music // cloud control Posted by Helena

Photos by Ulrich.

Hello! I have a buttload of super talented friends and my pals in Cloud Control have just released Dojo Rising, the first single from their second album Dream Cave (or Dreamy Dave Cave as I'll be calling it. Shoutout to Dave if you ever read this!). They just played a sold out show at the Sydney Opera House and they're coming to Melbourne this week - yippie!

I love talking to friends about their jobs - especially if they're drastically different from mine. I read this interview with Al this morning and I thought it was really interesting because he's talking about his job for his job, which I guess is a side I wouldn't usually see. Here's some cool bits...

You recorded the vocals in a cave, or quarry is that correct? 

I was told I can’t reveal the name of the album or any of the song titles [just yet] which would help the story make more sense. But, yeah we recorded some stuff in a cave, it’s related to one of the songs mainly, the album has some cave themes.

So it’s just one song in this quarry or cave, is that right? 

One song plus a bunch of other random stuff on the album, it’s in a few songs actually. We only did the vocals for one song in a cave because the song is kind of about being in a cave. I wrote it in the rehearsal studio. I was in there by myself and I’d been drinking some whiskey. I tried to write the song that Roy Orbison would write if he was trapped in a cave for like thirty years and was just going crazy. He had a lot of suffering in his life anyway, but [I wanted] this to be as if he’d actually gone insane.

You mentioned that the title of the album would help it make more sense, does that mean that there’s a theme – is it a concept album? 

It’s totally not. The way the album was written, we were just writing separate songs; there was no agenda. I felt that on Bliss Release, even though it was like that, the songs did hold together really well, they all felt like they had the same ideas in them, I was hoping this time around we could do something similar. We’ve come up with ideas of how to link them all together. I think the name Bliss Release really tied everything together and I think this time around we’ve tried to do the same thing – to have an idea for the album that’s like a framework that all the songs can just fit into, like its building something together rather than just being a compilation.

I know this is an obvious question but do you feel pressure with this album, because your first album was so well received and you did really well for a young band? 

Sometimes I’m worried about it but I’ve got a lot of faith in this new album. I’m not that worried. Whether or not people like it, I think we’re all feeling pretty proud of it. I think that’s all you can do, try and make something you like and put it in the world – maybe people will like it, maybe you can change a couple of perspectives. I think we’ve been really true to ourselves and done something that’s really honest and just a cool piece of art.

Did you meet Rivers Cuomo?

Yeah, he was really, really nice – really lovely. He’s kind of a reserved little guy; I thought he was really cute. He’s exactly what you’d imagine from his songs and everything. I don’t know if he’s shy but he seemed like it. He did kick a soccer ball around backstage with shin pads on before the show and stuff like that. What was cool about Weezer was how down to earth their whole show is. You tour with some big bands and they’ll have a tonne of crew and production and stuff. Whereas Weezer play one guitar for the whole show, they’re just a straight up band – they get up there they play the songs. It could be at Oxford Art Factory and they’d have the same setup, they’re just doing it in fucking stadiums or arenas.

How excited are you to be back home for Vivid? 

Man I love being back. I feel like we’ve got a home over here and we’ve got friends and everything but it’s like having two homes. When we’re here I really miss Australia and when we’re in Australia I miss London.

I'm the same... When I'm in Australia I miss London and when I was in London I missed Australia. Sigh. I'd also like to put in a vote for Rivers being a very cute man. I met him for about 30 seconds and we discussed the weather. Seriously. How boring.

cooking // tuscan cooking class Posted by Helena

Picture this: it's Easter and you're in Tuscany staying in a 5 bedroom villa with 9 other friends... What do you do? Go to a private cooking class at Capezzana of course! This is well and truly an overdue post. If you know me, or have ever read my blog, I'm pretty sure you know how much I love food. And cooking. And baking. One of life's simple (and best) pleasures.

This was one of the best things I've ever done while travelling and I cannot recommend it enough. I'd love to go back and do the 5 day cooking class! BLISS. Everything we made was 110% delicious because all the ingredients were so fresh and Capezzana produce their own wine as well as olive oil. We were told Jamie Oliver takes his Fifteen class there every year for the olive oil pressing and I've just read this article and their olive oil is sold in New York. The bottle I bought to take back with me to London was amazing! I used it up pretty quickly because I wanted it in ALL of my cooking.

Here's some photos from our cooking class and I might even share some of my favourite recipes in future posts. That's something I haven't started doing yet but I've had several friends suggest I should start a food blog so I might as well start by posting a few recipes here and there!

music // british india Posted by Helena

I've got a bunch of ideas for blog posts but have I sat down to write any of them? Noooope. So here's a really short post just to say, BOOM this is my favourite British India song and BOOM Sam helped film it. Above average band. Above average song. Above average video. Below average personal jokes.

link it Posted by Helena

[From my trip to San Francisco in 2010]

• Jess' post on the devastating factory collapse in Bangladesh
• Emma Block's gorgeous Style Icon prints on display at Beyond Retro
• Profile on one of my fave photographers, Max Wanger, on one of my fave blogs, design*sponge
• design*sponge's best of cats
• If you're having a shitty day, have a look at here is today and remember it's nothing in the grand scheme of things
• The j.crew tumblr
• Mad Men intro... but with dogs!
• How much would it cost to be Iron Man?
• The art of packing on Park & Cube
• 7 types of digital marketers

Check out previous "Link It"s

you look like a sauna and you smell like one too Posted by Helena

I do love a collaboration and I really really love Aesop! When an invite to the launch of their collaboration with Marimekko landed in my inbox, I went "Yep! Sign me up!" They've created the Sauna Duet, which is:

Body scrub and body balm inspired by the rituals of Scandinavian bathing culture.
The Aesop-Marimekko Sauna Duet comprises a body scrub and body balm containing richly aromatic essential oils of Fir Needle, Sage Leaf and Pine Needle, and purifying ingredients to help detoxify the skin.
These distinctive products are packaged in recyclable plastic jars and offered in a dedicated cotton bag featuring Marimekko’s ‘Vellamo’ print.

I love me a body scrub and my Body Shop scrub is about to run out, so this is going on my list! It might sound a little strange but the balm actually smells like a sauna - that specific woodsy, piney smell. My friend and I couldn't stop smelling our hands once it was on. That probably sounds weirder than it actually was...

 

01 // Trying out the Sauna Duet.

02 // Fabric, fabric, fabric!

03 // Tasty (and locally produced!) Golden Axe apple cider. Nom nom.

04 // The goodie bag of a Marimekko purse and my fave Aesop Parsley Seed cleanser, plus some other goodies I haven't tried before.