Tag Archives: Bendigo

Ask Trev: Your first album and first concert?

This question comes from fellow radio DJ and old Uni mate from Victoria – Lifon:

First album you bought and first concert you went to?

Well lets examine these sequentially, as my first concert was actually before my first album.  And neither story is going to make me look particularly cool – prepare to have your illusions about what Young DJ Trev was like shattered!  I’m sure Lifon, who is the exact same age as me (to the very day!) is going to be shaking his head at what his contemporary was up to.   But cut me some slack – it was the 90’s!

 

First concert

Considering my favourite genres are Alternative Rock, Speed Metal and J-Pop, you might expect something like a mixture of Rammstien and Baby Metal.  But nope.  I’ve seen lots of great Aussie performers live over the years, including Jon Butler Trio, Silverchair, Powderfinger, Josh Pyke and so on, and a few really good international acts as well, including the king of satirical songs – Weird Al Yankovic.

‘A Day on the Green’ music festival 2008

But my first concert?  We are talking back in 1992 at the tender age of 14, and that was Girlfriend.

Hey, they had an ARIA No.#1 so shut up!

Remember Girlfriend?  No?  That’s ok, nobody else does either.

It was an Aussie girlband with 5 members, with soft-hitting pop songs aimed at a young teen audience.

Not really my music even back then, but I lived in Bendigo in country Victoria and not a lot of big bands visited the town back then, let alone bands that held gigs for under 18’s.

So off with my mate Matt we went, dropped off at the Bendigo Basketball Stadium by our mothers.  Even at the age of 14 we were probably amongst the older ones there, and probably some of the few males.

But hey, it was a live music show that wasn’t country and our parent’s weren’t attending with us – we were so totally there dude!

It was… an ok time.  At 14 I was too shy still to try and pick up any girls.  In fact the only girls I talked to that night kept accusing me of pushing against them when we were all at the front of stage watching the band.  Didn’t matter how many times I explained I wasn’t pushing them, it was the 50 other people pushing me in that direction, I got hate stares all evening.

Come to think of it, one of those girls years later turned out to be the best friend of my first girlfriend.  She didn’t like me any better then either.

But what was super exciting, besides for a young teen boy in a country town getting to see hot leggy girls from the city dance on stage, was that Girlfriend was shooting crowd shots for their upcoming video ‘Bad Attitude’.

It was 1992, shut up I said!

And yes, in the music video you can see the arms of a gangly teen – with one of those big thick ugly watches on his wrist, one where the all the rubber loops were busted so the all the spare band stuck out at a 90 degree angle – clapping along with the music.

Yes thats my hand. Know how I know its my hand? Because back then I taped the clip off Video Hits onto a VHS and watched it back 50 times until I spotted my arms – so there!

So no it wasn’t a particularly cool band, I didn’t pick up any girls, and I was both dropped off and picked up by my mother  – but that was my very first concert.

 

First Album I bought

Whaddya know – I still have them!

I suppose my actual first several albums were all compilation albums from the early/mid ninties, but they don’t really count as my first proper album purchased because of a specific artist or band.  And the tale of that may be as embarrassing as Girlfriend being my first concert.  Not so much the album iteself but the circumstances.

Ya gotta remember, in High School in Bendigo I worked at a fruit shop for less than minimum wage (like $4 an hour).  At Uni in Melbourne, besides the odd job doing Extra work in movies and on TV shows, I didn’t have a job at all as I was studying full time.  Thus I never had much money to buy music.  What money for frivolities I did have in High School used to go on comedy CD’s & video games, and when at Uni going to nightclubs, as well as hitting pubs where I would often watch mate’s bands perform. Having buddies in bands was the best!  Why spend $30 on a CD when for a couple of beers your mate’s whole band would come round your party and play!  Outside of live music I mainly listened to Triple J and sometimes Fox.fm, and use my Boom Box to record songs off the radio onto audio cassettes to listen to later.

State of the art technology – this one even transforms!

Can this get any more 90’s?  It sure can!

So the first album I bought because of a specific artist?  We are talking 1996 here and it was Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.

Channel my heartbreak Alanis -give voice to my inner dispair my Canadian diva!

Why in the name of all that is musically holy did I choose that one as my first album to buy?  Especially given I was aware of so much other great music around?  Well let me tell you.

Remember I mentioned a girlfriend before, my first ever one whose best friend didn’t like me?  Well, I had driven 200km back from Melbourne to Bendigo to see her for her birthday and attend her birthday party.  It was at that party, in front of all her friends, that she not only dumped me but announced she had been cheating on me for weeks and had only kept dating me so she could get birthday presents off both my mother and I before we split up.  Thus was the lack of shame inherent in a 19yo Bendagonian girl. Strangely after all that and decades of no contact she friend requested me on Social Media a while back (which I politely ignored) – people on the net are weird eh!

I was beyond heartbroken and drove back to Melbourne and promptly locked myself in my room to sob.  However I did venture out on occasion to buy food and also buy Jagged Little Pill.

Why that album?  Because half the songs on that album were from the perspective of the recently dumped and they, like me, were bitter as hell – Alanis knew my pain she did!

My poor housemate.  He must have heard that Canadian songstress belting out ‘You oughta know’ through his wall for 14 hours a day for a week straight.  But I was there to (somehow psychically) remind my ex of the mess she left when she went away.  It was not fair to deny me the cross I bared when she went away – she, she, she oughta know!

To be fair to Ms Morissette, the album did the trick.  I engaged in a full week of heartbreak and bitterness and loss and lamentations of ‘I’ll never love anyone else ever again!’  Then after that week I went out, let my friend Maddy shave my head, got an earring, started growing a goatee and within a fortnight was shagging someone else.  No months of self-pitying torment – indulge the pain hard and fast and then move on – that’s the ticket!

From a cowlick and cleanshaven to a buzz cut and goatee within a few weeks. The camo gear is a bit worrying though…

Isn’t it funny how fickle 18yo’s are, a girl can be the love of your life, but as soon as she dumps you and another girl offers to **** your **** and ****** on your **** and **** whipped cream ****** **** French maids outfit **** *** ******** trapeze **** ***** trained gerbil ******* *** then you say ‘Well that’s those sheets ruined, might as well bin them’, then that previous ‘eternal love’ seems to have evaporated – isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think?

I’ve got draws and draws full of awesome albums now I bought over the decades before everything went digital, but yes – Alanis was my first.  Now if you’ll excuse me I got places to be, cause I’ve got one hand in my pocket and the other’s hailing a taxi cab.

Thank you for your questions Lifon.

Don’t forget, if you want to hear how Big DJ Trev’s music tastes have improved over the decades, tune into The Big DJ Trev Show on Krr.fm 6 to 9pm Thursdays AEST, and tune into Lifon’s Show The Wave on Main.fm 6.30 to 8pm Saturdays.

I’ve shared my first album and concert with all of you, how about you share your first album and concert in the comments section below!

Comic Shop Review: Good vs Evil

Living in the countryside for a pop-culture fanatic can be hard.  Everyone plays footy instead of watching sci-fi and good luck when it comes to finding someone that can translate a Klingon text for you.  However if you are in Victoria, at least if you are into comics you are covered, thanks to a shop called Good vs Evil.

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Located in Bendigo, Good vs Evil would easily have the biggest comics range in central Victoria.  A whole wall in adorned in comics and there are usually plentiful stacks of all the latest issues to come out that week sitting on the counter for you to peruse.

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Like many comic shops these days, Good vs Evil has diversified to take into account the ever expanding needs and interests of the Pop Culture enthusiast.  There are sections of DVDs, a full section of various Manga and of course the obligatory collectables such as Pop! figures and and board games based on movies and video games.

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There is also the Games Workshop section.  Now all that stuff is kinda a closed book to me, I tend to look at it in the same way outsiders look at me collecting Transformers, thinking “Wow – do the guys into this ever get laid?”.  But I’ve seen on Saturday afternoons the store opened up with tables set up for big groups of guys all sitting there playing this stuff so it must have its appeal, and its great to have somewhere to meet to indulge the interest.

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Speaking of Transformers, here is why I personally shop there. Matt, the owner, is a fellow TF fan and I have been relying on his faithful service to get me every TF comic I require for the past five years.  He always comes though, and something that is a sign of a proprietor that genuinely cares about his clientele, I’ve often rocked into the store for him to say “Trev, I saw this and knew you would want it and chucked it aside for ya”.  After this fashion I’ve gotten all the FP TF publications over the last few years as well as the physical copies of what were originally net comics.  And if ever I find out about a comic that is now years old that I want, Matt is sure to do his best to track it down for me – a top bloke indeed!

How can you not trust two dudes in Grimlock t-shirts?
How can you not trust two dudes in Grimlock t-shirts?
So if you are after a Comic Shop experience where the owner is the guy behind the counter and will look after ya, will cater for everything you need to the best of the stores ability, and can be a great place to just hang out, then I heartily suggest visiting Good vs Evil in Bendigo.  Tell’em Big Angry Trev sent ya!

 

P.S: There has been no ‘Comics for Comments’ deal here.  If anything I’m slightly resentful towards Matt – I’d love nothing better than to run my own comic shop and that bugger is living the dream I should be!

 

Note: If in one of the major cities I can recommend Pulp Fiction in Adelaide and Comics R Us in Melbourne.  Pulp Fiction is small but the owner is great for a laugh and will pour through box after box to find you what you want.  Comics R Us in Melbourne has a funny crew of guys who have often had Bill Hicks playing on the store speakers of a Sunday morning and their glass cabinets often have a range of old 80’s toys in there that the rare toy hunter will drool over.  Minotaur in Melbourne has a huge range of pop culture stuff but it can all be quite expensive.  There is also Kings Comics in Sydney that I visited many years ago that I found some HOC figues at and I quite liked Daily Planet comics in Brisbane.  I’ve been to one other there but can’t remember which.  Should I ever hit up these big cities again a more detailed review will come your way!