Features

OUSA and Radio One have teamed up again to bring you a huge line-up for
this year’s Re-Orientation. Here’s what you can hit up over the next week:

Wednesday

Clubs Day

Clubs and Socs Centre, 10am – 3pm (and it’s FREE!)

Clubs Day is back! Head on down to the Clubs and Societies Centre at 84 Albany Street to check out all the different things on offer for you to get amongst this semester.

Radio One & Converse Present: Ladyhawke, She’s So Rad
And Two Cartoons

Union Hall, 8pm. $25 student.

TWO CARTOONS

“We sound like smiles and melodies and forests of flowers in the sun… with two dudes.”
Local boys Brad Craig and Isaac McFarlane make up this awesome duo who have made it onto news feeds everywhere after they represented dirty Dunedin on FOUR’s “Decent Exposure”.

Good to see some local guys at Re-O. How’d you get the gig?
“I’m pretty sure they just asked us… I think they gave it to the band that tweets the most.”

One place in Dunedin you think everyone should know about?
“Mou Bar. It’s fucking awesome. Two Cartoons has DJ’d there three times now… but it’s funny because everyone thinks “Two Cartoons!” and then we just play really heavy dubstep.”

SHE’S SO RAD

Auckland band She’s So Rad have been out travelling the world supporting Ladyhawke on her album release tour. The trio, which features duo vocals, guitar, bass and synthesizer with electronic drums and midi sequencing, say the idea behind their sound is that “all the sounds, even though programmed, are still organic, live and allude to the vibe of 90s shoegaze/alt music”. In 2011 they released their first album In Circles, which “drift[s] between gorgeously bruised, camouflaged pop songs coated with layers of washed out guitars and effects, and purposefully lo-fi gear that at times alludes to golden era hip hop while sounding modern enough to be tagged chillwave… both economic and profoundly satisfying.” Confused?
After Wednesday night, it will all make sense.

LADYHAWKE

Ladyhawke, aka Pip Brown, is one of the biggest acts Dunedin has seen in quite a while. She released her latest album Anxiety on 25 May, and has been overseas in the UK touring and promoting it for the past six months.

Hi ya Pip. Tell us about Anxiety
“I tried to start writing straight after I finished touring – I’d been on the road for about two years – but I was just too tired, I couldn’t focus on anything. So I took a bit of time off and then started around mid-2010. I didn’t really have a clear set idea in mind, I just knew I didn’t want it to sound like the first record – I wanted it to be its own thing. It’s still pop and still a Ladyhawke album, but I didn’t want to repeat myself.
One thing I did know was what I wanted the guitars to sound like, and I knew the specific guitar pedals I wanted to use and all that sort of stuff, and I just went from there and experimented and jammed until I had written a song that I was happy with and then I knew that would set the tone for the rest of the record.”

What can we expect from the new show?
“I like it to not sound like a carbon copy of the record… it’s always a bit rockier than the album is. Even when I play material from the first album.”

Thursday

CARNIVAL ON CAMPUS/MARKET DAY

OUSA Courtyard, 10am – 4pm. FREE rides.

Unleash your inner child and bring on the sugar high at Carnival on Campus. Free rides, live music, and heaps of stuff for you to spend your allowance on for the week.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL

OUSA Courtyard, 6 – 9pm. Tokens from OUSA
Main Office from June 9.

A cheeky wee sample of food from around the world made for you by students from other countries. Whether you’re about to go on your big OE and want to check out the cuisine first, or it’s a long way off and you want to experience it from home, this is an opportunity to get yourself a cheap feed, with nothing over $5.

Friday

COMEDY NIGHT: PAUL EGO &
HEATH FRANKLIN’S CHOPPER READ

Forsyth Barr, 8pm. $12 student.

PAUL EGO

Best known for his weekly stint on 7 Days (and the voice of Pak N Save’s stick figure), Paul Ego has been popping up in New Zealand comedy in a big way recently.

Do you have any advice for the students down here?
“Cut the crusts off your sandwiches. Don’t go for the whole “don’t cut them off and then don’t eat them”, cut them off as soon as they’re made, and then you can actually freeze them and turn them into some sort of baton, for the next time the police come round and tell you to get back inside. And you can beat them with a bread baton.”

Who would win in a drunken bar fight between John Key and Tim Shadbolt?
“Tim Shadbolt, easily. Without a doubt. I think even if he didn’t win through sheer force of punches, he could unleash his laugh like banshees do – you know banshees out at sea? Kind of awawaowoa (mimics Tim’s laugh) and I think it would possibly burst John’s eardrums, or at least shatter some glass which will fly across the bar and sever one of John’s femoral arteries. Tim’s got a lot of weapons to draw on there.”

CHOPPER READ

Heath Franklin’s Chopper Read is that comedian with the aviators and the funny mo with a penchant for saying “harden the fuck up” (voted #7 catchphrase of all time in 2009). You’ve probably seen him on YouTube, he’s been on 7 Days, and he’s a bit of an Aussie hero. But what you might not know about Chopper is that he’s based on a real life dude – an Australian ex-criminal named Mark “Chopper” Read who spent only 13 months (not consecutively) out of prison between the ages of 20 – 38, and had his ears chopped off in prison by another inmate.

Heath Franklin’s character is based on this ex-convict, and appeared at the NZ Comedy Festival in 2009 with his show “Harden the Fuck Up, New Zealand!” which basically took the piss out of New Zealand from an Aussie point of view. He’s pretty funny, and even though every second word is some variant of ‘fuck’, he’s definitely worth your Re-O Friday night.

Saturday

KORA, LEFT OR RIGHT &
DUDSTOWN SOUNDSYSTEM

Union Hall, 8pm. $30 student.

DUDSTOWN SOUNDSYSTEM

Fresh from their appearance at O-Week, Dudstown Soundsystem are back and bringing a few new things to the table. I spoke to one of their main men on the mic, MC Beau.

What have you got for us that’s different to O-Week?
“Tracks from my EP – I’ve got an EP coming out the week after Re-O – and we’ll also have DJ Shan with us from Dudstown Soundsystem. He didn’t play at O-Week but he’s a bit of a legendary dude – it’s always good to have him on board and he knows how to rock a party.”

Self-description
“As a rapper I’m definitely into more lyrics side of things, but I have to be careful that I don’t focus on that too much and make sure the music is enjoyable for all types of people not just the super hip-hop kind of dudes, so I guess that’s one aspect of me as an artist.”

LEFT OR RIGHT

Dunedin locals Left or Right have had a hectic few months promoting their brand new album, Buzzy, released on May 14. They played at Sammy’s on June 2 as part of their album release tour, and are back at Union Hall for Re-O.

How would you boys describe yourselves?
A genre bending psychedelic rock band that splices reggae flavours and chunky riffs into our song-writing.

Who are your musical influences?
“We are huge fans of a lot of legendary 60s and 70s bands like The Beatles, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Hendrix, Marley – heaps of stuff. We’re also really into watching sports. Sport and musicians aren’t supposed to go together but we love our sport. Southland Stags, NZ Warriors, Blackcaps, love it all.”

KORA

This is one New Zealand band that doesn’t disappoint. As the Re-O finale, they promise to break in the new venue in a seriously big way. Fresh from their overseas tour, they’re about to release their first album since 2007. Despite the trademark vocals, Dreamlife, the second single, is a little bit unexpected (my one-word description? PacMan). This show is going to be awesome. It promises to showcase their old stuff and a whole lot of their new stuff, all packaged with their trademark sound. If you’ve never heard of Kora, but can imagine some kind of dubstep/reggae/rock/dub and roots hybrid similar to most of the Kiwi dub and roots/electronica scene (plus their own unique mix of vocals), then this is the gig for you.

Tickets to all Re-O events are available from the Critic Facebook Page, Dash Tickets or the OUSA Office.