Latest News
26 July 2010
BREAKING NEWS This just in from camp ROOT! headquarters:
ROOT! hang up their hats
Like tumbleweeds blowing across the nature strip of modern consciousness, Melbourne's own garage-punk poets ROOT! have decided, for now, it's time to ride outta town.
For one last time the boys will don their cowboy hats and sashay through the highlights of ROOT!'s four-year, two-album career, Friday August 20th in a special intimate show.
Have a drink, have a laugh, have a cry along with ROOT! live at Yah-Yahs, Smith St Collingwood.
Get your tickets from www.roottheband.com.au
Is this the end for DC and his canasta partners? Or is there a new project on the way?
All will be revealed soon. Stay tuned.
Whether this means an extended end-of-year hibernation or an actual shelving of ROOT! related activites while the fruits of the heavily rumoured solo album come to the fore or perhaps DC will be appearing in more Bedroom Philosopher video clips, nothing is clear yet. The last line is optimistic, in my opinion. So we're going to have to play the waiting game folks. See you August 20.24 July 2010
Over the course of the last three ROOT! gigs played, DC Root discussed their newest tracks - "Girls, Girls, Girls," "Henry Wagons" and "Shut The Fuck Up" - indicating that they are most likely from the frontman's upcoming solo album. The album itself is said to be a masterpiece of sorts, designed around certain pieces of art.
Meanwhile the frontman has been busy in other circles. For whatever reason, Mr. Root appeared in the video clip for The Bedroom Philosopher's "Northcote (So Hungover)." When backed into a corner in a darkened alley, Mr. Philosopher had this to say about DC's involvement:
Originally I was going to have Angry Anderson play the part of mixer, as the band is Pose Tattoo - an obvious pun on Rose Tattoo. But Angry was away in France beating up Phoenix. DC seemed the obvious choice after this. Some not so obvious choices including getting the whole of Architecture in Helsinki in TISM balaclava's as a kind of retro / ironic / pastiche on God knows what. After sending DC a series of hounding emails I took my 'Australian Music Industry made difficult' self-help book and looked up networking techniques. It suggested liaising with the person at their favourite eatery. After a lot of phonecalls and studying googlemaps I found DC in a taxi going through West Preston KFC. I tailed the cab on my bike and had a quick word with him while the window was down. he wasn't even buying food, he just needed a shitload of refresher towels as he was about to play at the espy and there's never any toilet paper. Even in the band room. WHY Espy WHY?
DC turned up on the day and was a complete professional. I can safely tell you that the book he is reading in the scene is war and peace. I understand the heavily fictionalised reality will be a lot for many to comprehend. A sound mixer who can read! Myself and the director worked intensively with DC to channel (mind the pun) just the right blend of contempt and apathetic bitterness for the surly engineer. At times DC could be seen looking up at the band, which was deemed far too enthusiastic for the character. We also did some character exercises to determine the emotional arc and narrative backstory of the sound guy. Turns out he was in a folk-ska band called The Band Who Played Too Much who were about to do things in the UK until the lead singer died from a smug overdose. It was profound stuff from an Australian icon and musical digger.
The Bedroom Philosopher's site is here. The video for Northcote (So Hungover) is here.On a related note, the contact page is functional. So say hello!
26 May 2010
From the ROOT! mailing list:
The ROOT! Hamper Is Back!
ROOT! LIVE
Saturday May 29th
At Spenserslive
419 Spencer St
West Melbourne
That's right folks, ROOT! celebrates their first appearance at the new, fabulous Spenserslive in West Melbourne with the return of the ROOT! hamper!
Your ticket to see ROOT! at Spenserslive will put you into the running to win a hamper bursting with goodies, including:
A bottle of Evelyn County Estate 2005 Black Paddock Merlot
A bottle of Evelyn County Estate 2005 Pinot Noir
A box of Guylian Chocolates 315 gm "les exclusives assortment"
A couple of bottles of double gold medal winning wine, The Sunday Paddock 2008 Sauvignon Blanc.
A double pass to see any band at Spenserslive PLUS a $50 drink card!!!
The classic black ROOT! T-shirt
A ROOT! limited edition stubby holder
The ROOT! 'Boxed Set" including signed copies of
- Root Supposed He Was Out Of The Question
- Get Up Yourself
- Surface Paradise
- The Making Of Surface Paradise DVD
A six-pack of ROOT!'s own boutique beer
That's over $300 worth of genuine value!
It's all to celebrate ROOT!'s first time at Spenserslive - a custom-designed venue for the more seasoned music aficionado, located up the quiet end of Spencer Street, near Festival Hall. With its retro-stylish booths, cosy atmosphere, and excellent lighting and sound, Spenserslive exudes relaxed cool.
The perfect venue for a ROOT!
Plus you'll be entertained by special guests The Rebelles - the classic girl group with FIFTEEN singers.
And you could take home the hamper!
Also, the following was sent first to the ROOT! mailing list and later, by DC Root, with slight variations (oooh) to Facebook fans. As the former version is slightly longer (and spells Ouzo correctly), it is the version printed below (though both versions contain two "c" bullet points):
ROOT! onstage this Saturday night at Spenserslive at 9.30pm!
That's right. 9.30pm!
Finally you can go out, see a band and...
A: be home in bed at 11pm.
B: get to the TV in time to catch a re-run of Silent Witness.
C: get home in time to drink half a bottle of Ouzo and still be in the cot
before midnight
C: get home before you're too tired to ROOT!
ROOT! This Saturday night at 9.30pm NO EXCUSES!
Spenserslive 419 Spencer St West Melbourne
ROOT! raffle drawn at 10pm.
ROOT! catering for the grown up punter since 1864.
1 May 2010
Last night, ROOT! "opened" their show at the East Brunswick Club with a closed curtain across the stage. It wasn't until the end of the first song, the completely new "Shut The Fuck Up" that the curtain opened to reveal the band in workmans shirts, and DC in what appeared to be a fire cheif's jacket mounting a ladder in the center of the stage.
Along with the brand new song, DC also provided a lengthy ramble in the encore about outer space and galaxies while Back To Mine was finished off with an impro version of Stayin' Alive. Also, there may have been another new song early in the set, but my setlist argues otherwise. Any other fans with memories in tact recall this? If so, please contact.
The night was also the first night that "The Making of Surface Paradise a documentary" DVD was made available. It is packaged in a blue cardboard sleeve, with a very similar coloured disc inside. In an interview with Lisa Dib at Watch Out For, DC described the documentary as "[starting] out with mainly me talking- a terrible, terrible thing- so we have leavened it with other bits that aren't necessary[sic] relevant but... at least, visually, you don't have to see me talking... I wanted to make a movie about making the album while we were making the album; I was aware the album was this sort of laughably ambitious attempt to make a 'classic album'- and of course I've subsequently been proven correct. The making-of DVD is so incredibly pompous and self-regarding that I quite like it."
11 April, 2010
NEWS: ROOT! have released their first email in a long while which contains some information about the upcoming DVD, which is a making-of about the album Surface Paradise...
See the story unfold in a documentary cobbled together from some dodgy footage of the band and of DC banging on about the concept behind the concept album. This DVD is nowhere near as good and nowhere near as interesting as any other rock DVD ever made and is far more likely to be a cynical, desperate attempt to recoup some of the losses from the production of the album!
PLUS the DVD includes the full 15-song album in never heard before demo form! Some of the demo versions are surprisingly different to the finished tracks!