Archived Collection
Azza's Mazters
June 2020.
Some time in the past few years (maybe as far back as 2015??), Az gave me a box full of his MiniDV master tapes for transferring.
They sat in my wardrobe for a while before I finally got around to purchasing a dedicated MiniDV playback deck. I'd been wanting one for a long time, and this was a good excuse to pull the trigger. Once it arrived (shipped from the US) I hooked it up and excitedly popped in one of Azza's DVs to capture. Unfortunately, the tape played back all glitchy and choppy.
Turned out that a lot of these tapes had been recorded in LP mode, making stable playback a lot tougher. I let Az know and asked if he still had his camera - it often helps to play back LP tapes on the device that recorded them. He did still have it. So the next time I saw him, I grabbed that off him and gave it a test. It worked a treat and I popped it aside until I had the time, and hard drive space, to complete the task.
So, here we are, half way through the year 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic, and I've finally got them all captured. Actually, I'd finished it in May but it took a bit of time to go through the footage and trim/join files as necessary.
There was also a lot of work identifying the shows themselves. From the earliest tape that had been recorded on Az's camera (The Meanies at The Tote 2008-04-13), the camera's internal time and date had been set incorrectly - it was 7 days early, and about 9 or so hours off. Some tapes were labelled well, so I didn't need to rely on the datestamp - others weren't. Using the DV timestamp and Az's old tradelist as a reference, most of them fell into place fairly easily.
Things got tricky when I got to (what turned out to be) the 2012 tapes, as the camera's internal battery must have reset, and with it the date. And none of these tapes were on Az's list. This also coincided with Az not labelling the tapes with as much detail as he'd done earlier. A tape labelled simply Link solo was datestamped 2008-01-01. Thankfully Old Skin 6/7/12 Gaso also had a 2008 datestamp (2008-03-21). Now, with a bit of head-scratching, I was able to go back to the other unknown tapes (7 different shows in total) and work out the dates. Combine that with visually identifying the venue, or listening for between song banter than would assist, and then it was off to Google for confirmation. Two 2013 Sun God Replica shows proved particularly difficult (the camera hadn't recorded a datestamp at all!), but after a bit of back and forth we pinpointed them.
Some of the LP tapes were still a little patchy, particularly at the start or end. Some I could play for a minute, rewind, play, rewind then play again and it would have sorted itself out. Others had persistant glitches at particular spots of tape that I simply couldn't overcome. But the vast majority of it managed to capture just fine.
I still have two tapes sitting on my desk, un-captured: one has digi-glitching that simply will NOT go away, no matter how far into the tape I let it run or how many times I try again. It's labelled Xenos Hamilton 09. I'll try it again some time. The other is labelled Slug Gun White Walls Cut Sick. I'm pretty sure Slug Gun is 2009-08-21 at the Farthwrop Centre, Portland and it may also have a Face On Fire set from this show. The other two sets are 2012-10-26 at the Gaso. The problem with this one is that the actual tape itself (inside the hard cassette shell) has snapped. Not uncommon, according to the internet, but I've never seen it before. I'll follow a YouTube tutorial and do my best to repair it.
84 MiniDV tapes.
122 individual sets.
69+ hours of documented live music.
893 GB of video files.
Hit me up if you've got tapes (MiniDV, VHS, or otherwise) that need transferring!!
These recordings are all listed on the artist pages throughout my site.
| Azza MiniDV Collection 2004 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-01-XX | Yarraman Park, Portland, VIC | Emprica | |||
| 2004-06-XX | Heywood Football Club, Heywood, VIC | Emprica | |||
| The Androids | Azza MiniDV Collection 2006 | ||||
| 2006-03-03 | Fri | The Royal Hotel, Portland, VIC | Emprica | ||
| 2006-05-12 | Fri | Portland North Primary School, Portland, VIC | Emprica | Azza MiniDV Collection 2008 | |
| 2008-04-13 | Sun | The Tote, Collingwood, VIC | The Meanies | ||
| 2008-06-28 | Sat | Az's house, Tyrendarra, VIC | Journal Of A Deadman | ||
| 2008-07-18 | Fri | Shadow's Nightclub, Mount Gambier, SA | Journal Of A Deadman | ||
| A Red Dawn | |||||
| Frankenbok | |||||
| 2008-08-15 | Fri | The Tote, Collingwood, VIC | The Meanies | ||
| Bored! | |||||
| 2008-08-16 | Sat | The Tote, Collingwood, VIC | The Bakelite Age | ||
| 2008-08-29 | Fri | The Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC | Emprica | ||
| Matt Skitz & Chris Wallace jam session | |||||
| Honeytrap | |||||
| 2008-09-13 | Sat | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | Magic Dirt | ||
| 2008-09-20 | Sat | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | Rollerball | ||
| 2008-10-13 | Mon | Billboard, Melbourne, VIC | Terrorust | ||
| Carcass | |||||
| 2008-10-24 | Fri | The Hi-fi Bar, Melbourne, VIC | Terrorust | ||
| Pig Destroyer | |||||
| 2008-11-01 | Sat | The Arthouse, Melbourne, VIC | Super Fun Happy Slide | ||
| Cut Sick | |||||
| Fuck... I'm Dead | |||||
| Captain Cleanoff | |||||
| 2008-11-21 | Fri | Portland Civic Hall, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2008-12-05 | Fri | The Attic, Hamilton, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2008-12-13 | Sat | Kris McDonald's house, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| Drifter | |||||
| Emprica | Azza MiniDV Collection 2009 | ||||
| 2009-01-14 | Wed | The Old Jail, Mount Gambier, SA | Psycroptic | ||
| Whitechapel | |||||
| 2009-01-25 | Sun | The Corner Hotel, Richmond, VIC | Shagnum | ||
| Super Fun Happy Slide | |||||
| The Day Everything Became Nothing | |||||
| The Kill | |||||
| Captain Cleanoff | |||||
| Agents Of Abhorrence | |||||
| 2009-01-27 | Tue | The Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne, VIC | Melvins | ||
| 2009-02-25 | Wed | The Esplanade Hotel, St. Kilda, VIC | Poison The Well | ||
| The Dillinger Escape Plan | |||||
| 2009-03-20 | Fri | The Corner Hotel, Richmond, VIC | Ire | ||
| Nancy Vandal | |||||
| Frenzal Rhomb | |||||
| 2009-05-01 | Fri | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | Honeytrap | ||
| Tigernauts | |||||
| 2009-05-02 | Sat | The Arthouse, Melbourne, VIC | Rort | ||
| Ire | |||||
| Cut Sick | |||||
| Extortion | |||||
| Trash Talk | |||||
| 2009-05-06 | Wed | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2009-05-09 | Sat | The Mojo Bar, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| Beneath Dying Skies | |||||
| Lay The Fallen | |||||
| 2009-06-24 | Wed | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | Wolf & Cub | ||
| 2009-08-21 | Fri | Farthwrop Centre, Portland, VIC | Narcalypse | ||
| Lay The Fallen | |||||
| Emprica (cam #1) | |||||
| Emprica (cam #2) | |||||
| 2009-09-26 | Sat | Thebarton Theatre, Torrensville, SA | Bad Religion | ||
| NOFX | |||||
| 2009-10-10 | Sat | The Forum, Melbourne, VIC | Melt Banana | ||
| 2009-10-16 | Fri | Casterton Civic Hall, Casterton, VIC | Xenos | ||
| Magic Dirt | |||||
| 2009-10-24 | Sat | Kris McDonald's house, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| Honeytrap | |||||
| 2009-10-30 | Fri | Shadow's Nightclub, Mount Gamiber, SA | Xenos | ||
| 2009-10-31 | Sat | Portland Foreshore, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| The Lost Royals | |||||
| 2009-12-10 | Thu | The Hi-fi Bar, Melbourne, VIC | The Meanies | ||
| Tumbleweed | Azza MiniDV Collection 2010 | ||||
| 2010-01-23 | Sat | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Honeytrap | ||
| 2010-01-29 | Fri | The Underdog, Warrnambool, VIC | The Day Everything Became Nothing | ||
| 2010-04-17 | Sat | The Mojo Bar, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2010-04-23 | Fri | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | Witchgrinder | ||
| Five Star Prison Cell | |||||
| 2010-05-14 | Fri | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | 28 Days | ||
| 2010-06-11 | Fri | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | The Lost Royals | ||
| Next Chapter | |||||
| 2010-08-13 | Fri | Dutton Way house party, Portland, VIC | A New Beginning | ||
| 2010-08-27 | Fri | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Kamikaze Death Squad | ||
| The Lost Royals | |||||
| 2010-09-10 | Fri | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2010-10-08 | Fri | The Mojo Bar, Hamilton, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2010-10-30 | Sat | Portland Foreshore, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| Kamikaze Death Squad | |||||
| Kashmere Club | Azza MiniDV Collection 2011 | ||||
| 2011-01-21 | Fri | The Arthouse, Melbourne, VIC | Internal Rot | ||
| 2011-01-22 | Sat | The Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC | Xenos | ||
| Moth | |||||
| 2011-02-12 | Sat | The Mojo Bar, Hamilton, VIC | A New Beginning | ||
| Xenos | |||||
| 2011-04-23 | Sat | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2011-04-24 | Sun | The Arthouse, Melbourne, VIC | Internal Rot | ||
| Die Pigeon Die | |||||
| Garbage Guts | |||||
| Super Fun Happy Slide | |||||
| The Day Everything Became Nothing | |||||
| The Kill | |||||
| Captain Cleanoff | |||||
| 2011-07-01 | Fri | The Mojo Bar, Hamilton, VIC | Xenos | ||
| King Parrot | |||||
| 2011-07-23 | Sat | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Broozer | ||
| 2011-08-27 | Sat | The Tote, Collingwood, VIC | Sun God Replica | ||
| Hoss | |||||
| The Celibate Rifles | |||||
| 2011-09-07 | Wed | The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC | Frenzal Rhomb | ||
| 2011-09-23 | Fri | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Xenos | ||
| 2011-11-25 | Fri | Kokopelli's, Portland, VIC | Xenos | Azza MiniDV Collection 2012 | |
| 2012-04-17 | Tue | The Tote Front Bar, Collingwood, VIC | Link McLennan's Amazing Jukebox | ||
| 2012-07-06 | Fri | The Gasometer, Collingwood, VIC | Old Skin | ||
| Debacle | |||||
| Extortion | |||||
| Suffer | |||||
| 2012-07-12 | Thu | Yah Yah's, Fitzroy, VIC | Sun God Replica | ||
| 2012-07-13 | Fri | The Tote, Collingwood, VIC | Budd | ||
| 2012-07-22 | Sun | The Gasometer, Collingwood, VIC | Sun God Replica | ||
| 2012-07-25 | Wed | The Old Bar, Fitzroy, VIC | Captain Cleanoff | ||
| 2012-08-12 | Sun | The Retreat Hotel, Brunswick, VIC | Sun God Replica | Azza MiniDV Collection 2013 | |
| 2013-06-21 | Fri | The Prince Of Wales, St. Kilda, VIC | Sun God Replica | ||
| 2013-07-05 | Fri | The Post Office Hotel, Coburg, VIC | Sun God Replica |