The Squeeg Files

gristley: Quick little pixel run for a fake game trailer.

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:45:40 +0800

gristley:

Quick little pixel run for a fake game trailer.

gristley: uUuGH

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:44:17 +0800

gristley:

uUuGH

oldgamemags: MegaZone Issue #29, August 1993 - Their review of...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:29:05 +0800

oldgamemags:

MegaZone Issue #29, August 1993 - Their review of Cool Spot on the Megadrive!

I hate this game with the power of 1000 suns.

My metalcore album cover

Sun, 05 May 2013 22:42:42 +0800

My metalcore album cover

Paramore interview with Taylor Yorke

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:23:00 +0800

I interviewed Paramore guitarist Taylor York while they toured Australia for the Soundwave Festival earlier this year. Initially I was supposed to meet the band at their hotel room on the morning of Soundwave in Perth but they decided to wind back publicity at that point and I did a phone interview instead while they were still in Melbourne. There’s a part of this interview I had to cut, so I’ll include it at the top here - it’s about their accidental headline spot at Sydney Soundwave after Garbage had to cancel:

“We started off the tour with our own sidewave show at the Enmore in Sydney, which was so fun to start off with an intimate show with our fans. Both Soundwave shows so far have been awesome. In Sydney we basically ended up getting to accidently headline the night which was just insane. It was really surreal, we kind of weren’t sure the whole day if we were going to be able to play or not because we weren’t sure when we were going to get the gear because of the flooding so we didn’t have any of our own stuff. We kind of accepted our fate that were weren’t going to get to play, and at the last minute the gear got there. We’ve got the most amazing crew in the whole world so we were able to get it together really fast. We were really excited to play but we were like’ we’re going on the same time as Metallica and there probably won’t be that many people there, but whatever, we’ll deal with it and it’ll still be fun.’ It was the most surreal thing to walk out on stage and see so many people, it was a really special show for us.

Read the whole interview below!

PARAMORE

(Re)Born Of Struggle

Xpress Magazgine (#1363 April 10 2013)

Recently in the country touring with the dark circus that is Soundwave, Paramore guitarist Taylor Yorke speaks with BRENDAN HOLBEN about the band’s new, self-titled album.
The Farro brothers. Hayley Williams’ hair. Both topics off the table when interviewing the current incarnation of Tennessee pop-punk band Paramore - the latter topic perhaps a bit of a stab at the state of music journalism at the moment.

It’s doubtful Megadeth growler Dave Mustaine gets many questions about the curly red mass adorning that angry head of his. The Farro brothers’ (Josh and Zac, founding members of Paramore) departure from the band is, however, far more relevant as Paramore’s new self-titled album is the first since they quit in 2010. Things were blogged, statements were made and touring guitarist Taylor Yorke stepped in to become a permanent member of the band.

There’s no point in dredging up old blood, but these sorts of things tend to influence the nature of a band. Paramore decided that by making the album self-titled it would be a statement that this is a new beginning,

“It’s definitely a statement, like, ‘here we are’ and we’ve never felt more like Paramore in our whole career,” says Yorke. “We were talking about it and we were saying we were so thankful we didn’t name the first album Paramore so that we had the chance to do it with this record, it feels right and feels like this is what we want people to see us as.”

Now was the first single released, featuring a broader sound and strong references to the future and positivity, which Yorke says is a running theme through the album.

“It definitely is much more positive, I think we have an energy we can do something with and we can either make that positive or negative. For so long we were so negative about things and everything was just so hard for us, but we were like, ‘man, we have nothing to be bummed about and pessimistic about, why are we not just being positive and we know that it’s there’. That’s what Now is about, it’s really believing that it’s there and reaching out for it.

“We’ve changed a lot as people and I think that our art has just naturally going to reflect that,” he explains. “We’ve definitely tried to follow some older routines and write some more things that we have in the past, but we just weren’t inspired by it and we realised we’ve already written those songs. Now we’re in this new season and it’s a slightly different line-up and we wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. When we were really writing songs honestly things came out different. We just needed an evolution, we needed a change.”

While Yorke only became a fully-fledged member of the band in 2011, he had already been playing with them as their touring guitarist for years and had a small part to play in the songwriting process. This time, while the lyrics are still firmly the domain of Williams, Yorke says he was hands on in shaping the album.

“This is the album where I really had to step it up, which is scary because I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Yorke admits. “We just had to develop a new rhythm, it was definitely really intimidating. I think we’ve written some of the best things that we’ve ever written.

“Hayley normally writes her own melodies as far as what she’s singing, but a lot of times we are writing things together. We used to write all the music first and she’d write lyrics and melody afterwards, this record we just took things piece-by-piece. Sometimes she’d have lyrics and melody and I’d come up with something musical to match and vice-versa - sometimes I’d have a riff and that would inspire her to go in a certain direction.

“Every song was pretty different and we did have to pick up on each other’s emotions and directions but I think that’s cool because a different interpretation makes something unique. Every song is definitely different, Hayley doesn’t really write concept songs. She writes from her own thoughts and her own struggles. It really reflects we’re growing up, we’re happy, it’s kind of what a lot of people in their mid-20s are going through.

“It’s definitely very eclectic. We’ve got a funk song on this record, we’ve got some poppy songs and we’ve got probably the heaviest song we’ve ever recorded. We really weren’t afraid to draw from all our inspirations and we weren’t afraid to try things. I don’t think we set out to make a record necessarily that everyone would could find something they liked but it kind of turned into that kind of a record where I think people that maybe didn’t connect with us before can hopefully find something on the record that they enjoy.”

In 2011 Paramore took a break from touring to work on the new album, also releasing three singles for their online Singles Club. Yorke says the album took a year and a half to write and record.

“We ran into writer’s block a few times, there would be months where nothing would come out of us then we would go through a patch where we were working really well together. It was pretty inconsistent, it was definitely a struggle but I think the struggle was a good thing as it led us to positive places.

“The last song, Future, is the one I connect to the most, it was very emotional to record. It was a string of accidents that turned into something that was really unique and cool, probably the heaviest thing we’ve done. It just makes me feel something when I hear it and I want people to take whatever they want away from it and see how they interpret it.”

osheagreen: EA Responds To Being Named ‘The Worst Company in...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:12:10 +0800

osheagreen:

EA Responds To Being Named ‘The Worst Company in America’

In a recent poll on Consumerist.com, it was decided that Electronic Arts was the worst company in America. This is the second year in a row that EA has taken the top prize. In response, EA’s COO Peter Moore has released this statement.

lessonsforchildren: Compare and contrast. Heyyyy Bossypants....

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:13:25 +0800

lessonsforchildren:

Compare and contrast.

Heyyyy Bossypants. Good read that.

Shit’s going to get real yo

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:38:00 +0800

Shit’s going to get real yo

Pea and Ham Soup mutha truckas - to be continued

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:50:10 +0800

Pea and Ham Soup mutha truckas - to be continued

Clifford Unchained: Anonymous Internet Boy Taliban Tropes

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:45:40 +0800

Clifford Unchained: Anonymous Internet Boy Taliban Tropes:

dudehugespeaks:

Disclaimer: I was a key creative in what is often considered one of the more “dudebro” franchises out there, Gears of War. I’d also like to remind everyone out there that I went out of my way in working with our team, the writers, and Epic’s artists to make sure that female characters are…

thegoddamazon: thagoodthings: letter-experiment: Largest...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:05:39 +0800

thegoddamazon:

thagoodthings:

letter-experiment:

Largest amount of swag I have ever witnessed

Damn Tom

Nigga took out Jerry and got him to lick the paper, tho…

http://www.thevine.com.au/music/news/my-week-with-metallica/

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:41:45 +0800

http://www.thevine.com.au/music/news/my-week-with-metallica/

Brownies yo, ignore the blurry mess in the background

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:05:25 +0800

Brownies yo, ignore the blurry mess in the background

Did you get that thing I sent ya?

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:04:00 +0800

Did you get that thing I sent ya?

Charlie trying to hit those high notes

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 19:30:00 +0800

Charlie trying to hit those high notes

The bong’s back #balga #balgabongs #perth #cricket

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:25:51 +0800

The bong’s back #balga #balgabongs #perth #cricket

In Profile: Chris Avellone

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:01:25 +0800

alivetinyworld:

First published in Atomic magazine, republished in PC & Tech Authority. I tracked down Chris while he was in Melbourne for GCAP, and asked him for his thoughts on Kickstarter, his design philosophies and goals, and Australia’s largely stagnant development scene.

kyrajade: no but why is nicki minaj telling people whether they can sing or not She’s...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:45:01 +0800

kyrajade:

no but why is nicki minaj telling people whether they can sing or not

She’s classically trained, apparently

Eleventh He Reaches London/Rachael Dease/Foxes @ The Bakery 15/12/2012

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:23:13 +0800

ELEVENTH HE REACHES LONDON/Rachael Dease/Foxes/Only Hope

15/12/2012

The Bakery

By Me!

Saturday night at The Bakery served up a range of raw, uncompromising music from diverse line-up charged with angst and emotion. Just in time for Christmas.

Foxes grimly took to the stage after Only Hope, setting the tone immediately with the screams of singer Alex echoing through the cavernous Bakery band room. Without once breaking from his anguished screaming he poured everything into the set, backed by no lack of enthusiasm from the rest of the five-piece. After a quick, and impressive, mid-song cymbal change drummer Jake proceeded to beat the hell out his kit for rest of the show. While the angst is delivered through Alex’s voice the indie-style melodic guitars differentiate Foxes from the average hardcore act. On stage they pulsated with energy as they thrashed around and indulged themselves in extended instrumental sections, but you could hear a pin drop between songs. In what is an otherwise tight show, the awkward silences detracted from the atmosphere they were building. Red-faced from screaming, Alex finished the set by dropping his microphone and leaving the stage, while the rest of the band built up to their frenetic crescendo.

“We’re kinda the wildcard of the night,” said songstress Rachael Dease after her first song, “I’m still very angry, I just express it differently.” With that in mind inclusion of her ambient-pop style to the line-up seemed less odd and strangely fitting to the melancholic theme of the night’s music. Armed with omnichord, a drummer and her haunting voice, Dease had little trouble casting her hypnotic spell over the audience. Through her solo work Dease has been picking up a lot of buzz and it’s not hard to see why. The dark, moody, ambient synth tones made a perfect match to her rich voice and somehow worked as an effective counterpoint to the shoutiness of the other acts of the night. She wove through All In All Out and Win The Losing Game with the sort of power and vocal control any talent show wannabe would sign their soul over for (and probably do).

To celebrate the vinyl reissue of 2006’s The Good Fight For Harmony Perth’s cult favourites Eleventh He Reaches London made their first and only appearance for 2012. To whet their deprived fans’ appetites and to mark the occasion they played the album in its entirety. The band looked instantly comfortable on stage with the slow build of Coronation into Say You See Why, which left Ian Lenton’s vocals a bit drowned out by the three guitar attack. As the sound mix issues were sorted out through the set the intricacies of the mournful post-hardcore really began to shine. In an act befitting of the moody atmosphere Lenton made a quick dash off stage for a bottle of whiskey before launching into the next song. The wall-of-sound the three guitars made were impressive mixing heavy with sombre, and the frenetic timing changes were handled expertly. With little time for banter Eleventh He Reaches London roared through the set with the crowd eating up every bit of it, quenching their appetites until the next show early next year for the upcoming album.

Tiny Alive Tiny World: Is the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer sexist? No? What about the gaming community, then?

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:14:40 +0800

Tiny Alive Tiny World: Is the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer sexist? No? What about the gaming community, then?:

alivetinyworld:

Tim Colwill at Games.on.net asked twelve women, including myself, whether they thought the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer was sexist. While the opinions voiced are diverse and mostly thoughtful, I actually find response to the article itself to be far more interesting.

PC PowerPlay writer Meghann…

I don’t think the trailer is what I guess you could call “videogame sexist,” but rather a reflection on sci-fi narratives. I personally found the trailer to be really cliche’ and almost immediately picked up the context of the situation before the camera had zoomed out to make the big reveal of murdered people surrounding a robot/cyborg with blade-arm things. Even the name Cyberpunk is smacking you over the head with sci-fi tropes. I think there a certain amount of cultural perceptions and codes that have informed how this trailer can be perceived. Let’s look at the movie A.I. where Jude Law’s character is a sex-bot framed for murder. To establish his character, he had to be made explicit that that’s what his character does by showing him post-coital in a seedy hotel room. How would be know otherwise? Is there a stereotypical giggalo dress-code? He just looked like a dude in a suit.

The woman in the Cyberpunk trailer wears revealing clothes, and is obviously beautiful, and could perhaps be in the same line of work as Jude Law’s character. If that’s the director’s intention, he/she needed to take societal cues in order to portray the fact, and our cultural codes have a fairly standardised idea of what a sex-worker looks like (just look at any stock photos newspapers use for prostitution stories - fishnet stockings, massive heels, tiny dresses etc).

This is the point where I realise I forgot the point I was trying to make. Oh dear. Either way I dig your commentary on this!