“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
Xiao He, Chinese Culture Institute, NoJiJi, Raying Temple, Mafeisan, Time Out, Tongzhou, Demerit, Push Shove, Vans, Warped Tour, S.T.D., Layabozi, Joyside, Peter Baird, Suite 101, Dear Eloise, P.K.14, Altered Zones, tenzenmen, CNNGo, This Town Touring, Birdstriking, Streets Kill Strange Animals, Mr Graceless, Glow Curve, Offset Spectacles, Lonely Planet
Rose Mansion, LuXinPei, Yan Jun, Sub Jam, Kwanyin, Bob Blunt, P.K.14, Pangbianr, tenzenmen, Music Dish, Carsick Cars, Hedgehog, AV Okubo, China Youth Tour, Nick Pedan, ChaosCS, Enovate
25th Sept 2021 – When I look at the line up for this show I wonder how it happened! The initial inspiration was to put on a show for Mekare-Kare from Japan. I’m not certain how they got in touch with me now but possibly through friends in Perth. Struggling to find a venue, Dirty Shirlows were willing and able to help me out but it was a big space for an unknown band from Japan to try and fill so I came up with this crazy idea for an all day show.
I still don’t know how all these bands managed to pull together to make this show, except Spider Goat Canyon and Teratova, who got added to the bill at the last minute. Both these bands were touring together and were on their way through from a show the night before, to another show that evening and asked if they could play. They were happy to start the event off and didn’t need to be paid. They just wanted to be part of what was going on.
As the show date approached the Shirlows crew were getting jittery about law enforcement interest in the space and they mentioned that they had had other things go on in their space, such as film shoots, without any issue. So I hit on the idea that this wouldn’t be a show but a film shoot instead. Of course, 20 bands would be playing and the ‘paying’ audience would be the film crew. This was more a subterfuge cover than a directive and at the end of the day little film footage was taken.
I was generally busy running around making sure things happened when they were supposed to happen. People came and went and whilst it wasn’t the most successful event attendance wise, everyone got paid something if they had asked for it. Others were just happy to play and take part. There were so many great bands that night but for me Mekare-Kare stole the show. I’d never heard them before but they blew my mind with their complex and super tight musicianship. As they were tuning up and getting ready, the sound guy was growing impatient, telling them and me that they could start. But these guys knew exactly what they wanted and what they were doing. When they started their first song, jaws hit the floor (including the sound guy), soon replaced with joyful smiles. At least, that was my impression. Mid set, this crazy bass and drums two piece started circling around a duelling banjos theme before super-tightly repeating the whole piece together at an even faster pace.
The whole shebang was worth it to me just for this 25 minutes of bliss.
And to round things off East Brunswick All Girls Choir played a stirring set of their soulful rock which was lovely and poignant.
I’m still grateful for everyone who helped out with this show and all the wonderful members of the bands who played. There were no dickheads and luckily no cops. It was also Kevin Duo Jin’s 16th (?) birthday. A newly arrived scene protagonist who became a regular at these shows as he wasn’t able to attend bar venues.
25th Sept 2021 – Well, searching around the internet to remind me more about this day and I found this, which I had completely forgotten about and don’t even have a copy myself. I think I sent this out to radio stations and drop into records stores as giveaways.
From Two Point Eight blog by Dimity Katz:
An all day/night festy put on by tenzenmen featuring a really versatile line-up of mostly Australian bands from all over the country, but also a couple from Japan (full line up here). The idea was that people shoot videos and submit them to the YouTube channel, and in turn receive $5 off (the $20) submission, with the result being a bunch of footage at the disposal of all the bands I guess. I’m not sure how much of a success that part was, but it was a fairly enjoyable day spread across two stages so there was always something going on. I was mostly there to see The Native Cats in what was their first Sydney appearance. They played all new stuff and all good stuff and I wish more people hung around to watch them so they’d come back soon and play their own show, but what do you do (come back anyway). I also caught Fag Panic of whom I was at first very sceptical (could have done without the ‘wacky’ outfits) but pretty soon warmed right up to their tropical pop jams. Though they look like a novelty band their songs were actually really good, substantial pop music. I don’t know that it’s something I’d listen to at home, but they got people in a banana suit and what I think was a snow-pea suit to dance and that is awesome. These photos go: Fag Panic, Axxonn who seemed to be having a wonderful time with his synth (I didn’t mind it either), The Holy Soul (who have supported and played with the likes of Can’s Damo Suzuki but I wasn’t all that impressed), and then the Native Cats. I kind of left wondering when Dirty Shirlows turned into a hippie-haven, though. So much incense was goin’ on.
Real-life evidence that this event did occur can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nUU5M1WQgM
a quick piece of self promotion. paint it black has recently closed though tom will be trying to get something going again later this year. in the meantime most of the stock i had there will probably end up at repressed records on king street. but you can also check the list online along with my distro which now is fully focused on all sorts of DIY releases from the whole Australasia region – i have stock from Taiwan, Thailand, China and many other countries. Nothing from Cambodia or Vietnam yet but I’ll find some! you can check the list here: http://www.tenzenmen.com/distro/TZM_distro.shtml
also as part of the MAYBE MARS series of cds I’ve been releasing of new chinese music you can visit http://www.tenzenmen.com and take advantage of a special offer of the two latest releases, OURSELF BESIDE ME and the GAR, just $20 ppd for both! OURSELF BESIDE ME are a beijing trio in the post-punk Slits/Fall vein and the GAR are perfect indie rock ala Built to Spill.
ok – back to the list!
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thu 16
Serial Space, 33 Wellington St, Chippendale
8pm $?
Lawrence English, Seaworthy & Solo Andata
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thu 16
red rattler, 6 faversham street, marrickville
7pm $10/$20
A facelifting fundraiser with hearty organic soup, sourdough bread and film screening to help renovate the outside of the Alfalfa House shop on Enmore Rd.
“The Real Dirt on Farmer John” is an epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer. An outcast in his community, Farmer John bravely stands amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors, and violence. By melding the traditions of family farming with the power of art and free expression, this powerful story of transformation and renewal heralds a resurrection of farming in America.
Doors open and dinner served at 7pm; the film starts at 7.30pm.
The cost is $20 for fully-waged, $10 for unwaged and includes the movie, soup and bread. We’ll also have organic beer, wine and cakes for sale.
For more info about the film visit http://www.angelicorganics.com/ao/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148&Itemid=182
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fri 17
red rattler theatre, 6 faversham street, marrickville
$10 8pm
the assassination collective, the losers, the thaw, intentions, psycho nanny and the baby shakers
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fri 17
ok – i’m only mentioning this one as tenzenmen released the Wifey cd recently (sorry!)
Wifey supporting Sui Zhen and Ned Collete at the Factory, Marrickville.
you could run between here and the red rattler if you were so inclined!
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sat 18
220 Trafalgar Street, Annandale
2:00pm – 6:00pm
The King of the Red Lions and Bare Arms will be demonstrating music in the Kitchen around 2pm.
BYO drinks and BBQ things
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sat 18
Dirty Shirlows, 32 Shirlow St, Marrickville, Australia
7pm $5
EPSILON – Keeping it oldschool, NCL style
PAUL BLACKOUT – Loving your mum
RYBACKER vs HATENOIZE – Scorecards and speedcore – hard as fuck
HIGHLY DUBIOUS – Turntablist maggot from Petersham
DALIT – Fucken Dalit!
MOTHBALL Z – Emotional booty breakcore
DJK47 – Formerly known as DJ Shithouse
DJ CORPORAL LEPER – Weirdo music for outsiders
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sat 18
red rattler, 6 faversham st, marrickville
$6 8pm
scooter show!
little a, mc phreaze, mc karmin, djs
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sun 19
54 Old Canterbury Road, LEWISHAM NSW 2049
11:30am – 4:30pm
Zine-making workshop
The weather is still cold, yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come round, drink tea, eat soup, make zines, listen to live acoustic music and talk.
See you on the 19th July for all of the above and maybe a little bit more.
Bring whatever you’re working on, bring a friend, bring a plate of yums.
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sun 19
Location Mu-Meson Archives, Crn Parramatta Rd & Trafalgar St (behind King Furniture)
4pm/free bring a plate
Miss Deaths Knitting Group
Do you want to learn how to knit, crochet or any other craft? Miss Death will be crocheting some hyperbolic coral reefs so if you want to contribute to the Powerhouse Museums exhibition (opening in late August) then here is your chance. You don’t have to know how to crochet it’s easy to learn quickly. Or you just want to come along for a social? For the new ladies who are coming for the first time bring a friend. Boys are welcome as long as they do a craft or something useful.
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sun 19
Bohemian Grove, L2/68 Sophia St, Surry Hills
6.30pm $10
gavin ahearn- manaslu!
Manaslu is a band that features some of the hardest funking musicians in Sydney playing original music and re-interpreting jazz classics. The band was formed by keyboardist Gavin Ahearn who has returned to the Sydney scene
after spending 10 years in the U.S., Europe and Asia playing with some of the finest musicians around. Jesse Ricketson on drums (the Bakery) and Matt Gruebner on bass (Orly, Lily Dior) will be laying the grooves down. Virtuoso
electric guitarist Richard Bornman will be exploring melodic possibilities with Bahram Saba keeping the whole project earthed on acoustic guitar. The musical emphasis in Manaslu is on the groove. As well as playing intricate original songs the band will be interpreting music from the jazz/fusion/latin archives – from the compositions of Thelonius Monk and Duke Ellington through to Bob Berg and Chick Corea.
review—–>
http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/sydney/the-gavin-ahearn-trio-2450.html
listen —–> www.myspace.com/gavinahearn
— Bohemian Grove performances are 6:30pm doors for a 7pm start each Sunday (unless otherwise advised). The cover is $10 / donation. Please feel free to invite your friends to come and/or join the mailing list, but we ask that nothing be posted on the web for the authorities to find (they are squares). Support live music!
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when you attend any of these events feel free to tell the organisers/door people that you heard about them thru this list – that way we all know we’re doing a good job and it’s all worthwhile! the list costs me about $70 bucks a year in fees and a bucket load of time to collect info and send out every week (even when i’m overseas!). if you want to help out financially then please buy some cds from my catalogue or distro! there’s something there for everyone! (well, almost!)
shaun/tenzenmen
++ i’ll either be at these events or wishing i was there ++
12th August 2021 – Not even sure I was at this anniversary show. Surely I must have been! A lot of the time was spent running around, managing a market stall, organising equipment, doing the door etc and I didn’t always get to see bands play. I used to finish work a little earlier on Wednesday, dash home to change and into the city to start arranging things in the club. Usually, I’d be the only one there for a couple of hours, sometimes twiddling my thumbs, nervously waiting for bands and audience to arrive. I couldn’t help myself though – I just want to be prepared and ready to go.
14th Feb 2024 – Found this Facebook post that seems to suggest that I was there.
I’m attending the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of CLUB CONSOLADOR DE DOS CARAS tonight! come and help us whoop it up!
http://musicfeeds.com.au/music/2351/tenzenmen/
From local Sydney music press Music Feeds. We only seem to be on a surname basis tho – pretty appropriate considering the Chinese releases 🙂
By James Armstrong
Starting out as a noise project some 15 years ago, tenzenmen has evolved to the point where Hemsley is now using it as a catchall umbrella for all of his ‘crazy schemes’. With a motto of “do something”, Hemsley has involved himself heavily in the DIY scene for many years, helping not only local bands, but international acts find ways to circumvent the standard tour circuit and take the road less travelled.
With his roots in the late 70’s and early 80’s punk scene in the UK, Hemsley grew up with the DIY ethos. When he began taking a larger role in the Sydney underground, it was natural for him to explore the option of warehouse and arts space shows, where actually putting on a good show took precedence over making money.
In the past, Hemsley has brought out bands from Southeast Asia, but with his keen interest in Chinese history and culture, it was natural that tenzenmen would become involved with something from that region (though Hemsley says that he plans on continuing to work with SE Asian bands).
Having travelled to Beijing on several occasions and made friends with bands at local club D22, Hemsley became fascinated with the vitality of the emerging music scene in China.. Part of this scene was a record label started as an offshoot of the D22 club, Maybe Mars, which tenzenmen now licenses for release in Australia.
With the release of the Maybe Mars series, tenzenmen is exploring the world of underground Chinese music, ranging from melodic hardcore with English lyrics to noise rock sung in the band’s local dialect. The ambitious scope and variety of this project is nothing new for Hemsley, who has been running a wide variety of music-related projects as a labour of love, with no thought of material profit.
With minimal help from the media, the Maybe Mars series and, indeed, tenzenmen, are focused on getting the word out on the street, building a catalogue and seeing what will happen.
“I have every confidence in the music I’m releasing so feel it could just be a matter of time before people’s curiosity is piqued and they start investigating,” says Hemsley.
Hemsley goes on to say that the goal of these releases is just to get some great music out for people to enjoy, and to contribute to something bigger, in a holistic sense.
With the difficulty of getting the Maybe Mars bands over to Australia to tour (it’s hard to get a visa and there are some insane ‘money in the bank’ requirements to guarantee that the bands will actually head back to China at the end of their tour), for the time being, the best way to hear this music is to grab a copy of one of the releases, which have faced their own difficulties in being released in their homeland.
“For any artist in China wishing to release a CD, lyrics must be submitted to the government for approval. I believe this is a requirement from the CD factories to protect them against possible closure for inappropriate material. However, considering these restrictions, some of Demerit’s lyrics are quite critical of life in China, and other bands can cleverly conceal other meanings in more poetic lyrics (PK-14, in particular, are well respected among the more scholarly kids in this sense),” explains Hemsley.
With a new release coming out every six weeks, get in on this – it’s vital, with a spark that may be enough to reinvigorate the most jaded ‘punk.’
“In the West, we already have a historical rebellious musical background to draw upon. China has just discovered all this music – and all at once. So influences can be drawn from many different fields and filtered through into what are hopefully new and exciting sounds. Bands like Mafeisan and Muscle Snog are really pushing boundaries even on Western terms.”
The Warm Feelings (acoustic), Fangs Wound Down, Chris Brimstone
wed 20
consolador de dos caras
la campana 53-55 liverpool st, sydney
8pm $5
bosom
stick stick
bernie lomax 5
+ markets and disco lights
we’re always looking for new bands to play this night – weirder the better!
also feel free to bring a box of your favourite junk along and set up on a table at the markets.
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fri 22
*G**20 Fundraiser Benefit show!*
in solidarity with the arrested
Louie’s 34 murray st marrickville
7.30pm $7
scum system kill
voting with bricks
vae victis
plus more!
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sat 23
Louie’s Mansion
34 Murray St, Marrickville
8pm $6 All Ages
bed wettin’ bad boys
Circle Pit
Atrocities
Fangs Wound Down
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sat 23
suite 303, 271 cleveland st
10pm $5 BYO
charge group (album launch), canyons
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messages:
Hi peepz,
I’m putting together a zine called CounterClism so if you are interested in contributing then drop me a line. Anything goes; the more random the better. I’m talking photos, artworks, short stories, social comment, poetry, comics,
weird stuff you’ve collected, etc. As long as it can be photocopied then we can use it. Remember, there’s no money in it for anyone and people are free to make their own copies of the zine. You can send me your stuff digitally
or via the post but I’d prefer things with character so if it’s written then hand write it or use an old typewriter, add some stains, write it on a napkin, etc. Any questions?
-Nick
off******@gmail.com
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next week is the official release of the first in an ongoing monthly series of chinese underground bands on tenzenmen
keep a look out for Demerit – Bastards of the Nation cd in shops or order direct at http://www.tenzenmen.com (mp3 to check out there too). call your local radio station to request airplay too! and talking of radio:
Thursdays 10.30pm
We Come from Garageland: 2SER 107.3FM
Tuesdays 11pm
Dead Air FBI 94.5FM
shaun/tenzenmen
++ i’ll either be at these events or wishing i was there ++
1994ever 