Author: Larry Heath

The sun was out as more than 17,500 punters descended on North Byron Parklands, the permanent Splendour in the Grass site for the first time, for a day headlined by past festival favourites Mumford and Sons. Situated about 20 minutes north of Byron Bay, this is the site the Splendour organisers bought to be the…

Hot off the heels of the release of her fourth record, Once I Was An Eagle, Laura Marling has returned to Australia to play Splendour in the Grass and a series of sold out concerts around the country as part of the Heavenly Sounds “tour of churches and cathedrals”. Tonight was her second performance of…

mmm… Jaffles. This is where the party began last week when The Eastern opened its doors to showcase the three redesigned levels inhabiting Bondi Junction’s hottest destination. First up was “The Publican” with craft beer served in wine glasses, accompanied by a variation of gourmet jaffles – such as the pork belly and spiced apple…

Larry Heath sits down with Adelaide duo Atlas Genius to find out what they’ve been up to since we last spoke at SXSW in March. Sydney! They also look ahead to the festivals Lollapalooza and Outside Lands in the USA. This was filmed while the band were back in Australia to support Stereophonics, filmed at…

Melbourne trio Damn Terran – comprised of guitarist/ vocalist Lachlan Ewbank, bassist/vocalist Ali Edmonds (Heavy Beach, Little Athletics), and drummer Leigh Ewbank – are finally releasing their debut self-titled LP this September. The latest single from the release is called “Lost” and shows the influence of touring around Australia with bands like DZ Deathrays and…

On Friday and Saturday afternoons, as part of the King Street Wharf Festival in Sydney, the restaurants that live on the wharf took part in a two day event called “On The Wharf”. It was a chance to enjoy tasting plates from restaurants like The Malaya (soon to celebrate their fiftieth birthday!), Kobe Jones, Georges…

With horror films these days, it’s difficult to avoid either the “torture-porn” sort of films – Saw, Hostel etc. – or the “found footage” stylings of the surprisingly never-ending Paramormal Activity series. But for those who hold the genre close to their heart, it’s hard not to look back to films like The Excorcist or The Amityville Horror and crave a more “classic” style…

With horror films these days, it’s difficult to avoid either the “torture-porn” sort of films – Saw, Hostel etc. – or the “found footage” stylings of the surprisingly never-ending Paramormal Activity series. But for those who hold the genre close to their heart, it’s hard not to look back to films like The Excorcist or…

the AU review is proud to premiere the track “Complicate”, which is is the launch single for Sydney solo artist Christo Jones’ forthcoming debut EP, due in September. Jones uses a towering self-built rig overflowing with guitars, keyboards, samplers and pedals to write, record and perform his “beautifully twisted tunes”. The video has been put…

One of our Reverb Nation winners, Nashville singer/songwriter Merry Ellen Kirk, presents the title track off her EP Feather and a Leaf. It’s a beautiful track that reminds us of local artists like Kate Miller-Heidke and Lisa Mitchell. Currently residing in Alaska, Merry spent much of her upbringing in Mongolia! Talk about a variety of…

Splendour, like many festivals around Australia and the world, is going to leave music lovers with some tough choices to make. Clashes are inevitable, and as much you as you say you’ll flit between both, it never quite works out as planned. Plus with some many high profile international and national artists on the bill,…

Every now and then a comedy comes along that just seems to work. It’s not terribly intelligent, nor will it win any Academy Awards, but it ticks the most important box that any comedy needs to possess: it’s genuinely hilarious, without being painfully cheesy. Already riding on healthy word of mouth in American cinemas, This Is…

Every now and then a comedy comes along that just seems to work. It’s not terribly intelligent, nor will it win any Academy Awards, but it ticks the most important box that any comedy needs to possess: it’s genuinely hilarious, without being painfully cheesy. Already riding on healthy word of mouth in American cinemas, This…

While at Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne, we met Jeffrey Combs, whose impressive career has included well regarded performances in The Re-Animator, The Frighteners, The 4400 and Star Trek, among many others. We spoke to Jeffrey about all these roles, working with the great Peter Jackson and much more… Filmed in Melbourne in July 2013 during Melbourne Oz…

With the dates for Big Day Out now set in stone – and two shows in Sydney (and a venue upgrade in Adelaide) proving they have something MASSIVE up their sleeves – the rumour mill is now in full swing for the 2014 Big Day Out Festival. Based on trends of past years, and the…

I head down to Melbourne several times a year and always stop off at Federation Square for one reason or another; the latest exhibit at ACMI, a meeting at one of the area’s cafes, a concert in the square or a beer at Transport. But never had I had the opportunity to experience the much…

While on the Vans Warped tour in the USA, Larry Heath caught up with Trenton Woodley from Canberra band Hands Like Houses to talk about their upcoming record, their successes overseas, life on the road and much more… You’re currently on the ‘Vans Warped’ tour in the USA. How has it been going? It’s been…

The latest cafe to enter the trendy Surry Hills scene is Devon, appropriately named on the Central end of Devonshire Street; a sort walk away from the crowded Crown and Bourke Streets, in an area of the suburb which always seems to be reinventing itself. Devon is by far the most upmarket cafe to approach…

Good friends of the AU review, Melbourne’s Metals, recently packed their bags and headed to the UK to perform at the legendary Glastonbury festival. They compiled a tour diarty exclusively for the AU review, which you can enjoy here… Above: Ehsan and Chris picking up our stage set from our friend, artist Holly-Anne Buck. She’s…

Having now self-published three books, I know first hand the challenges at perfecting a hard cover, coffee table book. Clocking in at 450 pages – more than double anything we’ve put together here – I can only begin to imagine the task Kane Hibberd had in front of him when he was putting together his…

Everyone wants tacos. Tacos tacos tacos. It’s the pub food craze that has turned places like the Norfolk in Sydney into a must go destination (especially on Taco Tuesdays!). They followed a similar objective with the relaunched Abercrombie and even the Newtown Hotel, while the old Excelsior is making a killing as the rebranded Mexican…

Larry Heath interviews Sydney based, Byron Bay bred quartet Glass Towers, who reflect on recording their new album Halcyon Days (the new triple j feature album – in stores now!), what triple j support has meant to them, touring Europe/UK with The Kooks, Japan and look towards their upcoming Australian album launch tour, supported by…