musical journey has ended along with The Vignettes, and somehow that seems very appropriate.
Goodbye White Stripes, you will always have a place in my heart, and my record collection.

Goodbye The Vignettes, and for everyone who ever saw or heard us, FUCK YOU IF YOU DIDN'T LIKE IT!

Future

2010-10-18T22:25:00.000+11:00

The Future! Flying cars and shit... or something.
Actually, I mean the near future. So the record is out and about and got us a little bit more attention, but we're still climbing the ladder of music success (I think we're on the 2nd rung of about 2million) so we're looking at what's happening next. We've increased our sound by adding extra vocals from Katie B, we're getting new gadgets for different sounds, and we've written some new songs that we think will make everyone stand up and say..."what's that band called again?"
Which brings me to my next possible change. The Vignettes. It seems about 2% of the population know the word and what it means, and even less can pronounce or spell it. We're considering a name change to something easier, more memorable and more powerful. Sex Revenge? Max Power? The flying dildos? Horace's amazing flight generating power cycle?
None of these are under consideration, but you know what I mean.
We've got some sweet shows coming up, and contacts for future rad shows, so maybe in the new year we'll come out with a new release, a new sound, and a new name.

Summer?

2010-09-19T13:25:00.000+10:00

Summer. Partying with friends, hanging out on the beach, being completely care free, listening to music;
BULLSHIT.
In case everyone in this country has forgotten, summer is almost UNBEARABLY HOT, making everything sticky and horrible and making everyone shitty. The beach (and pretty much everywhere) is packed full of tourist retards, and you can party with friends all year round and it's pretty much the same. Also, your job and bills and problems don't just disappear because the weather is hotter.
I don't think anything has as much undeserved hype as the season of summer (except maybe the band circle pit).
Autumn and Spring are much better. You can still have barbecues and get drunk in the sun and you wont wake up sun burnt and dehydrated as all death.
And fuck I hate escapist innocent summery music.

Dear god I'm a miserable bastard. But you'll see, you'll all see.

Interview from Academy For Men E-zine

2010-07-11T16:43:00.000+10:00

The Vinyl part II

2010-07-02T19:42:00.000+10:00

Okay, turns out it was our record player that made it sound so bad. We just used a different turntable, and the record sounds fine! No echo, no weird phaser noises. So, uh, ignore that previous post, and enjoy our shithouse record!

Also, everyone tell your friends, relatives, acquaintances and enemies about us, as we struggle with socialising and hence it takes us a long time to find new people to get into our music, hence making our progress through this industry quite slow. SPREAD THE WORD OF THE VIGNETTES. FUCK THE FUCKING FUCKERS!

seriously...
X

The Vinyl

2010-06-29T16:35:00.000+10:00

So it's back and been sent out and all. As it turns out, the quality is even lower than we expected. It sounds like a 2nd hand record made in 1972 that's been sitting in a hot room full of dust. So we've gone through and hand cleaned them all to clear up the sound a bit, but they're still pretty weak. There's also a weird echo on the tracks that is not there on the master recordings. Luckily we've uploaded the masters to mp3 for download with the vinyl so you can still hear the (relatively) clear originals. As crummy as it's turned out, and despite all the delays, we're still pretty happy. We hope you are too. Hopefully, like always, these records will lead to something bigger and better. Thanks to all of you for your support, and enjoy DIY/FU in all it's shithouse glory!

Awesome

2010-06-26T15:00:00.000+10:00

Back in 2005, before The Vignettes, I saw Wolfmother play at the Gaelic club launching their first big EP. The room was pretty full, and they were pretty freaking good (despite my french friend walking out because they were 'crep') and not long after they were the biggest band in the world. I remember thinking "That's my dream. To be in a band, and headline at a place like this, to hundreds of adoring fans".
Last night we realised that dream.
Despite being a week and a half out of hospital, having the flu, having the record we were launching lost in NZ somewhere, and having my guitar start to fuck up at our rehearsals in the lead up, we still fucking DID IT!
Thank you to everyone who supported us, and helped us to realise our dream of being wanker rock stars.
It was fucking amazing.

The Vignettes

Album Launch!

2010-06-20T10:34:00.000+10:00

Hey all, we are launching our debut vinyl NEXT FRIDAY at The Gaelic Club in Sydney!

Doors at 8pm, $10.

Facebook event link is here!

You can also buy tix from Moshtix here.

Love,

The Vignettes

Muse Interview

2010-06-06T13:51:00.001+10:00

Muse are on the way to the country and I thought I'd get in a quick
interview.

Joel - So boys welcome back to Australia.

Muse - Cheers.

J - So do you enjoy it here?

M - Yeah, we love playing smaller venues like Acer arena and Rod Laver
Arena. It's very quaint. We can barely fit the whole stage show
there!

J - Barely? Did you leave anything out?

M - There were going to be some lions and elephants marching around in
futuristic space outfits while pyrotechnics go off constantly from
their backs, but apparently your smaller stadiums couldn't quite
fit it all in. Back home we were even thinking of expanding it.
oh well...

J - Indeed. Well I wanted to congratulate you on what might be the
comedy album of the year The Resistance.

M - ...comedy album?

J - Well, yes. I mean, there's no way that's a serious album.
It's clearly a spinal tap inspired joke on a massive scale to see
how gullible the public is.

M - No it isn't. It's our finest hour. Our masterwork. The highest
selling muse album yet.

J - But how can you be serious with that camp production? Film clips
where you play keytars while covered in flouro cabling? Cheesy songs
with lyrics like "It's time the fat cats had a heart attack" and
"love is our resistance"? The new stuff is clearly a piss take on
your earlier work, full of cliches and lame references to space love
and future rebellion.

M - No, we're just pushing it to new limits. Reaching new audiences.
We've made more money than ever before! How can THAT be a joke?

J - But you sound like late Queen meets Pseudo Echo in a gay bar.
In 10 years time, music lovers will remember you for your early
work, not for the pompous, ridiculous, overblown, sappy, camp
stadium popstars you became.

M - Well we sleep on a large pile of money surrounded by many
beautiful ladies. So stuff you. I need a money bath.

J - So do I.

F.U.U.F.F. Video

2010-05-09T11:27:00.002+10:00

Awesome.

Previewing tracks from the album on myspace

2010-04-18T12:47:00.001+10:00

We're putting up a new track every week, and we want your opinion!
Leave us some comments and tell us what you reckon.
http://www.myspace.com/lesvingettes
Remember, this is raw as fuck, self made, rock and roll!
Pre order it now!

Hype!

2010-04-16T19:39:00.000+10:00

"This sounds like the f**king bastard child of the Datsuns and Death From Above 1979! You always want to know how the Datsuns, DFA 1979 and YYY's would sound like if they were in the same studio at the same time, check this amazing new Australian (Sydney) band. The Vignettes are: Joel (guitar) and Katy B ( drums), yeah I know, another male guitarist/singer and female drummer, but this duo sounds quite sensational, this is a damn catchy, though raw and energetic band, you have to check 'em out here. I hope they will release a full-lenght soon, this needs/deserves much more attention!"
from http://pascalitolb6.blogspot.com/

Awesome.

D.I.Y/F.U. Ltd Ed 12" Vinyl Album

2010-04-04T12:31:00.003+10:00

This is now available to pre-order! Order now and get it sent directly to your door, with a free mp3 download key. Only 100 are available, and this is easily the greatest thing we've ever done. Here's an idea of what to expect:

This record is our response to the over-the-top, shallow pop of Ke$a and Lady GaGa.
This record is our response to twee indie folk becoming the mainsteam alternative.
This record is our response to overblown, self indulgent and pompous stadium albums.
This record is our response to every auto-tune, super slick electro album.
This record is an artistic statement;
Rough, raw, heavy and unpolished.
Recorded in 6 hours, in single takes, no post production.
Mistakes included, lyrics ad-libbed.
Black Sabbath meets the Stooges.
Sex Pistols meets Led Zeppelin.
We are The Vignettes, and fuck you if you don't like it.

PRE-ORDER HERE!

Nick Oliveri

2010-03-28T19:06:00.001+11:00

Heading to rehearsal this morning, we saw a group of loud mouths hanging out the front drinking at 11am. Wander past them to head into the studio, and realise the group is centralised around one man. Nick Oliveri is hanging out at Troy Horse Rehearsals. Spontaneous Ejaculation followed. After I cleaned off I wandered past, grabbed a trolley, said "hi" and ejaculated again. Then later as we'd loaded in, I heard him and his band playing 'Quick and to the Pointless' from the album Rated R.
I simaltaneously shat my pants, splooged and vomited in appreciation. AMAZING!
We then went on record some demo's, feeling super pumped that we were in the same studio as Nick Oliveri, of Queens of the Stone Age, the bass player and part singer for two of the greatest albums of all time (rated R, Songs for the Deaf).
My balls hurt.

Joel

Crap

2010-03-15T19:30:00.000+11:00

Megan Washington, Lisa Mitchell, Angus and Julia Stone, Meaghan Smith, Regina Spektor, Joanna Newsom, Sarah Blasko, blah blah blah.
They all sound the same! Soft music accompanied by baby talk vocals with a complete lack of proper enunciation and pronounciation to make it cuter. It's infuriating!
I feel like they live in some fantasy world we're everything is cutesy and lovely and quirky and the worst thing that ever happens is the occasional heartbreak. There's no war, poverty, famine, or any other problem that could evoke more emotion that would have them sing above a whisper. And what's with pronouncing 's' as "sh"? And I'm sick of xylophones, glockenspiels, bells, marimba's and all similar instruments used in said songs! This shit just drives me crazy! What the FUCK!

I'm sure this will piss a lot of people off, and as my friends say we can't always play guitar driven rock 24/7, but fuck you anyway. Just had to get that off my chest in the way all self indulgent egomaniacs rant about the world.

Name-checked by Aussie Hip Hop master Snob Scrilla!

2010-03-12T20:25:00.000+11:00

This is taken from an interview from MTV. M. T. V. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You opened for Faker on their massive tour last year. If the time comes, what kind of act would you like opening for your headline shows?

Wow, you know what - this is a question I'm already thinking about and if I could put all the acts that I would want on, my shows would turn into festivals because my taste in music is so varied - just like my music. But some of the rad kids who I would love to have headline would have to be The Bagraiders, The Cassette Kids, Catcall, Chaingang, The Vignettes....

Fucking sweeeeet!

source: http://www.mtv.com.au/news/interview-with-snob-scrilla/

official website.

2010-03-10T18:11:00.000+11:00

I (Katie) have been working on this the past few days, it's nothing fancy, but it does the job.

THE VIGNETTES.

Enjoy!
x

the joy of cooking with semen...

2010-03-08T19:16:00.000+11:00

http://www.lulu.com/content/4956212

Newcastle + potential all ages show.

2010-03-07T20:08:00.000+11:00

Epic drive, followed by 2 hours of waiting around, followed by 30 minutes of destruction, followed by another epic drive. Tired.
Played with possibly the best on stage sound we've ever had, and the best up and coming headliner we've ever seen, The Owls. They're like radiohead meets Queens of the Stone Age from newcastle. Really great. But enough about them. The crowd there was really great, but far removed as there was a gap and a barrier in front of the stage, and the hundred or so people there were dancing somewhere in the middle of the room. The applause sounded apathetic, but the response when we got off the stage and back into the audience was a resounding "Awesome!". Dear god I'm tired.
Today though we started our new lo-fi recordings of our newest tracks. They sound Freaking. Amazing. Over the next three weeks they'll be finished, and you'll all get to experience them on wax (vinyl). We're hoping to do a launch for it at the Red Rattler at the end of May, and it's potentially going to be an ALL AGES SHOW. I freaking love our under 18's fans and it's about time we did something especially for them, so if all goes to plan, this one's for them.
I've run out of steam, and I just spilled wine all over myself, so I'm going to sign off. so tired...

Reviews for Violence Solves Everything

2010-02-16T22:19:00.001+11:00

"Two piece rock band from Sydney that have been impressing audiences over the course of 2008 and 2009 with their energetic, simple rock show.
Taking a page from the The White Stripes with a female drummer and male guitarist/singer, the comparison to the The White Stripes stop there.
With sound more similar to old The Vines (back when they were drunk and good) this 4 track Ep really packs a punch.
Short, punchy, in your face songs to get the head banging and the toes tapping. For me the highlight is 'Bring Me Down'."
- deathtoyourspeakers.com

"With up to 30 singles arriving each week, sometimes the decisions to review certain titles comes down to unjustifiable logic. Cool artwork, a snappy press release and smart images might be all it takes to catch the eye of a frantic reviewer looking for the next disc to spin. The reason The Vignettes were picked out of the pile was the most erroneous ever: I used to have a crush on their PR rep back when I was seven and she was dancing about in sequins and spandex on iconic ‘80s program Young Talent Time. As for The Vignettes, the male/female Sydney duo hark back to Eddie Cochran basics with their frantic garage rock sound. Some great NYC howls and low-end basslines ensure they evade too many White Stripes comparisons, with the rough and dirty result being about as far removed from a squeaky clean 1988 YTT recording of The Miracle Of Love as you can get."
- Rip It Up (Adelaide Street Press)

Music Journalist

2010-02-02T15:54:00.000+11:00

Ever so righteous, they'll tell you what to like
By following the obvious majority
Not an original thought or idea will come out
just what the record label told them.
More money, more fame and it keeps going further
and nothing could be further from the truth
Dear god you've sold your love
and everythings gone wrong
and you don't know what it means anymore.

Zero Demographic

2010-02-02T15:50:00.000+11:00

It doesnt' appeal to me
It was never meant to
I don't fit in to this modern demographic
No amount of accoustic music
and 'real people' telling me
What I want,
What I need,
will change my mind.
The shallow majority
wont change my mind
Flanalet and denim have become
the cliche of youth
just like a decade ago
and they all buy into it.
I wont buy into it,
I am the zero demographic.

you are...

2010-01-28T22:18:00.001+11:00

I'm drunk.... I haven't updated this in a while, so I'm sorry.. but I can't update it now coz I'm drunk.

fdsaheuipovbxm,zfhdsjakorewuiopvcnmzsfdsareuiwao

...exactly...

Love
The Vignettes

Similarities?

2009-11-30T16:25:00.000+11:00

Original.

Copy.

Original.

Copy.

Where is the line between homage and plageurism? When does influence become derivitive? It seems in the age of sampling, it's easier to get away with copies.
Then again Elvis, The Beatles, and even the Rolling Stones started off by releasing covers. People just want to hear something familiar these days, as it's easier to get into.
As a test of todays relaxed attitude to plageurism, I'm going to take one of my favourite riffs of all time ('The Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin) and turn it into 'my own' song and see if I get called on it.

I'd watch that...

2009-11-16T20:34:00.001+11:00

I had this idea for a sweet TV show and as far as I know it hasn't been done before.
Basically, the format is like 'The Gruen Transfer' or to a lesser extent 'The View', where you have a panel, a host and various special guests, but instead of talking about ads or shit, they talk mother fucking music! Cd reviews, film clips, various comedians telling jokes and rock stars with anecdotes about drugs and fans, it'd be awesome! They could review the weeks releases, have some people be negative and another positive and battle it out. The only problem would be making sure no record labels pay off the hosts so they give their shit releases good reviews, and making sure it's not all positive reviews because then there'd be no tension and hence no interest.
An example of good tension would be something like this,
+ "the new mumford and sons record is a beautiful piece of indie folk for lovers"
- "BORING PILE OF ASSSS! Someone get these guys layed"

I could elaborate on the negative for hours, but I think I've made my point.
GOLD

Watch.

2009-11-07T20:43:00.003+11:00

Live video from the Annandale

2009-11-04T22:32:00.000+11:00

Popular music.

2009-11-02T13:56:00.002+11:00

Anyone noticed that Paloma Faith is the same as Gin Wigmore who's a rip off of Duffy and Gabriela Cilmi who are rip off's of Amy Winehouse who was ripping off 50's and 60's jazz pop?

The Vignettes do Halloween

2009-10-31T20:32:00.000+11:00

Katie's a sweet Thriller zombie, and Joel's a sleazy 80's Miami pornstar/coke dealer.

Wolfmother's new album translated

2009-10-23T20:13:00.001+11:00

There's a lot of hyperbole flying around in the wake of Wolfmother's new album 'Cosmic Egg'.
After hearing the album a few times I realised there is in fact a code in the reviews, and the actual translation
goes something like this:

'Sprawling': Too long.
'Classic Rock': Plagiarism, eg NIB - Black Sabbath, Start me Up - Rolling Stones, etc.
'Psychedelic': Solos, without great technical ability or melody. Usually accompanied by pointless wailing.
'Good': Bad
'any positive adjectives': completely ordinary

The level of production on this album is extraordinary, purely because Alan Moulder is a genius (producer of NIN, Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine) but that doesn't make up for the ordinary song writing. What a waste. BOOM!

The Vignettes

Faves

2009-10-18T21:49:00.000+11:00

Favourite guitarists of all time, according to Joel Murray.

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Jimmy Page
3. Tom Morello
4. Angus Young
5. Tommy Iommi
6. Brian May
7. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
8. Nick Zinner (despite the recent douche album 'zero', his previous guitar work blows my mind)
9. Josh Homme
10. Craig Nichols (not because he's brilliant, but because he made me want to play guitar)

Am writing new songs but haven't had the time or money to practice them. As always, I've been thinking of ways to make my guitar sound bigger. Unfortunately some of my ideas are quite expensive eg, custom guitars, more amps,etc. If anyone wants to give to the vignettes fund, feel free to go buy our new EP 'Violence Solves Everything' when it comes out next month (November). Dear god let it get us out of this awful rut. Modern music is still rubbish, especially in Aus. Our cat sleeps with her tongue out.

The Vignettes

New Flaming Lips album 'Embryonic'

2009-10-11T18:19:00.000+11:00

I'm in love with this album. Why? It's dark, psychedelic, progressive, industrial and just all round awesome.
Another reason I'm in love with it, is the reaction from Flaming Lips fans. The last few albums from these guys have been happy, life affirming pop music. While I didn't mind them, I certainly wasn't going out of my way to be involved in it. The fans of these albums were retarded though! They acted like Wayne Coin was the second coming of jesus. I love watching their faces drop as they listen to the dark new sounds, and they realise the fantasy world where everything is one big happy love-in is gone. Brilliant.

Cultural list

2009-10-04T15:44:00.000+11:00

I've decided you can't really rate if one album is more culturally significant than another, unless one is total shit and the other is 'are you experienced'. Anyway here's my compilation of important albums of the last decade.

M.I.A. - Arular
Electro and hip hop mixed with post african rhythms. The sounds of this record definitely help define the decade with everyone from Santigold to Vampire Weekend taking influence. Producer Diplo probably had no idea he was helping shaping the sound of the next 10 years in music.

Feist - The Reminder
Soft, quirky, indie girl music. This is everywhere right now and I think it's thanks to this album, although Feist did have previous albums and a few other artists in this genre have been around longer.
It seems the softer you sing and the cuter the sounds (xylophone, bells, acoustic guitar, piano) the more popular you become. The 'Juno' and '500 days of Summer' soundtracks' are the pinnacle collections of this crap.

The Strokes - Is This It?
The Indie Garage rock revolution of the early 2000's was lead by The Strokes. They weren't the best of the group, but they were the most renowned and will definitely go down in history as 'pioneers'. I thought they were passionless wankers personally.

The Libertines - Up The Bracket
That whole indie band with clean guitars with happy vocals and drug fueled rockstar thing started here as far as I'm concerned. So many bands do it these days it's insane.

Daft Punk - Live
The revival of the robot duo was cool at first, then everyone started ripping them off, and dance music became bigger than jesus. Thanks to this, Triple J plays less rock music now than Rise FM (the all dance station).

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say, That's What I'm Not
Part of the Britpop revival with Kasabian and a few others. I guess it's more an homage than a revival.
Anyway, they're also one of the first bands to use myspace to gain popularity. Now it's a barren landscape of terrible bands with friend adding bots leaving fake comments of, 'hey, how are you? Come check out my new song I'm a douchebag'.

Anyway, that's what I reckon. It seems shoegaze is the new thing with bands like 'The Big Pink' dominating NME's hype fest. Let me know what you think champions!

The Vignettes

Pitchfork top 200 of the decade.

2009-10-04T13:14:00.003+11:00

Don't know if you've seen this, but it's pretty full on. It's an interesting mix of musical styles throughout and their commentary on a lot of it is very good. Ultimately they decided that Radiohead's Kid A was the most important album of the decade. Personally I don't think it should have made the list at all. It's an interesting album, but all it did culturally was alienate all the casual fans who jumped on the bandwagon after Ok Computer's runaway success. They argue that the electronic nature of the album predicted trends in rock music to come, and that it defines this decade better than any other album, but I think they're just talking a load of wank to stir controversy. If a rock band makes an fairly ambient electronic album, that doesn't make it an important rock album, it makes it an ambient electronic album. Anyway, in response to this I thought I'd make a couple of lists of my own. Feel free to post your own lists below too. Ultimately this is a personal list and the next post will be a cultural one. So here we go!

No. 1 most important album in the life of Joel Murray of The Vignettes

Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine

From the opening notes of this album I was hooked. A mix of angst, anger, dance and sex permeate throughout the album's entirety and to me represent a peak in modern musical history. The sound and texture of the musical production is a bizarre compilation of dance, punk and metal, while still retaining an alt-rock feel overall. Sadly, the album is a one-off and relatively underground, with the remix album garnering a lot more popularity than this ever got. Also, it didn't even get a mention in pitchfork's top 200! Bollocks I say. It's also a total shame that after DFA 1979 split, the producer and bass player got together to make MSTRKRFT, a flaming pile of camp electro balls. I had the chance to see them live back in 2004 but at the time hadn't heard of them, and turned down FREE TICKETS! I got the album the next day and almost hung myself. From what I've seen they weren't as good live as on the record, but it still would have been an experience. Anyway, to me this is musical perfection and is up there in history with Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix.

2. The Vines - Highly Evolved (turned me on to alt rock from nu metal and made me want to play guitar)
3. The Mars Volta - DeLoused in the Comatorium (kept me company in my depression days alone in Sydney, the only true prog rock album of the modern era)
4. Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
5. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
7. The Hives - Your New Favourite Band
8. Future of the Left - Curses!
9. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
10. Interpol - Antics
11. Von Bondies - Pawn Shoppe Heart
12. Rob Zombie - Hillbilly Deluxe (the album I lost my virginity to)
13. Muse - Absolution (the first Muse album I ever heard, not necessarily their best but it changed my perceptions of what rock music could be)
14. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
15. Shihad - The General Electric
16. Arctic Monkeys - Your Favourite Worst Nightmare
17. Electric Six - Danger High Voltage
18. Dresden Dolls - Dresden Dolls
19. The Darkness - Permission to Land
20. The Matrix Soundtrack

Responding to Self

2009-09-28T18:58:00.002+10:00

Just wanted to say I've been listening to more of the Arctic monkeys album Humbug, and I don't hate it. There are at least 4 songs on there that are awesome. Robbie Williams is gay.
That Friendly Fires album from last year was re-released this year and it's pretty good, and as much as I dislike the people in Lost Valentinos, their album is very good.
Can't wait for THEM CROOKED VULTURES! Fucking epic.
Anyway, just rambling. How good is incest? Mamas and the Papas anyone? And Meaghan Smith is the devil. Nobody covers Pixies. NOBODY!

Joel

Vo-coder/autotune

2009-09-20T19:59:00.002+10:00

Man I love all these pop songs around at the moment! You know the ones, like Black Eyed Peas or Lady GaGa or Chris Brown. The way they do that thing with their voice like it's a midi keyboard playing the notes with a sample of their singing or something. It's amazing! I wish I could learn to sing like that. I mean, some people say it's an effect that producers put over their voice to correct pitch but I disagree. I mean, why would they be famous if they couldn't sing?

WHY ARE THEY FAMOUS WHEN THEY HAVE NO DISCERNIBLE TALENT?!?!?!

Oh Kanye

2009-09-16T23:33:00.001+10:00

2009 - the year of dissapointing follow ups

2009-09-13T15:57:00.002+10:00

The year hasn't even finished, yet I'm already declaring it a write off... actually, no, it was a very good year for music, it's just a lot of the stuff I was looking forward to didn't come out exactly as I'd hoped. For starters, Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz. The punk rock, garage pop band decides to put out a completely trend following pile of electro indie dance balls. The absolutely unstoppable and unpredictable guitar and drum work of Nick Zinner and Brian Chase take a back seat to synths and drum machines. I felt utterly betrayed. 10 tracks of heartbreaking dick cheese coated shit all topped off by Karen O's poor attempt at pop singing. I looked up to these guys and now I look down on them in SHAME.

Next is ARCTIC MONKEYS new album HUMBUG. What an awesome concept. The best of modern British rock teaming up with the cultural rock icon of the last 10 years Josh Homme. I was shitting myself with anticipation for an epic hard rock monster that would cement the arctic monkeys place in music history. What did I get? Watered down piss. There was the desert-esque feel of Josh Homme in there, but it just lacked passion. All the slower moments of the arctic monkeys put together in one place. Overall it's not terrible, in fact it's not even bad. But it's not good, great, amazing or even going to be remembered in 2 years time.

Finally we have the band that 6 months ago I said were the best band in the world. MUSE.
My heart sank as track after track revealed The Resistance to be more like a pop muse rip off band using hackneyed cliches about conformity and the government while filling in the rest with soppy ballads stolen from Celine Dion's B-sides collection. The Resistance is like being tortured by your best friend. My assumption about this (and a few of my friends think so too) is they're just too happy. How can you write anthemic anti-authoritarian rock when you've sold out wembly twice and are freaking millionaires with model wives? You can't! Not only that, but the production is a let down too. There are moments when some of the riffs seem like they're about to break out into a mountain of fretboard fire, but instead a wussy let down comes out sounding soft, rounded and weak. This might sell better than any of their previous ones, but it's Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry that'll go down in history as truly ground breaking.

Their have been some great albums this year though, I'm not all negative nancy pants. Future of the Left's album Travels with Myself and Another is totally brilliant. The Mars Volta's Octahedron is more restrained than usual but still a work of progressive genius. Kasabian's album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Assylum was not what I was expecting but is carved from great songs and hence is a success. Sonic Youth's new album totally caught me by surprise, and THE VIGNETTES EP VIOLENCE SOLVES EVERYTHING is out in NOVEMBER and you should definitely buy it.
The year's not over yet though. Wolfmother's new album Cosmic Egg will be out soon, and I guarantee Andrew Stockdale doesn't have the ability to follow up their awesome self titled debut.
Jet's new album just came out and surprise surprise it's about as rock and roll as Matchbox 20, and an AWESOME new band called THEM CROOKED VULTURES are coming out with something soon. If you haven't heard of them, look it up. It's ridiculously cool.

There's actually a dick load more music I'd like to talk about here, but I'll put it in another blog.
Until then, go fuck yourselves.

The Vignettes

fact

2009-09-02T18:18:00.002+10:00

You can lose up to 2kg just by taking a shit and a piss. Think about that next time you see one of those 'lose weight quickly' schemes.

Their are fecal particles on your toothbrush, no matter where it is in your house.

An average person will consume 12 pubic hairs in their fast food annually.

Awesome.

i-annoyed

2009-09-02T15:59:00.002+10:00

How annoying is that chick from those iSelect adds? I just want to punch her in the face! Stop spouting those stupid expressions dammit! Also, what's with putting the letter 'i' in front of the name of products. People aren't going to buy insurance because it reminds them of and ipod.

Woo

2009-08-21T16:50:00.003+10:00

It's totally finished! Yay. Just got back from mastering with Will Bowden. We talked about how his cat has cat-herpes... in it's eye. Weird, but we had a great time.
While we were there we were thinking of putting subversive messages in the cd like "worship Stan" or "You're uncle touches you at night", or subtle things like the sound bytes from intense anal porn. Instead we put some cool delay sounds from a sub woofer.
Now we're going to bris for my bro's birthday for a week to unwind AND to shoot a film clip for 'Hey Little Girl' with my long time buddy and film savant friend Joe. It's gonna be a sweet piece of special effects meat!
When we get back we'll be updating this shiz a whole lot more so stay tuned for unnecessarily long and pointless rants about the price of milk, etc.

Joel

Violence Solves Everything

2009-08-11T10:27:00.003+10:00

What a fucking effort. We've only been working on this EP for a couple of days but it feels like months. It's all gonna be worth it when we get the finished masters back on the 21st though. It's sounding like some kind of epic, glam-punk rock and roll beast and it's all thanks to the absolute champions at 'The Brain' studios.
As you may have guessed, we're naming this EP 'Violence Solves Everything', which is taken from a lyric by one of our favourite bands 'Future of the Left'.
It's only going to be 4 tracks now - 'Bring Me Down, Hey Little Girl, You Don't Know, End of the World' as 1 track got scrapped due to time and money restrictions.
It's going to be amazing though. The miscarriage of society that is this 'The Vignettes' is about to go out and fuck the shit out of every poser, try hard band in Aus. Come to a show and watch the violence ensue.

p.s. photos of the recording process are up on katie's flickr
p.p.s. lady gaga has a penis, TAKE THAT!

Lolz

2009-07-27T22:52:00.001+10:00

HAHAHAHA!

2009-07-24T15:00:00.003+10:00

Just saw these guys in a tricked out ute. It was lowered, with custom mufflers and a nice new paint job. The guys driving looked tough, one arm out the window each, and the music was cranked.
Problem was, the music they were listening too while trying to look tough was Phil Collins 'In the air Tonight"! Now that's a man.

Nickelback

2009-07-21T18:10:00.002+10:00

Nickelback suck. I mean they really suck. I've seen bands suck before but they are the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.
But seriously, could those fat neck, jock rock wankers make worse music? It's fucked up, misogynistic anti-music! The fact that they are coming to this country and will fill the acer arena makes me sick.
Don't get me wrong, pop music has it's place. I don't have a problem with acts like Britney, Madonna or Kylie filling acer arena, but Nickelback are absolutely disgusting excuse for a rock band. I hope they get caught blowing each other and all those machismo dumb ass fans of theirs become completely disillusioned.
Dear Nickelback,
STOP MAKING THAT POOR EXCUSE FOR MUSIC

The Vignettes

Rolling stone magazine

2009-07-20T17:16:00.003+10:00

I just saw a copy of rolling stone with 'my hero' Lady Ga Ga on the cover. What the fuck happened to rolling stone!? I remember buying the issue with the vines on the cover and thinking I'd found the greatest rock and roll press ever (I was 16). I remember seeing the movie 'Almost Famous' and thinking that it must only be the cream of Rock and Roll involved in that magazine.
Then idiots like Britney and Jessica Simpson started making the cover, and they filled it with constant articles on Iraq and politics. If I wanted to read about that, I'd buy an actual newspaper, not a music magazine with a naked idiot on the cover. Fucked.
Now I'm not saying I'd turn down anything from Rolling Stone, that'd be a huge boost for our career, but I wish it was a credible magazine that didn't jump on every pop bandwagon that comes along, reviews it as awesome, then forgets about it in seconds.

To Rolling Stone - FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL

Rules for Driving in Sydney

2009-07-11T21:08:00.002+10:00

Sydney drivers suck balls. I mean they really suck. Road rules tend to be guidelines for these people. I've been driving around for a few years here now, and it seems the real road rules are something like this...

1. Always accelerate as fast as possible at any point in time. If your foot is not to the floor, you're not driving.

2. Always drive at least 10km above the speed limit. You're not tough otherwise.

3.Always drive around with your hand on the horn, in case someone isn't speeding or accelerating fast enough. Also use when you get to traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and anywhere you are obliged to stop.

4. If someone isn't accelerating fully, tail gate them for as long as possible while using aforementioned horn and flashing high beams.

5. Always follow the car in front as close as possible.

6. Indication is entirely optional. Feel free to swerve dangerously between lanes as often as possible without letting anyone around you know.

7. 4 Drink minimum for driving at night.

8. If driving with friends in the car, drive more erratically to impress them.

9. If you see a female while you have aforementioned friends in the car, beep repeatedly at it and yell incoherently out the windows. This will impress them...

10. If you are ever pulled over by the police for speeding, drink driving, dangerous driving, manslaughter, etc, it's entirely the cops fault. They entrapped you and are just giving you a ticket for government revenue raising. A suspended license is only a warning though, so feel free to continue driving LIKE A FUCKWIT.

rant over.

hello & welcome.

2009-07-11T16:57:00.004+10:00

Hey guys, welcome to our sexy blog.

We're heading into the studio over the next few months to record a new EP that'll hopefully be released in October, or February. We're both pretty excited about the prospect of recording something new & better. Yay.

Also, we'll be playing Thursday Night Live @ Club 77 on August 6th with Idle Cranes and Whipped Cream Chargers.

That's it!

x
The Vignettes

Kayne West Has No Idea

2009-06-09T18:59:00.000+10:00

This is a quote by Kanye West taken from pitchfork.com:

"I LOOK AT OUR CURRENT SUPERSTARS LIKE LEGENDS IN THE MAKING... LIKE JUSTIN IS THE NEW MIKE , BEYONCE'S THE NEW TINA TURNER, GAGA'S MADONNA, JAY IS SINATRA... WAYNE IS HENDRIX, THOM YORKE IS ROGER WATERS, THESE ARE THE CHAMPIONS AND SHOULD BE DOCUMENTED AS SUCH."

Now, there's so much wrong with this statement it could fill a museum, but the part I'd like to focus on is "Lil Wayne is Jimi Hendrix".

LIL WAYNE DOESN'T PLAY GUITAR!!!! He probably doesn't even know what the fucking blues are! There is no connection what so ever between that douche and one of the most important icons in music history. People are not going to look back in 30 years time and say "lil wayne. The world would be a different place without him. He changed everything we knew about music and performance".

The only thing that could link the two is if Lil Wayne dies at 27. But that's just wishful thinking.

Please shut the fuck up Kanye. You have no idea.

The Vignettes

My Lady Ga Ga interview! ZOMG

2009-06-05T18:57:00.000+10:00

The pop sensation that is Lady Ga Ga was in town recently, and I of all people had the distinct pleasure of interviewing her! Since I work in a record store (of sorts) I'm familiar with her work, and I've been listening very closely to the lyrics. As I read deeper and deeper into them, I stumbled across some of the most complex and ambiguous metaphors in modern music history. Upon discovering these, I knew I had to question her on this matter.

J - "Good evening Ms Ga Ga, thanks for joining me"

LGG - "Oh it's my pleasure. I just love Rolling Stone magazine!"

J - "...yes. I totally work for rolling stone..."

LGG - "totez"

J - "indeed. NOW! I wanted to ask you about some of your lyrics. For starters, in 'Just Dance' you boldly state "doo-doo-n-doo doo, just dance". Now this is a powerful metaphor on mankind's perception of itself in the universe, all alone. Yet there are so many of us pondering the meaning of our existence, and we should come together in a melding of minds to perhaps solve this riddle in a trible gathering, and finally answer the question, 'what is the meaning of life?'. Would you like to expand on this?"

LGG - "...what?"

J - "Come now, you're just being modest. It's just like in 'Boys boys boys' where you subtley introduce your listeners to the idea of string theory while giving them a basic idea on quantam mechanics. Can you give us a more detailed explanation on these complex theories now?"

LGG - "What are you talking about?! String? The songs' about hot boys"

J - "On the surface! Just like in "There's nothing else I can say, ay ay" where you pontificate the everyman's dilemna of expressing his complex musings without excess verbiage - and there are some very confronting anti-abortion messages throughout. What do you have to say for yourself on that count?"

LGG - "Who asks these questions? This music's just to dance to and make me richer than I already was. Who the hell would want to know these things anyway?!"

J - "The intelligent listening community. People like myself..."

LGG - "well I guess this music isn't for people like you"

THERE YOU HAVE IT! Straigt from that trashy, retro rip-off, narcissistic, self indulgent, no pants wearing horses mouth. Lady Ga Ga is not for intelligent people!

On top of those previoulsy mentioned lyric gems are

"Don't want love just give me your bling bling,
Listen to me boy cause i need your thing thing"

"Our hair is perfect
While were all getting shit wrecked
It's automatic, honey
But we got no money"

"I'm not loose, I like to party
Let's get lost in your Ferrari
Not psychotic or dramatic
I like boys and that is that
Love it when you call me legs
In the morning buy me eggs
Watch your heart when we're together
Boys like you love me forever
Boys boys boys
We like boys in cars
Boys boys boys
Buy us drinks in bars
Boys boys boys
With hairspray and denim
Boys boys boys
We love them!"

BULLSHIT! All of it. Oh well, I've had my rant.

*Note: I may have made this up. But wasn't it fun?

Joel

The Vignettes

2008: A Retrospective

2008-11-24T18:55:00.000+11:00

What a year. In terms of what we've done, it's been a big one.
Being unearthed at the start of the year, playing our first festival, releasing our first EP (which sold all of 9 copies officially, although I did give away over 200), and getting our first manager. All our shit is finally coming together, and I thank you all for making this happen for us.

It's funny, because this year has been maybe the worst year for rock music since I picked up the guitar back in 2004. The return of the '80's may have started 5 years ago, but never was it more evident than now. Bullshit releases like Cut Copy, The Mercy Arms, Van She and Grafton Primary are all so lacking, stealing riffs and fashion from the worst decade of modern musical history. Ironically these are all bands we've played with at some point at Candy's Apartment.

And then there's the return of the '80s giants like Metallica, AC/DC and Guns n Roses. All these bands were freaking amazing IN THE '80s,(and late '70's for ACDC) now they're just bloated lumbering dinosaurs. Particularly Guns n Roses, as Chinese Democracy is just a guitar wankers dream.

Then there's The Killers new album. This sits in the same category as the aforementioned '80's legends new releases, except the killers were never genius' pushing the boundaries for a new generation. They've just gotten progressively worse. 'Are we human, or are we dancer?' Over produced, ego fueled BULLSHIT. There are so many things wrong with that lyric I don't want to go into it.

Anyway, that's just how I saw it. Feel free to have your own opinions on these things. I just feel that all this overblown stadium music needs to be crushed, the same way it was back in 1991 when a little song named 'Smells like Teen Spirit' signaled the cultural end of the '80's. Though, I don't think grunge needs a comeback, just something new and punchy.

I sincerely hope we have what it takes to do just that in the new year.

Also, here's my top 5 for 2008 in no particular order:

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On
Grace Jones - Hurricane
The Mars Volta - Bedlam in Goliath
The Black Keys - Attack and Release

Love and Hate
Joel
The Vignettes