Melbourne’s Acolyte have been on a meteoric rise in the past 12 months. The release of their ‘Shades of Black’ EP saw them support Twelve Foot Ninja, tour Australia in support of the record and begin to really dominate the prog/rock scene in Melbourne.
Of the record, AAA Backstage said, “[Shades of Black] feels more like a listening experience than just an album” and Heavy Mag called it “Mightily impressive”, while on the live side of things, The Music called Acolyte “…a hard rock outfit brimming with confidence”, Rogue Inc posited that Acolyte are “…the next big thing in the magical world of prog” and Heavy Mag states that they “…definitely proved to not only myself, but the entire crowd that they are one band in particular that we all need to keep an eye on, as I see big things for Acolyte in the future.” With all that positivity out there in the world, it’s time that they hit the road in support of the final single to be released from that EP.
Today, they are unleashing an 8-minute, epic prog masterpiece filmclip, set in desert dunes and featuring the mesmerising vocals of Morgan-Leigh Brown and an undulating, light and shade track that showcases all the talents of the musicians within for SPACE AND TIME and announcing that throughout September to November, they will be touring it to Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney, Warrnambool and Melbourne. This will be the last of the album cycle for “Shades of Black” before the band releases new music in 2018 – so get in at the ground level before this prog starship takes off….
Acolyte recorded what became “Shades of Black” in November 2014 with award winning Australian Producer Ben Ehrenberg (Shihad, Calling all Cars). The result of the sessions are sprawling, vast, epic and peppered with incredible vocal runs and instrumental pieces and resulted in their album release in August 2016. Space and Time is the final track on “Shades of Black”.
Space and Time is out now in all good digital outlets and tickets are on sale now at acolyte.com.au.
Producer Will Packer (Ride Along and Think Like a Man franchises, Almost Christmas) presents Girls Trip, a new comedy from director/producer Malcolm D. Lee. When four lifelong friends—Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish—travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there’s enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush. James Lopez, head of motion pictures for Will Packer Productions, and Preston Holmes, executive producer.
Girls Trip is set to be released in Australia in July.
The full breadth of The Darkness’ legendary rise to the top, spectacular slide to the bottom and steady climb back up the greasy pole of rock’n’roll is soon to be laid bare in glorious detail. Currently in production is a philosophical, darkly humorous and deeply personal documentary of The Darkness’ comeback, due for release in 2018.
The documentary is being created by world-renowned photographer and filmmaker Simon Emmett (Jay Z, Matt Damon, Helen Mirren). He has recorded over 250 hours of footage to date, capturing the past, present, hopes, dreams and inner mental turmoil of The Darkness. Until July 31 2017 the film is garnering funding through Indiegogo, with a variety of exclusive pre-order items here.
As Justin explains, “As soon as ‘Permission To Land’ was wrapped up I already knew it was going to be a mega smash. But I also knew that the second album would not be, and that we’d split up, and I knew we’d come back together and I knew the comeback would be fabulous. The fabulous element of the comeback hasn’t materialised as yet, but it’s all a work in progress. To be frank – the story of The Darkness is: years of perspiration, overnight sensation, over-saturation, temporary separation, reunion elation, career renovation, ‘Pinewood Smile’ creation!”
England’s most distinctive, multiple award-winning, platinum-selling, hugely entertaining rock gods – and one-time saviours of rock’n’roll turned national pleasures – The Darkness are back with their fifth album Pinewood Smile, due for release on October 6 through Cooking Vinyl.
Marking the announcement the band have today unveiled the spectacular album opener All The Pretty Girls, across all streaming platforms. It’s also available for download with pre-orders of the album for the instant gratification of fans.
All The Pretty Girls is a glorious, hard-rockin’, autobiographical anthem intellectually examining the fact that when you’re a rock star you get a lot of attention from ladies and discussing the ethical conundrums that come with that.
As Justin Hawkins so eloquently sings with trouser-splitting vocal magnificence; “All the pretty girls, like me for who I am / All the pretty girls, when the record goes platinum / Plenty of action, massive attraction, when you’re selling out stadiums / All the pretty girls… and their mums”. Hard-hitting social commentary, right there!
Addressing the forthcoming album and The Darkness’ undoubted relevance in 2017, Justin asks, somewhat rhetorically of the world at large, “Why should anybody care? Because if you don’t, we’re fucked!! History will remember us as the apathetic generation who negligently ushered in a dreadful dystopian age that may or may not come to be known as ‘The Rise of the Arseclowns’. We cannot allow this to continue! You may not give a shit about Brexit or Trump, but PLEASE… give a shit about The Darkness otherwise the last bastion of cultural sensibility will fall and our airwaves will be polluted by meaningless pop purveyed by arseholes and morons… Oh wait!”
Returning to save our airwaves from mediocre, auto-tuned tweens and that awful, throbby EDM shite, the album Pinewood Smile finds The Darkness on electrifying form, delivering some of the most sharp-witted, infectious, humorous and downright brilliant songs of their career.
In addition to the cerebral treatise of All The Pretty Girls, the album boasts the swashbucklingBuccaneers Of Hispaniola, the expletive-strewn howl of frustration that is Southern Trains, the hugely emotional Why Don’t The Beautiful Cry?, the globally anthemic Japanese Prisoner Of Love, and the ode to pumping out smash hit after smash hit Solid Gold, which finds The Darkness addressing the turbulent nature of the music industry and how they have enjoyed its flamboyant highs and spectacular lows.
Written in Putney, recorded in Cornwall and produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Adrian Bushby (Foo Fighters, Muse), the compositions have all the crucial elements of classic Darkness fare, but with added layers for the ears to peel away at… like a sonic onion but a lot tastier. It also features the drumming and vocal talents of gorgeous new band member Rufus Tiger Taylor, son of Queen legend Roger Taylor, who shares vocal duties with Justin on two of the tracks.
This week on That’s Entertainment Dave Griffiths joins Ed Phillips to chat about new films Handsome Devil, Cars 3, A Quiet Passion and Transformers: The Last Knight.
With the brand new season of Game of Thrones set to hit our television screens on the 16th July HBO has just released a new trailer for the hit program. Take a look and see if you can spot any of the scenes that will give you any clues to what may happen in Season Seven.
Summary: Gru meets his long-lost charming, cheerful, and more successful twin brother Dru who wants to team up with him for one last criminal heist.
Year: 2017
Australian Cinema Release Date: 15th June 2017
Australian DVD Release Date: 20th September 2017
Country: USA
Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon
Screenwriter: Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul
Cast: Julie Andrews (Gru’s Mom (voice)), Michael Beattie (The Scar Faced Man/TMZ Announcer (voice)), Russell Brand (Dr. Nefario (voice)), Steve Carell (Gru/Dru (voice)), Adrian Ciscato (Niko (voice)), Pierre Coffin (Mel/The Minions (voice)), Steve Coogan (Silas (voice)), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo (voice)), Dana Gaier (Edith (voice)), Andy Nyman (Clive (voice)), Trey Parker (Balthazar Bratt (voice)), Nev Scharrel (Agnes (voice)), Jenny Slate (Valerie Da Vinci (voice)), Kristen Wiig (Lucy Wilde (voice)),
Runtime: 90 mins
Classification: PG
OUR DESPICABLE ME 3 REVIEWS & RATINGS:
David Griffiths:
If you’ve got kids then you’ve certainly heard of the Despicable Me franchise. What a lot of people don’t realise is that while Despicable Me has become one of the most popular film franchises amongst families it also changed the entire animated film game. There was once a time when Pixar ruled that market but the arrival of the original Despicable Me saw a new challenger enter the ring and that challenger took it straight up to Pixar blowing them out of the water.
This new Despicable Me movie is technically the fourth film in the franchise (three Despicable Mefilms and one Minions films) and shows that there is certainly still a lot of life left in these films as the creative team behind it has once again found new ways to breathe new life into it and keep it interesting.
This new film sees Gru (Steve Carrell) now firmly entrenched as Lucy’s (Kristen Wiig) life and work partner. And while Lucy is having trouble coming to terms being a mother to Margo (Miranda Cosgrove – School Of Rock, Drake & Josh), Edith (Dana Gaier – 30 Rock, The Icecream Truck) and Agnes (Nev Scharrel – Fun Size Horror: Volume One, Clippings) Gru is slowly getting used to now taking down villains instead of being one… but then even he fails the test when Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker – ) steals one of the world’s largest diamonds.
The resulting stuff-up sees both Gru and Lucy fired from their jobs and while they are soul-searching at what they should do next with their lives Gru learns that he has a twin brother. Upon getting to know his brother Gru learns more and more about his life and soon finds himself wondering if turning his back on being a villain was really such a wise decision, especially when his beloved Minions leave him and start looking for greener pastures elsewhere.
Like the films before it in the franchise Despicable Me 3 has some great elements of humour that will have the whole family laughing while also touching on some very deep issues that many families have to come to grips with in everyday life – the storyline of Lucy trying to learn how to be a mother to the three girls is told in a way that many people could relate to. Likewise, the storyline of Agnes having to learn things such as unicorns not being real is something that every kid has to face at some time.
On the flipside, the film never loses site of the fact that it is also supposed to make families laugh. This is achieved in a number of different ways by the team of screenwriters behind the film, from the usual slapstick comedy of Gru and co getting hurt right through to the creativeness of the new villain – Balthazar Bratt. While the back story of being a childhood star may go right over the head of kids watching the film the great ‘music and dance battles’ that he is involved in certainly won’t. Credit needs to be paid on how creative they have been with this villain, Bratt actually ends up being memorable than any of the baddies Marvel have created recently.
Having praised the screenwriters for making Despicable Me 3 so funny I also have to point out that the film also lacks a little from the fact that the Minions don’t have such a big role this time around. Yes the Minions are around, and yes they do have their own little storyline, mainly about them leaving Gru, but that story almost feels tacked on and the film really does feel like it is lacking any brilliant ‘banana’ moments like we have had in the past… let’s hope instead that we get another Minions film sometime soon.
There is an air of difference around Despicable Me 3 to all the films in the series but this is a film that is going to be lapped up by those that have grown up watching the franchise. The film does have its laugh-out-loud moments and also contains some valuable life lessons. Yes, Gru is back and once again he is on a winner!
Average Subculture Rating (out of 5):
IMDB Rating:
Other Subculture Entertainment Despicable Me 3 Reviews: You can listen to Dave’s Despicable Me 3 review on the 15/06/2017 episode of That’s Entertainment.
This week on That’s Entertainment Dave Griffiths joins Ed Phillips to chat about new films Rough Night, Whitney: Can I Be Me, Despicable Me 3 and The Promise.
This week on The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show Adam, Dave, Greg and Nick take a look at new release films ‘Wonder Woman,’ ‘Baywatch,’ ‘20th Century Women,’ and ‘Norman’.
This episode also contains interviews with Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Nashen Moodley (Sydney International Film Festival).
You can listen to The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show or download it for free from our Podcast Channel – Listen/Download here.
