Liverpool singer-songwriter Jamie Webster released his fourth studio album, Running Round the Sun, in September and returns to Australia for four shows this December. Known for his working-class storytelling and strong connection with his audience, Webster has built a career on songs that speak to everyday experiences, struggles and hopes. We caught up with him…
THE ANIMALS were a major force in the British Invasion of the 1960s, blending blues, R&B, and rock into a sound that has inspired generations. Their music remains as relevant and powerful today as it was back then! On the eve of their Australian tour, we chatted to founding member John Steel about his illustrious…
Most teenagers have enough trouble navigating high school without having to contend with millions of strangers watching their every move. But for 16-year-old Australian rock sensation Maple’s Pet Dinosaur, growing up and breaking into the music industry have become almost inseparable experiences. What began as an outlet for the anger and isolation she felt while…
In 1982, Loudon Wainwright III made his first trip to Australia and brought his father along. “We’d never done anything like that,” Wainwright says, speaking over Zoom from his home on Long Island, New York. “He actually wrote a column about the tour, and we had a wonderful time.” His father, Loudon Wainwright Jr., was…
With their newest album Everybody Tells The Truth officially announced for release on February 5, Slowly Slowly are getting ready to enter a new chapter. For frontman Ben Stewart, it’s a chapter that feels especially good, with the band’s third Good Things Festival appearance on the horizon and a renewed confidence in the music they’re…
Some of the most revealing moments in music history were never intended for an audience. In 1993, Andros Georgiou picked up a Sony Handycam and began filming his cousin, lifelong best friend and creative collaborator, George Michael, as they embarked on one of the most ambitious projects of the singer’s career. The resulting footage now…
Sydney’s The Buoys release their second album, Concrete Cowboy, this Friday, 23 October. It follows 2024’s Lustre, which debuted at #7 on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart and earned a J Award nomination for Australian Album of the Year. Produced again by Chris Collins, the new record was shaped by frontwoman Zoe Catterall’s move back…
At 19, Australian singer-songwriter Lotte Gallagher is starting to find a new kind of freedom in making music. With her lead single “WISH” marking a shift in her sound and aesthetic, and latest single “LUCKY2LOVE” having just arrived, Gallagher is entering a new chapter without necessarily knowing exactly what it looks like yet. Ahead of…
Across generations and continents, Irish music has carried stories of home, migration, loss, celebration and belonging. For The High Kings, that tradition is not something preserved in the past. It is something living, evolving and finding new audiences, including an ever-growing following here in Australia. When I spoke with Finbarr Clancy and Brian Dunphy ahead…
Ella Hooper is unleashing her inner country girl with the upcoming release of her alt-country/Americana record Overnight Success. Fittingly recorded in Nashville with producer LOLLIES, the Killing Heidi frontwoman feels that homing in on this sound aligns deeply with her as she continues to explore her identity as a solo artist. Growing up in Violet…
James are just over a week away from their first Australian shows since 2018, with Razorlight joining them for dates in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The band will then head to Auckland for a James-only show. This is a tour we have been very much looking forward to. The songs are beautifully crafted, fabulous…
You Am I are preparing for a string of shows to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hourly, Daily. The band will be joined by a string quartet on their “Strung Up” tour that kicks off in Castlemaine. Tell me about the Strung Up tour that’s starting next month. Russell “Rusty” Hopkinson: Well, we have engaged…
They’ve spent more than two decades touring the world, but Simple Plan still have a pretty special relationship with Australia. It’s a relationship that goes back to the very beginning. Before the Canadian pop-punk favourites had cemented themselves as one of the genre’s most enduring acts, Australia was one of the places where things started…
For Darcie Haven, music has always been about finding connection in places where it is not always easy to find. Growing up in Esperance, Western Australia, there was not exactly a thriving live music scene on her doorstep. Now, just a few years into her career, Haven has built a dedicated fanbase of listeners, shared…
In her song, “Hindsight”, Ruby Mae looks back on her life, reflecting on the uncertainty of young adulthood, pursuing a music career, and feeling “lost” in her 20s. However, in the chorus, she reminds herself that at the end of the day she’s “moving on”, singing, “I’ve caught flights and I’ve been gone… I know…
Once upon a time, circa 2019, four young musicians, Ned, Ethan, Bec, and Van, headed out to a Twin Peaks concert in Melbourne. They met unexpectedly and decided to start a band, right there and then. Thus, Stimpies was born. “We were very refreshed to see and meet other people that were interested in the…
The Jungle Giants have officially wrapped up their biggest Australian tour to date, but not without making one final stop along the way. This Thursday, 10th September, the band are taking over the Manly Fast Ferry, turning the average commute home into a live gig across Sydney Harbour. To celebrate the launch of Lipton’s new…
Welsh genre-defying outfit Skindred are still finding new ways to surprise themselves after twenty-five plus years. Smashing together reggae, metal, punk, rock, hip-hop and pretty much anything else that’ll work, they’ve built a reputation as one of the most infectious and unpredictable live bands around in the process. Yet for all the festivals conquered, records…
More than a quarter of a century after Memento announced Christopher Nolan as one of cinema’s most audacious storytellers, the fractured psychological thriller is being pulled apart and put back together once again – only this time, rhythm is rewriting the equation. For the latest presentation from Hear My Eyes, Michael “CAVS” Cavanagh, drummer for…
Heavy metal legends Mastodon return later this month with Marrow Deep, an album forged through loss, brotherhood and the determination to keep moving. Five years is a long time between records, but for Mastodon, the journey to Marrow Deep has been shaped by far more than creative ambition, with the band’s ninth studio album arriving…
TikTok may have introduced the world to Emei through the irresistible hooks of “Late to the Party” and “Scatterbrain,” but Night at the Opera reveals an artist far more interested in emotional honesty than algorithmic moments. The EP marks a conscious return to her musical theatre roots, embracing melodrama, humour and heartbreak in equal measure…
At a time when music is increasingly defined by algorithms, immaculate production and digital precision, Any Young Mechanic have arrived with something refreshingly human. The Tarntanya/Adelaide five-piece have quietly built a reputation as one of Australia’s most exciting new acts through captivating live performances and richly textured songwriting, culminating in their remarkable debut album, The…
While their 2022 hit single “Silk Chiffon” might have put them on the map for many casual listeners, MUNA have been crafting their own brand of glittery, emotionally charged pop since 2013. Their latest record, Dancing On The Wall, is no different, but it’s elevated in every way. Packed with shimmering 80s-inspired synths and the…
After a decade spent moving through the relentless cycle of recording, releasing and touring, DMA’S finally allowed themselves the rare luxury of stepping back. That pause has led to DMA’S, the Sydney trio’s self-titled fifth album, due on 21st August. It is a record that looks forward while reconnecting with the raw, guitar-driven energy that…
Frontman of iconic grunge shoegaze band Swervedriver, Adam Franklin, shares his stories on the origins of the band, signing to Creation Records, Australian festivals and much more ahead of their tour down under, celebrating 35 years of their debut album Raise. Swervedriver’s story begins in Oxford, England in the late 80’s, an exciting time for…
Charlotte MacInnes speaks about her debut EP HIGHWATER with the kind of wonder that feels inseparable from the music itself. Across five tracks, the Australia-born, London-based singer-songwriter builds a world where rivers become places of reflection, ghosts become lessons to carry or release, and contradictions are embraced rather than resolved. Rooted in alternative pop but…
Angus Legg’s debut EP drops today, and I was lucky enough to chat with him about the journey he’s been on, allowing A Long Time Gone to come together. The folk singer-songwriter from Melbourne opened up about everything, from his creative processes and influences to complex relationships, emotions, grief and addiction; this EP is Legg’s…
Since her successful appearance on Australian Idol in 2006, Jessica Mauboy has gone on to capture Australian hearts with her dance orientated R&B sound. She will perform at this year’s Mundi Mundi Festival, near Broken Hill in Western NSW. We chatted to her about the influences in her life, and how her musical journey started….
It’s not the answer you’d expect from a man who helped invent British punk. For much of the past fifty years, Captain Sensible (real name Raymond Burns), has toured the world with The Damned, one of the most influential bands to emerge from Britain’s punk explosion. The group released “New Rose”, the first single by…
Just a year after the release of seminal album Force, which saw The Pretty Littles touring with new music again for the first time in 5 years, the prolific Melbourne band are back with Mulga Wire. The new album is The Pretty Littles at their most authentic, following their instincts, writing and performing with their…
