conversations: interviews with friends

This is the first episode of a the new Bleus Conversations podcast series where we speak to people in our music community doing interesting and inspiring things. For this episode we spoke to @simon-tk from Skylab Radio and @fb-perimeter from Sideway Bar in Canberra about how they've been responding to the Covid-19 lockdown in resilient and creative ways. 

Check out Skylab Radio and their Keep It Locked campaign:
https://skylab-radio.com/

and Sideway Bar and their Club Virtual series:
https://sidewaybc.com/

Tracklist: 
Trust Me (Vocal Mix)- Optimystic
Slippy - DJ Chrysalis
Boogie Heights - Heights of Abraham
Good Time - Erika de Casier

This episode was produced and hosted by @hugoincognito & @biguncleal
Cover art by @296296296296

ep.1 - simon tk (skylab radio) & fin pearson (sideway bar)

When you break the mould and go your own way, special things can happen. That's certainly the case for our two special guests in this second episode of bleus conversations. 

Our first guest Sasha Logan, who has a fascination with tiny spaces and a penchant for experimentation, turned Crazy Arms in Fitzroy (RIP) from possibly Melbourne's quietest bar into a thriving community of left-field artists and DJs. We speak to Sasha about the wild 48 hour closing party earlier in March this year - the last dance for many us. 

Our second guest is Jemma Cole, one of the co-founders of @nectarsydney, an events, touring and booking agency out of Sydney, who decided to do things their own way after drawing the short straw one too many times. Fed up with how venues and promoters were treating them, the founders started the volunteer run agency to protect and give a platform to the artists they cared about with profits being channelled back into the community via development projects. 

Get in touch with us at citybleus@gmail.com

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LINKS:

Sasha
https://anterograde.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/anterogradelabel
Ballard's Thornbury: https://www.facebook.com/Ballards-915-high-st-thornbury-1471882412948244/

Jemma
https://www.nectarnectar.net/home
https://soundcloud.com/nectarsydney
https://www.facebook.com/nectar.syd/

TRACKLIST:

Judgement - Hextape
Ryu & Syusaku - Techno Shoppe
Digiburra - LOIF
a piano improvisation - Fia Fiell (excerpt)
Anuraag DJ set Crazy Arms closing party (excerpt)
422 - JU06 - Morgan Wright
Island Life - Makeda (excerpt)
Me, First - Makeda
The Blessing Song - Michael White

This podcast was produced and hosted by @hugoincognito & @biguncleal
Cover art by  @296296296296

ep.2 - sasha logan (crazy arms) & jemma cole (nectar)

Have you ever wondered what the Melbourne music scene was like in the 1970s and '80s? Or what it was like to live in Melbourne's inner north in that era? 

Our next guests on 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 are Mick Earls and Stuart Grant from the band Use No Hooks, a Melbourne post-punk band prominent in the Little Bands scene of the late '70s and early '80s. In those years, Mick and Stuart lived in dirt cheap share houses and shop fronts in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, making music and partying around the clock. The shop fronts on Brunswick Street were boarded up and Gertrude Street was a no go area; a world away from the cafe and boutique lined streets that exist there today. "It's impossible to imagine that world even existed," says Mick. 

Playing at local institutions like the Tote, no one knew what to expect when Use No Hooks took to the stage over 40 years ago. Drawing inspiration and influences from many sources, Use No Hooks’ music was always unpredictable because of their relentless experimentation and frequent line-up changes.  On stage, the band's approach embraced elements of fluxus (little known to them at the time) and their numbers varied from three to ten band members.

Inspired by punk bands of the '70s, disco icons like Nile Rogers, and rap legends like Grandmaster Flash, their music is a harmonious crossover of all these genres, creating something truly unique. Lost and forgotten for many years, their recordings were dug up a few years ago and released on vinyl for the first time on local label @chaptermusic. 

Check them out on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2l8sar0cgQs9YkQ2w5rfeh

Track list:
Do The Job - Use No Hooks 
In The Clear - Use No Hooks
The Hook - Use No Hooks
Sideshore Boogie (live) - Use No Hooks
I Can't Stop It - Primitive Calculators
Times Up (Timeless) - Age Of Chance
Circumstances Beyond Our Control - Use No Hooks

This episode was produced and hosted by @hugoincognito
Photo by Wendy Morrissey

ep.3 - use no hooks (special feature)

ep.3 - use no hooks (special feature)

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