Interviews

Last week AU writer Meredith McLean got the chance to interview the ever-smiling, vivacious and warm Lance Ferguson of The Bamboos. Coming up to a solid 20 year run as a band in 2020, an achievement for any group of musicians, Ferguson was excited to share his vision of the album and the exciting tours…

Lillian chats with the local and amazingly talented lads/musicians of Humans as Animals. The band have been performing together around Melbourne for six years and are about to release a 4-part epic-funk opera that incorporates a character called Bilack. Their debut EP Eukaria’s release is just around the corner, August 1st, and we chatted to…

Hailing from Perth (but really the UK), the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are just as wild as their name suggests. We got to catch up with Jack McEwan, Luke Reynolds, Luke Parish, Chris Young and Danny Caddy ahead of their Splendour In The Grass performance to chat about their latest single, “Hymn For A Droid”, and a whole…

Meg Mac drew one of the largest crowds to the G.W. McLennan tent at Splendour In The Grass: Day One (check out our review: HERE) Dressed in all-white with her now iconic wide-brimmed hat, her sun-down performance echoed around the festival as she played her tracks from the early days to now. We got the chance…

Odette is an ephemeral angel, quite frankly. Both in performance and in person. Her debut Splendour performance was just that, with transcending lighting states and dance moves that sent the crowd to another planet. Currently on-site at Splendour, The AU Review chatted to her ahead of her set to see how those debut-nerves are doing….

KAIIT is a 21-year-old R&B protegé currently based in Melbourne, but making some serious waves across the nation. Her debut EP Live From Her Room has garnered her an incredible amount of attention and even landed her the Unpublished award at the 2019 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition. At such a young age, this performer appears well…

Though he’s been on the road the likes of Rejjie Snow and Tkay Maidza, young Australian artist Arno Faraji is yet to head out on his own headline tour. That’s all going to change in a matter of weeks, as the 18 year old rapper and multi-instrumentalist from Perth kicks off a string of performances…

It’s bold to say, but 2019 is the year of Ocean Alley. Coming off the back of their Triple J Hottest 100 2018 win with their hit “Confidence”, this psychedelic surf rock band from Sydney’s Northern Beaches has seen exponential growth and their latest material is there to back it up. Ocean Alley is currently in…

Coming of age this year is the Oregon festival Pickathon – one of North America’s most respected boutique festivals. Set in the mountains outside of Portland, the event has made a name for itself by maintaining a low capacity, a trend towards artist discovery, celebrating unique design and putting a focus on sustainability in a…

CXLOE hails from Sydney’s northern beaches, but has been making waves well beyond those shores. She broke into the pop market with her debut single “Tough Love” in 2017 and solidified herself as an artist not to mess with when she followed it up with hits “Monster” and “Show You”. Her tracks regularly spin on Triple J,…

This three-piece indie-rock band hailing from Northern Ireland has been a driving force in the music world since their formation in 2007. Their songs, such as “What You Know” and “Something Good Can Work”, have defined over a decade of the UK indie scene, and their latest album False Alarm is no exception. Two Door Cinema Club is…

Allowing yourself to make mistakes and enjoy the creative journey is crucial to any approach, especially in a creative medium. Visioning what it means to grow from experiences, Aussie singer & songwriter Kim Churchill is developing his creative muse across the globe. I AM, Churchill’s newest project, was birthed across the Indian Ocean, in Berlin….

Tyne-James Organ is a Wollongong singer-songwriter who YouTube named as one of their ten ‘Artists To Watch’ for 2019. And rightfully so – this 22-year-old has been making waves online, amassing an impressive YouTube following from uploading stunning covers and collaborating with musicians Allday and Mallrat to name a few. Currently touring around the nation in…

Brisbane singer-songwriter Hatchie released her debut EP Sugar & Spice in 2018 and is already back to follow it up with her debut album Keepsake, which is set for release on June 21st. Having just completed a string of sold-out tour dates along the Australian East Coast and with a whole slew of European and US gigs lined-up, it’s safe to…

American indie-pop sensations LANY are heading to Australian and New Zealand shores next month as part of their mammoth Malibu Nights tour. Spanning 80+ dates from Russia to Indonesia, this three-piece band are enjoying a non-stop year touring their highly successful sophomore album and we can’t wait to see them in July. We stole a couple of minutes of…

Aussie duo The Gooch Palms are spending a lot of time in America these days, so it’s little surprise their latest album III was released just in time for summer in the USA. Containing a slew of the fuzzy, fun party tracks we’ve come to expect from the Goochies, it’s the perfect summer road trip…

Mansionair cracked the music market with their song ‘Hold Me Down’ in 2015 but took a few years to treat fans their debut album Shadowboxer. Now currently touring the album globally and penning the next, this Grammy-nominated Sydney-born indie electronic trio are only a few steps away from world domination. We got the chance to catch…

Hailing from Mackay, Jack Gray is a 20-year-old singer-songwriter about to drop his first EP Nights Like This. This entirely self-produced body of work is a testament to his talent as a multi-instrumentalist with a voice that would slot right into a track from The 1975. With a nostalgia-driven combination of electronic production and a…

Vanfest has drawn to a close for another year, proving itself as one of the best regional festivals Australia has to offer. Taking place in Forbes, a five-hour drive west of Sydney, the festival is a hike to get to but well worth the effort. This year, the line-up included some of Australia’s finest talent…

Earlier this month rising Australian hip hop artist Birdz released his highly anticipated EP, Place of Dreams. Released on Bad Apples Music, the EP sees the NT-raised and Melbourne-based rapper explore some hard-hitting themes and personal experiences, and collaborating with some quality Australian vocalists along the way. Following the release of the EP, we caught up…

To those in North America, Mother Mother need little introduction. The Canadian group, over the course of 7 full length records and almost 15 years, have amassed a passionate fanbase in both the US and at home in Canada. But to those overseas, they’re still a relatively unknown outfit – largely due to the fact…

Straight out of Victoria, upcoming R&B artist Maya Rose is now ready to showcase her melodic, 90’s-flavoured work off on a national platform as she releases her debut single “See You Again”. The song, an inviting and warm sway towards R&B’s heyday is driven largely by Rose’s dextrous vocal chops, so we thought it best…

Last Friday, Belgian artist Warhola (real name Oliver Symons) released his long awaited debut album Young Loving – his first release since his 2016 EP Aura. The night before the album was due to drop, Warhola was playing The Great Escape in Brighton, England – so I sat down with Oliver to chat about the…

Kian Brownfield had already begun making a name for himself before entering the Triple J Unearthed High competition in 2018. He’d featured on a track with Baker Boy, landing a spot in the Hottest 100 and appeared at his Splendour In The Grass set. However, the sixteen-year-old is now a solo artist in his own right,…

Australian pop icon, Vanessa Amorosi, was launched into fame as a teenager with her debut album, The Power, which featured hits such as “Have A Look” and “Absolutely Everybody”. After a decade in the spotlight, Vanessa took a music hiatus to Los Angeles where she worked tirelessly breaking into a new gospel scene, starting a family and…

Ahead of The Great Escape, which takes over Brighton in the UK next week, I caught up with the festival’s programmer Adam Ryan to talk about the growth of the festival, the involvement of Australian acts at it, working with Sounds Australia, and what it means for Australia to be the feature country in 2019….

Alex Lahey was nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2018 ARIAs, after her debut studio album I Love You Like A Brother reached the number 15 spot on the Album Charts. The Melbourne-local is following up her phenomenal success with her next studio album, The Best of Luck Club, which is described as an…

Haiku Hands almost set the stage alight with their fiery energy at Bad Friday Festival. The Sydney-Melbourne collective is most well-known for their infectiously tireless performances filled with fun choreography and an array of masks. We got to catch up with them after their packed-out set to talk about how these artists came together to create Haiku Hands…

Sydney-band Lime Cordiale have just treated their Aussie fans to an epic regional tour, topping it all off with a performance at Bad Friday over the Easter long weekend. With their own festival The Squeeze and a European tour on the horizon, we caught up with them to get the low-down on their busy lives. Check out the chat…

Brisbane band Ball Park Music dropped their fifth studio album Good Mood last year, peaking at number five on the ARIA Australian Albums Charts. The band is back on the road and hitting up Spin Off Festival with the likes of Childish Gambino, Wolf Alice, Mallrat, Ocean Alley and more, for what should be an epic day in Adelaide. We got to catch…