Showing posts with label The Apartments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Apartments. Show all posts

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Peter Milton Walsh - Junk Bar 3-2-18 Brisbane


It was a beautiful and intimate evening of song
from one of the greatest songwriters ever
at the Junk bar last night.
Peter accompanied on a few songs played and sung
from the back catalog of his band the Apartments
taking us back some 30 years interspersed
with more than a few shorterned versions of stories
that those songs brought up.
His story telling, his beautiful often sad melodies
and his spellbinding songs all made for a special
evening, but then it always is

 

I've included a few shots and a video of one 
of those special songs
Mr Somewhere












Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Peter Milton Walsh - Junk Bar Brisbane 11-10-15


Its hard to put my finger on what it is that draws me to the songs
of Peter Milton Walsh in the way that they do.
He sings of life, its failures its triumphs, its magic and its
sadness and he does it in a way that makes it all so poetic,
This concert was always going to be very special to me and to the
people who came who like me connect with Peter and his songs.



And it shows when you look around during the show, at different
times you see faces of joy or you see grins, or you see tears.
It was a special occasion too as Peter once he left Brisbane some
30 years ago he has played only 5 shows including this
and this the first solo.
He told many stories as he does, all around the songs drawing
you into his memories. That's something you don't always see
in a songwriter and something I appreciate greatly.



Adding to the sense of occasion of this small and intimate performance
we had two of Peters greatest fellow Brisbane musical supporters
along for the ride, in Ed Kuepper and Robert Forster and Peter
gave them his gratitude for being there for him when he needed it.
But in the end I'd sum it up with all the comments I heard after the
gig about a wonderful and very special night from people who were
there.If he comes back with a band do yourself a favor and don't
miss it.






Friday, August 28, 2015

The Apartments Peter Walsh Returns to Brisbane


Just after I found out about Robert Forsters album launch
I heard about the gig of the year.
Peter returns to Brisbane to play one solo show were it all began.
On the back of a French tour and his first album in 15 years released
this year it will a gig not to miss

Sunday 11 October 2015 (opening 7:00pm)

at The Junk Bar's Skukum Lounge ( venue info )
215 Waterworks Rd, Ashgrove
www.thejunkbar.com.au

Get your tickets here

Friday, February 6, 2015

The return of the Apartments

 
This year the is year the Apartments return.
There was last years teaser single Black Ribbons
and next month the reissue of the brilliant 1985
debut Lp, The Evening Visits...and stays for years,
as a double album on both cd and vinyl as a
deluxe expanded edition with liner notes
from Robert Foster. This is my favorite album
of all time so I cant wait,
You can find it here 

And following that the new album,
No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal ,
The first album Peter Walsh has recorded for
15 years, this track Twenty One is the 2nd song
to be released of the album and well its going to
be something else!
Read all about it here
Now once I have the records Im hoping for a
tour coming to Brisbane

Saturday, December 10, 2011

An Evening Visit From The Apartments


As the sweeping melahancholia of Theme de Camille by Georges Delerue (from Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris) fades out of the stage speakers, it's here in cloudy Sydney where the Apartments reveal themselves once more in their home country. A Saturday night in Marrickville after a long, moody day of dark clouds and a reprise of suit weather brings forth a stage-shy band and a faithful seated audience for only their third show in this town in over twenty years.

A lot has happened in this time; some things remembered for eternity and others best forgotten. And so it seems the veil of silence has been lifted with the release of a new single, Black Ribbons and a show in Melbourne a month ago in November. Or was it October? When it comes to the Apartments, time brings all things to pass.

Left to right on the plainly-lit stage is guitarist Eliot Fish, and beside him is Amanda Brown on her violin and tambourine. Behind her on piano is George Bibikos. In front of him and beside Ms Brown is chanteuse Christine Jane in her second appearance with the thousandth Apartments line-up. And on the far right - on a matching stool - is Peter Milton Walsh with a voice and an acoustic guitar.


Eleven songs are played. The arrangements and instrumentation resemble that of their last album Fête Foraine - exercising the intimacy of song without its pop and stripping colourful arrangements down to small flakes and piecing it all together again - no horn, nor drum. And in this supper-club space without cutlery, every word and note behind it demand a sense of attention. With Walsh to the far right, he looks to his and conducts the band through his softly tinted glasses and tapping feet.

Before the songs are played, some stories are told. And some tales. A little insight that takes you further inside the tunes than a lyric sheet or a liner-note could attempt. There's talk evil men, seduced women, the son of a French banker with symbolism in his veins, a record company and a river city he left thirty years ago.


And so the Apartments reopened for another night, checking out to sign in again at an unknown time and place. In the last thirty years, there's been more silence than sound. Songs are played or recorded when they're ready. This isn't anything new, it's just how it is. And as the show ends with one last song, it leaves us with two questions; and the curtain falls.

Where are the parties that were never held? Where are the snows that never fell?

Setlist: Thank You For Making Me Beg/All You Wanted/Knowing You Were Loved/World Of Liars/Sunset Hotel/All His Stupid Friends/Mr. Somewhere/On Every Corner/Things You'll Keep/Black Ribbons/Twenty One



All images and words - Donat Tahiraj. Brisbane.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Apartments


Readers of That Striped Sunlight Sound will hopefully not need an introduction to this band as I haven't prepared one. Nevertheless...

The Apartments return to Sydney for the launch of their new 45rpm single, Black Ribbons - a taste of what's to come from their forthcoming album - their first since 1998's Fête Foraine.




The sound and image below are from the Melbourne launch for this single:

The Apartments - All Your Stupid Friends @ Toff In Town, Melbourne (23rd Oct 2011) from Carbie Warbie on Vimeo.



The band's line-up for this show includes the electric guitar of Elliot Fish, the vocals of Christine Jane and the violin of Amanda Brown.

Below is a TV commercial for the show which you may have seen during prime time programming...




The Apartments with special guest Peter Fenton (Crow)

Friday, December 9th

The Factory Theatre
105 Victoria Road, Marrickville
Box Office: Phone (02) 9550 3666
Fax (02) 9550 2990
Email: boxoffice@centuryvenues.com.au

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Melbourne Single Launch by the Apartments!


Well this is well worth a plug,
I hope some of our Melbourne readers can get along!
Maybe we will get a show in Brisbane soon!
Its well worth seeing this legendary band,
They have done a handful of shows since 2007
and the 3 I saw were fantastic!

You can listen to the new song Here

MELBOURNE SINGLE LAUNCH FOR THE APARTMENTS!

On Sunday October 23 at the Toff In Town, revered pop romantics
the Apartments play their first Melbourne show since 2007,
launching their first release since 1998,
new vinyl single Black Ribbons, .


THE APARTMENTS
Sunday October 23, 7.30pm
Toff In Town
with support from Guy Blackman
tickets via Moshtix / 1300 438 849


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Poles - Over and Beyond and Through






THE POLES - Over and Beyond and Through (Tate/Bolland)/ Ha! Ha! Ha! (Tate/Bolland/The Poles)

Recorded at Basilisk Studios
Engineer - Martin Bishop
Produced by the Poles

Scott Bolland - Vocals
Joseph Borkowski - Bass
Andrew MacLennan - Drums
Scott Stone - Guitar & Backing Vocals
Michael Tate - Guitar

This single, one of the 500 individually screen-printed 45s is the band's sole release from April, 1981. The Poles (much like the Patients) are frequently recalled by fellow musicians of the post-Saints Brisbane musical landscape as having been an exceptional, if not influential live band.

The year is 1978. Kenmore. Clinton Walker's having a party at his family home. Mick Tate, Janine Hall and Scott Bolland decide to form a band. By the time conversation turned into playing, Janine meets up with Rowland Howard and Ollie Olsen who are up from Melbourne for a weekend in Sydney and with Jeffrey Wegener they form the Young Charlatans.

The band moved to Sydney in November 1979, and played alongside the Laughing Clowns on numerous occasions at the Metropole; and shared bills with the likes of the Sunnyboys.

Dave Tyrer was an early guitarist in the band, who later played in the Go-Betweens for one show in July 1980 armed with a Roland guitar-synth, along with former Toesuckers drummer Clare McKenna (who later went on to play with Xero and the Holy Ghosts). This was the only time both of them played in the Go-Betweens. During the course of 1978-79, Tyrer played guitar in the influential Bex Crystals, one of Brisbane's early female-fronted punk bands who were regulars of the famed restaurant/venue, the Curry Shop. Their story has yet to be fully written. It'll happen!

Dave Tyrer playing in the Go-Betweens at the Sincerity Ball held at Baroona Hall, 4th July 1980 and behind him a backdrop designed by Gary Warner. Zero, FX, and Kroll & the Bluebirds also played that night. Photo by Paul O'Brien.

Guitarist and primary songwriter Mick Tate is now a freelance cartoonist working in Sydney.

Another member of note was bassist Joe Borkowski, who was an early chronicler of the Saints with his 35mm camera. It would be safe to say that all of the band's photos prior to their signing with EMI were taken by him.


This cassette is from a recording session done on a Portastudio by Ed Kuepper and Bruce 'Cab' Calloway in 1981.

After the swift demise of the Poles, Borkowski joined the Sydney incaration of Peter Milton Walsh's Out of Nowhere, playing on their single Remember Remember/No Resistance released by Prince Melon in 1982. Borkowski later emerged as a live member of the Apartments during 1984, and played cello on a Died Pretty track around that time whose name currently escapes me. He's also referenced in the Go-Betweens song Darlinghurst Nights.


The image above appeared in Clinton Walker's 1981 book, Inner City Sound and a caption which read:

"The Poles were inspired to take up music by the Saints, and took it from there themselves, to become another slant on the Brisbane Sound. They were probably best described as "a wonderful slice of modern pop halfway between the Shadows and the Saints.""
Over and Beyond and Through
appears on the Inner City Sound CD - the must-have companion to the VCP reprint of Walker's iconic book - released through Laughing Outlaw.

Monday, December 28, 2009

The Apartments - The Goodbye Train (Live)

Donat's been busy converting, uploading , sharing,
all that good stuff.
Heres the first song of the first time the Apartments
played in Peters home town in 30 years.
Its fantastic of course. I didn't know Drift had sold
only 300 copies in Australia, that makes my copy
rather special. Now go and buy anything by this
band you can find, but first lets hear from Donat.
Thanks Donat!


Opening song from the band's triumphant return to Brisbane.

Peter Milton Walsh - vocals, guitar
John Willsteed - bass
Eliot Fish - guitar
Gene Maynard - drums
Jeff Crawley - trumpet
George Bibikos - piano

Live at the Troubadour,
Brisbane; Friday June 22, 2007.


This is also the opening song from
(my favourite Apartments album)
Drift, voted #19 in French music magazine
Les Rockuptibles album of the year in 1993
and #7 in the reader's choice award of that year.
Drift reputedly sold 300 copies in Australia.




Friday, December 25, 2009

The Apartments - Something To Live For



The Apartments live at The Troubadour in Brisbane (22/06/07).
Peter Milton Walsh plays his home town for the first time
since 1979.
One of the greatest gigs I've seen, the expectation, the wait,
and the joy that Peter pulled it off.
And this one of his greatest songs.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Apartments Touring France

The Apartments have been on a tour recently in France,
read about it here on their My Space page
Good news, I'm hoping for a return to the studio and Brisbane.





Peter Walsh
L'Européen - Paris
Le mercredi 11 novembre 2009

Saturday, April 19, 2008

The Apartments - Live on the Outside (1990-91)


A rare treat I've been meaning to post, an Apartments bootleg.
As far as I know the only actual, bootleg of its type,
but I would be very happy to hear about others.
This CD contains tracks recorded live some 17 years ago in Sydney.
Tracks 1 - 11 are with a band playing at Harold Park Hotel on the
25/01/90 and
Tracks 12 - 16 are Peter Milton Walsh with Amanda Brown
(Ex-Go-Betweens) on the 22/02/91 at an unknown venue.
I saw Peter and Amanda play at a Spring Livid around this
time in Brisbane, with a lineup including Grant McLennan,
Steve Kilbey and Ed Kuepper, it was a show I won't forget.
Seeing Peter play then was the closest I thought I would
ever get to seeing the Apartments play.
I don't know if Peter and Amanda ever played any other gigs,
but it was wonderful and now you can hear what I'm talking about.
The band, by the way(I have on good authority),
includes Ed Kuepper on guitar.
If anyone has any extra information on this Cd
or Peter/Amanda performances let us know in the comments.

Theres some great information concerning the band and
Peter/Amanda performances in the comments thanks to Steve.

Track List

01-Calling on Jean
02-Staying Kind
03-Things You'll keep
04-On every Corner
05-The Shyest Time
06-Places where the Night is Long
07-Never Be Blue
08-All You Wanted
09-Can I Hide here
10-Over
11-Please Don't Say Remember
12-World of Liars
13-Buried Treasure
14-On Every Corner
15-Believe in Me
16-Mr Somewhere

Download Here

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Troubadour in Brisbane 22/06/07



I've just found this video on you tube, its from
The Apartments First gig in Brisbane for 30 years
at the Troubadour the 22nd of June last year
about a month before pig city.
I was at this gig so I'm quite happy to find
something recorded of the night even if
it is only one song.
Its a fantastic song however.
And I've scanned the poster from the gig
That I grabbed on the way out.



Something To Live For - The Apartments The Troubadour in Brisbane 22/06/07


The Shyest Time - P.Walsh

You're at a standstill you're such a kid
I guess it's for keeps
So where will you go?
Whatever we say
Nothing's for keeps
That's like something that
you thought you knew but didn't
Call now. Now it's your call
But nothing's for keeps

Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know
A book you'll wish you'd never closed
The shyest, the shyest
Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know

Here it's November, here it's Spring
It's Winter there soon
There's so much to say
That's better unsaid
Like nothing's for keeps
Midnight, the bus is going
Try to sleep
Was it ever so cold?
Or ever so clear?
This blanket's for you

Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know
A book you'll wish you'd never closed
The shyest, the shyest
Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know

So shy
The shyest time you'll ever know
So shy
Oh you can't see where your little world got lost
Can't see where all your friends got scattered
The shyest, the shyest time you'll ever know
Ever, ever know
The shyest time

The shyest time

The shyest time

You'll ever, ever, ever, ever know.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Apartments



The Apartments are one of my favorite bands,
both my all time fav song (The shyest time)
and my fav LP (When the Evening Visits)
come from the amazing back catalog that is
Peter Milton Walsh's legacy.
When I saw them play last year here in Brisbane,
something I never through I would see, it was
about a month before they played again at the
pig city festival , and it was the first time they
had played in Brisbane for round about 30 years.
I did see Peter and Amanda Brown play a spring livid
here around 1990, that was the closest I ever expected
to get to see this band.

The Apartments and Peters career time line.

The Apartments were created around Peter Milton Walsh
as lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter in Brisbane in
October 1978. Within a year, they had broken up.
Walsh also played in The Go-Betweens for a couple of weeks
in November/December 1978.
Once The Apartments had broken up they released their first EP
" Return of the Hypnotist."
Walsh then created Out of Nowhere, playing with them from
1981-1982, then left Australia to live in New York.
A year later, Ed Kuepper, in London and starting a
new Laughing Clowns asked Walsh to join the Clowns
for English, European and Australian tours
which followed, as well as an album "Law of Nature".
A year later, in 1984, Peter Milton Walsh began a
new Apartments, then left for England on a contract
with Rough Trade Records in 1985.
In London he started a European Apartments that included
English drummer, Nick Allum,
Welsh piano player Judy Anderson,
and German bass player Jürgen Hobbs.

Peter released his first Lp in 1985,
"When the evening ...visits And stays for years",
"Drift "was released in 1992,
"A life full of farewells "in 1995,
Fête Foraine in 1996,
and "Apart" in 1997.
They split some time after that,
not to return until last year.




So you can appreciate what the band sound and look like live
heres a video of them doing "Thank you for making me beg"
From the Sydney show,
The Vanguard, 20th December 2007


Brisbane sound concert 2



Well I've just got home from the 2nd night of the
Brisbane sound exhibition, having given the first,
more art driven 1st night a miss.

This is the nights entertainment.

Curated by Robert Forster
Trevor Ludlow and The Hellraisers
Robert Forster and Adele Pickvance
Adults Today
The Apartments

The Hellraisers up first are a 3 piece band with whom I was unfamiliar.
They did a short, interesting set which got me in the mood.
Not wasting any time Robert and Adele came on stage, Rob playing
His sons small classical guitar for the 1st song before switching to his
acoustic and Adele on her big free standing bass played a wonderful
acoustic set of 6 songs.
Starting with a new song which isn't on the new album,
Bow down, When she sang about angels, Born to a family,
Here comes the city and finishing with German farmhouse.
Very enjoyable, but far to short.
Robert came back to introduce the next band, Adults today.
Another band I was unfamiliar with, Turns out this
band that Rob described as a true cult band who played
a few gigs in the early 90's which had become the stuff
of legends, was Glenn Thompson's band.
Glen lead singer and guitarist for this band
(the go-betweens final drummer for those who don't know)
put on a blinding performance.These guys were fantastic,
I'd love to have anything recorded by them.
They finished of with Custards "Music is crap", which by a strange
coincidence I had referred to the day before in a private joke with
the wife. After this amazing show I settled into a fantastic almost
on the stage seat for the apartments.
The Apartments are an amazing band to see, theres this buzz,
people can't wipe the smiles of their faces. The band was the
same one I saw last year, only they are playing even better
and 10 out of 10 to the soundman, the sound was superb.
Tighter, more familiar with each other, they play well over
an hour and came back for an encore which included the
Monkey's "Daydream believer " and a song I'm positive
isn't recorded. Highlights included, "The goodbye train",
"On every corner", "Something to live for",
"Knowing you were loved","Things You'll Keep",
"Not Every Clown Can Be In The Circus",
"The Failure Of Love Is A Brick Wall" and the Brilliant
-"Everything Is Given To Be Taken Away."
Which included the long story of the girl who inspired it.
Quite talkative Peter told us about some advice Dave Graney
gave to him last year. After telling him nobody knows anything
about you, (encouragement He has its in spades, Peter says)
You didn't play a gig in Australia for ten years,
then you didn't play at all for ten years, Well thats only 20
years Peter says. Dave suggests it might be a good
idea to tell people a bit about your songs.
So Peter told us that he would be doing a bit of that tonight.
Which He did telling us some quite funny and long stories.
All in all a brilliant night and a brilliant performance from
the Apartments and I must of been sitting next to the
biggest Apartment fan, She sang along to every thing and
had a grin ear to ear the whole time. Robert came out to
watch and also in the crowd watching was Jeffrey Wegener.
All we needed was Ed and a laughing clowns reunion
could have been on, oh well theres always tomorrow night.

Heres a link to rave magazines review

Heres some fantastic photos from the night

Heres some more