Arts

New York pop-punk band, State Champs have had a busy two years since releasing their debut album, The Finer Things. It’s hard to imagine how far they have come since 2013 and it’s clear that they pretty much gave it their all to be where they are now. After several international tours and countless opportunities, they managed to…

Fresh from his crowd pleasing appearance on ABC’s Q&A, American philosopher and activist Cornel West appeared at The Astor Theatre in Perth for the first of a series of lectures around Australia, speaking primarily about race relations and the forced closures of aboriginal communities. Over the course of his career West has been a regular…

The Epic is the brainchild of performance poets and storytellers Finn O’Branagáin and Scott Sandwich. It is a gathering of myths, stories and legends from across the globe brought together and woven into an evening of exaggeration, hyperbole and humour. It’s not a play; both Finn and “Scott” are quick to point out from the…

Ahead of the tragically limited run of The Epic at The Blue Room Theatre we caught up with writer, storyteller and performer Finn O’Branagáin to find out more about the show, what audiences can expect; and just how important storytelling is! Click through for the full interview. How did the idea for the “The Epic”…

Photo Credit: Jon Green The Song Was Wrong is the third production in Perth Theatre Company’s 2015 season and sees Artistic Director Melissa Cantwell take on both writing and directorial duties. The Song Was Wrong, the story of a love-struck Australian musician Christian and his French muse Cecile, is an utterly beautifully pensive and poetic…

For people that follow Rooster Teeth, animator and writer Monty Oum sadly passed away in February this year. Not only was Oum a workmate but he was also a beloved friend to the Rooster Teeth community. To commemorate his passing, the team made a beautiful tribute towards the end of this podcast video while using This Will Destroy You’s “The Mighty Rio…

Under this Sun is the debut work from Perth’s latest budding theatre company, The Emergence Co. Directed by Warwick Doddrell, Under This Sun follows the escapades of three young twenty somethings as they, each for their own reasons (some more misguided than others), make their way into the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. I…

It’s hard to describe Chess, the musical composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus from ABBA with lyrics by Tim Rice, with its intricate plot, complex characters and multitudinous themes of love, politics and war – one really has to see it to experience it. With such well known songs as “Anthem” and “One Night…

Being influenced by highly acclaimed alternative rock band, Radiohead, it’s clear that three-piece indie-rock band, Other Lives put a sense of passion and feeling in their music. Coming from Stillwater, Oklahoma, the band feel that their latest album, Rituals is their best work and as they grow as a band, the bond they have with each other strengthens as…

Ahead of its Opening Night we caught up with Warwick Doddrell, director and producer of Under This Sun to discover a little bit more about what audiences can expect from the play, the initial inspiration behind the work and just what directing for the first time is like! Under This Sun is the first production…

Once We Were Kings is the latest work from Perth theatre company Third Culture Kids. Written by Dure Khan and directed by Mustafa Al Mahdi, Once We Were Kings explores what it means to be young, “queer” and Muslim and navigating the cultural minefield of contemporary Australia. Even after a couple of days, I’m still…

The Confidence Man is the most recent production in Perth Theatre Company’s current season. It also happens to be a theatre piece unlike any other I have seen, a remarkable technological incursion into the traditional world of theatre. Armed with a mobile and some headphones, the audience are let loose into the world of Pete,…

Acoustic folk-duo, Busy Marou, will be playing a special event on behalf of Maserati’s Mother’s Day Polo classic, this weekend (Saturday May 9th) and all proceeds will go towards people living with disabilities as aid for the development of day programs that will assist them in their daily lives. We had a chat with the lovely…

From Melbourne, Australia, pop-rock legends of The Colour Code have many sound influences that can be heard through their music. To sound different, especially in the local market is tough but when you take a listen to tracks such as “Alibi” and “It’s Up To Me”, there’s no denying that this band has clear-cut chemistry. In this…

Multi-instrumentalist, Ilan Rubin is a hardworking individual and there’s no doubt that he’s accomplished many things alongside his music career. Working with bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Paramore and Angels and Airwaves has given him plenty of opportunities to learn the ropes of creating and writing his own music. With his solo music project being under the name of The New Regime,…

Armour, presented by 610 Productions, is the latest work from writer and director Tom Jeffcote and the second production in the current season at The Blue Room Theatre. The premise was a promising one; four men go into the wilderness and talk about their feelings. Unfortunately, Armour failed to live up to this early promise,…

Today we were hit with the amazing news that we’ve been waiting years for. After what felt like an eternity of negotations and rumours, hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon – brought to us by the creators of South Park – will finally be hitting the stage in Australia. Melbourne will do the honours…

With the Sydney Comedy Festival now well and truly underway, we’re bringing you a list of the five comedic performances that you won’t want to miss at this year’s festival. Now in its 11th year, the event is the biggest it has ever been, and though it goes without saying that you need to see…

Written by Chris Issacs, Old Love is the latest play from Perth’s theatrical super-group The Last Great Hunt. Fans of the emerging collectives work so far will not be disappointed; Old Love is full of humour, wit and captivating characters, from the sophisticated and sultry older woman Florence (Nicola Bartlett) to the younger vitriolic foot-in-mouth…

If you’re looking for a good variety of Australian comedy during this year’s MICF look no further than 3 States of Comedy/i>, a triple headliner of very promising comics representing Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia. Opening the show on this particular evening was Geoff Setty, whose punchy one-liners got the crowd going early…

Heading back to our shores next month, Silverstein will be doing a leg of shows in Australia for their ten-year anniversary tour of Discovering the Waterfront. In this interview, frontman, Shane Told reminisces about the journey of the record, the band’s sound progression and what his journey as a musician has meant for him. With their new record, I Am…

For those who attended SXSW this year, you’ve probably heard of the band Howard. And those who didn’t may have spotted them listed on our editor’s festival picks. The Brooklyn-based band have displayed a unique take on folk music with a cheeky, electronic twist. With the release of their debut album Religion and reaping all kinds of success from their single…

Ambitious indie-rock band, Gang of Youths are one of those local gems that you need to know – especially if you live in Sydney. With their melancholic tunes of heartache and loss, they’re a band who lets their story unfold in a way that no one else can. With the upcoming release of their debut LP, The Positions,…

Chimp Cop – the love child of Melbourne comedians Timothy Clark, Ben Vernel, Adam Knox and Rosie Vernel, is a hard-hitting and hilarious tale of corruption, friendship, and bananas. A well-constructed hour of silliness that parodies just about every cop drama truism in the book, Chimp Cop moves through its influences, picking them apart and…

Following the success of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot in 2013, it made sense for the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) to take on one of the great playwright’s better known plays as a follow up – Endgame – with one of Godot’s leads, Hugo Weaving, in the production’s lead role. In what must be Weaving’s…

There’s something about the way Ronny Chieng yells at you that’s so endearing. The multi-award winning comedian has a knack for picking on the flaws of a generation who don’t know what they’re talking about, in a way that makes you feel both guilty and amused. His stage persona of a faux egotistical comic is…

The Comedy Zone is made up of five of Australia most promising comedians each coming from different parts of the country to deliver a varied palette of humour. Matt Ford (QLD), Jacob Lingard (QLD), Ciaran Lyons (WA), Nina Oyama (NSW) and Matt Stewart (VIC) are a collective of young comedians who has already started to…

“Don’t worry, you’ll get home in one piece” Corey White assures, as he delves into things he could have possibly said to put a woman’s mind at ease after he realized he had accidentally been following her for several kilometers late one night. Ultimately he knows there’s nothing he could have said, he knows even…

Having a strong catalogue of albums and reigning success in the indie/alternative rock scene, Death Cab For Cutie are clearly great at what they do. With their eighth studio album, Kintsugi just released, we chat to bassist player, Nick Harmer about the meaning of the term “Kintsugi”, the details behindChris Walla‘s departure and how the band have evolved using both experimentation…

Kicking off over the weekend, it’s hard to know where to begin with the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival schedule. Every night there is so much amazing comedy – both from local and international talent – that it’s a job within itself to try and decide what to see. Well, we thought we’d lend a…