Beck has announced his first Australian headline shows in five years, with theatre dates locked in for Sydney and Melbourne in April next year. The Californian musician will perform at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre on Monday, 3rd April, and Sydney’s Aware Super Theatre (formerly known as the ICC) on Thursday, 6th April.
Billed as intimate, acoustic shows, he’ll be playing tracks from his most recent record, 2019’s Hyperspace, as well as favourites from albums like Odelay, Modern Guilt, Morning Phase, and a bunch of deep cuts and B-sides. It’s Beck as “we’d never seen him before”, according to a review of the show in Austin, Texas earlier this year, featured in the Austin Chronicle.
Beck – ‘Loser’
Beck was last in Australia for the one-off festival Sydney City Limits, which happened in February 2018. His 2023 Australian tour will coincide with the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Golden Feelings. Though, good luck finding a copy – the album was originally a cassette-only release before being reissued on CD, without Beck’s permission, in 1999. Only 2000 CDs were distributed before the label pulled the pin.
Beck will be in Australia for the 2023 Bluesfest festival – the first time he’s appeared at the festival – alongside acts like Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, The Doobie Brothers, and a heap more. Tickets for Bluesfest are on sale now; more artist announcements are set to come.
Beck Australian Tour 2023
Monday, 3rd April – Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Thursday, 6th April – Aware Super Theatre, Sydney
Tickets on sale 11am Wednesday, 7th December AEDT. Frontier Members pre-sale from 11am Monday, 5th December AEDT
Bluesfest has added another handful of acts to its bumper 2023 lineup, including Scottish songwriter and festival favourite Paolo Nutini. Also featured in the latest announcement are The Angels, Ash Grunwald, Backsliders, The Bros. Landreth, Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and Yirrmal.
This is Bluesfest’s fourth artist announcement so far; organisers have flagged there’ll be more to come next year.
“With this Bluesfest announcement for Bluesfest 2023, it is becoming clear that the return of international live artists mixed with great Aussie and Kiwi talent will be seen for the first time in Australia at the level it was before the COVID years,” festival director Peter Noble said in a statement.
“The line-up is one that I am immensely proud of and 2023 is becoming one of the great Bluesfests. Thank you so much everyone for your support through the hard years, please now come and join us for the celebration.”
Bluesfest will take place, as usual, over Easter weekend, kicking off on Thursday, 6th April and running until Monday, 10th April at Byron Events Farm. All tickets are on sale now through the website.
Bluesfest Fourth Artist Announcement
Paolo Nutini
The Angels
Ash Grunwald
Backsliders
The Bros. Landreth
Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges
Trombone Shorty & The Orleans Avenue
Yirrmal
joining…
19-Twenty
Beth Hart (Exclusive)
The Black Sorrows
Bonnie Raitt
Buddy Guy
The Cat Empire
Chain
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram
Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Eric Gales (Exclusive)
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force
Gang Of Youths
Greensky Bluegrass (Exclusive)
Jackson Browne
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
Joe Bonamassa (Exclusive)
Joe Camilleri Presents a Star-Studded Tribute to The Greats of The Blues
Jon Stevens
Kaleo
Keb’ Mo’
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Lachy Doley And The Horns Of Conviction
Larkin Poe
LP
Lucinda Williams
Marcus King
Mavis Staples
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Nikki Hill (Exclusive)
Robert Glasper
RocKwiz Live
The Soul Rebels & Friends with Special Guests Talib Kweli • GZA • Big Freedia
Southern Avenue (Exclusive)
Spinifex Gum Feat. Marliya
Steve Earle & The Dukes
Tash Sultana
Xavier Rudd
Dates & Venue
Thursday, 6th April–Monday, 10th April – Byron Events Farm
The acclaimed Courtney Barnett doco Anonymous Club will finally land on TV screens tonight (30th November). The film premiered at Melbourne International Film Festival 2021, and has since done the rounds at film fests like Sydney, Brisbane, SXSW, and Cinefest Oz. Anonymous Club will screen on ABC TV Plus at 8.45pm AEDT – you can catch it on iView as well.
Directed by Danny Cohen, Anonymous Club was shot on 16mm film over three years from 2018 to 2021, through the period of Barnett’s second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel. Featuring narration from Barnett, it’s billed as a revealing and intimate look inside the life of the notoriously private musician. Barnett also contributed to the film’s score, alongside her mate and Warpaint drummer, Stella Mozgawa.
Courtney Barnett – ‘Oh The Night’
Barnett has spent a good chunk of 2022 on tour in support of her third album, Things Take Time, Take Time, which dropped in November last year. In a week she’ll hop on stage as one of the headliners of Meredith Music Festival, alongside Caribou, Yothu Yindi, Sharon Van Etten, Tkay Maidza, and a stack more.
She’ll then hit the road as part of the Milk! Records 10th Birthday Xmas Party tour, playing a bunch of dates in Sydney and Melbourne with label-mates Hachiku, Kee’ahn, Jess Ribeiro, Lily Morris, and more.
“It’s amazing and overwhelming to look back and see how much Milk! has grown over ten years,” Barnett said in a statement about the shows. “We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported the label along the way, thank you for helping us make so many wonderful memories and share so many beautiful albums!
King Stingray, Troy Cassar-Daley, and Christine Anu are just a few of the acts locked in for NITV’s tenth birthday celebration this December. From the Heart of Our Nation, A Celebration will be broadcast on SBS and NITV on Monday, 12th December, featuring live performances filmed at the base of Uluru, inside the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
The lineup is stacked, with festival favourites Electric Fields, Miiesha, Casey Donovan, rapper JK-47, Jem Cassar-Daley, Trevor Adamson, and Shane Howard all set to appear. There’ll also be performances from INMA dancers, Anangu dancers, and the Mutijulu Band.
JK-47 – ‘At One (reVision)’
“Being at the launch of NITV ten years ago was very special for me, however being a part of their 10th anniversary out at Uluru again will be amazing,” Troy Cassar-Daley said in a statement. “My late Mum was always watching NITV when I’d visit her down home. We agreed that the channel was a lifeline to our culture, a constant reminder of who we are and how we are all so similar. It’s also an open door to learning for all Australians.”
As part of the event, there’ll be a special broadcast of Indigenous current affairs show Nula on Friday, 9th December from 3pm, featuring interviews with performers, as well as stories from across the Northern Territory.
It’s been a big year for a number of artists on the bill. King Stingray took home the ARIA for Best Breakthrough artist at the awards just last week, following the release of their self-titled album earlier this year. Miiesha dropped the double EP Smoke & Mirrors, which featured singles like ‘Damaged’ and ‘Price I Paid’. She and JK-47 recently teamed up for triple j’s Like A Version, covering Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’.
From the Heart of Our Nation, A Celebration – SBS & NITV
Melbourne musician Phoebe Lou has been playing in bands for over a decade; first, it was the high school indie-pop outfit Snakadaktal, and then the dreamy electronic duo Two People. More recently, Lou adopted the moniker Phoebe Go and issued her debut solo single, ‘We Don’t Talk’, in May 2022.
‘We Don’t Talk’ now appears alongside subsequent singles ‘Hey’ and ‘The Kid’ on Phoebe Go’s debut EP, Player, which came out in October 2022. Here, Phoebe Lou shares her thoughts on what drives performers to go solo, and names some of her favourite solo artists who started out in bands.
Phoebe Go: Player
Phoebe Go: I’m Phoebe. I’ve been in bands since I was about 15 and for the last couple of years, I’ve hunkered down into my solo project. I called it Phoebe Go.
So why do artists go solo? Maybe some shit went down. Or maybe it didn’t. Maybe it was just a matter of timing. Maybe it was like coming into the office one day to find that someone had moved your desk. Or maybe you moved it. And maybe it felt kind of weird or scary for a bit, but then you eventually just sat down and got back to work.
For me, it was more like the desk thing. But I think whatever the circumstances are, going solo proves that you really like your job and you want to keep doing it. And maybe by now you’ve got some serious grit to take with you. This industry can be tough, and experience is good for that.
I’m glad I’m starting my solo thing now and not 12 years ago when I was 15 and green as hell. It’s brave to tell your story, and even if you’ve already told bits of it before, it’s a story that has to be told from the very beginning. Music is such a crazy and complex thing and it can be collaborative or it can be concentrated. I think the exciting thing about solo artists is how concentrated it is.
Here’s a handful of really cool solo artists who started out in bands. And you know what I noticed? They almost always use their own names. They want to let you in closer.
Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
When Lux Prima came out, I lost my shit. I think it’s such a beautiful and badarse album and it really sounded like her own thing. And it felt really good to see a female artist do that so freely.
Jack White (The White Stripes)
A total veteran, right? Like, he clearly has grit. It’s kind if intimidating and I fucking love it.
Oliver Sim (The xx)
I am loving Oliver Sim. I feel like he’s telling a deeper and richer story than he ever has before. Like, he’s turning himself inside out for us, and now he has the space to, and I think that’s so generous and inspiring.
Harry Styles (One Direction)
Big fan. Like, he just shines. I wonder if he knew that he needed a bit more room around him to really do that. Outside of his music, I think he’s done so much positive work for this industry.
Beyoncé (Destiny’s Child)
BEYONCÉ!!!!!!!
Honourable mentions: Thom Yorke (Radiohead), PJ Harvey (PJ Harvey trio), Lou Reed (The Velvet Underground), Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel).
Philadelphia’s sauntering cherub-faced guitar wizard Kurt Vile has announced a 2023 Australian tour. He returns to the country along with his band The Violators for a five-date tour over March and April in support of his latest album, (watch my moves).
Vile was recently in Australia to play Adelaide’s Harvest Rock Festival and, while he was here, joined his former collaborator Courtney Barnett for an onstage jam. The two got together to perform ‘Over Everything’ during Barnett’s support slot before the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis show at Hanging Rock last weekend. From all accounts it was a good time.
Kurt Vile to Tour Australia in Support of Ninth Album (watch my moves)
Vile was recently announced for Victoria’s Meadow music festival, which we wrote about here. He’s now announced headline shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Fremantle and Canberra, but has yet to announce a show in Melbourne. This seems like a tease however, given his enormous popularity in the southern city where in 2019 he sold out both the Forum and the Croxton.
Vile’s ninth album, (watch my moves), came out in April 2022 and features guest appearances from Cate Le Bon, Chastity Belt, Stella Mozgawa (Courtney Barnett, Warpaint) and jazz giant James Stewart of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Kurt Vile (watch my moves) Tour 2023
Tuesday, 28th March — Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre
Thursday, 30th March — Canberra, Kambri @ ANU
Friday, 31st March — Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Saturday, 1st April — Bambra, Meadow Festival Victoria
Monday, 3rd April — Brisbane, The Princess Theatre
Tickets on sale 9am Friday, 2nd December. Tickets here.
The Brisbane Powerhouse presents the inaugural staging of ΩHM: Festival Of Other Music in 2023. Pronounced “ohm”, the festival will host The Chills, Peaches, Kae Tempest, Future Islands, black midi and more on select dates throughout February and March. The festival is curated by Powerhouse arts program director Brad Spolding alongside Lawrence English, the founder of experimental record label Room 40.
The announcement comes on the cusp of what’s shaping up to be an exciting Australian festival season, with Kae Tempest also performing Tasmania’s MONA FOMA and Sydney’s WorldPride (which we wrote about here and here) and black midi performing at Victoria’s Meadow.
Brisbane Powerhouse Introduces ΩHM: Festival Of Other Music
Alongside the program’s better-known acts, the festival includes a performance from three boundary pushing audiovisual innovators – Australia’s Robin Fox, the LA based Room 40 alum Yann Novak and Iran-via-New Zealand artist mHz.
Cinephiles will be pleased to learn that the live film score series Hear My Eyes is coming to Brisbane. Electronic sonic explorers Sleep D will provide a live soundtrack to the 2006 Guillermo Del Toro fantasy-nightmare, Pan’s Labyrinth.
ΩHM: Festival Of Other Music 2023
Future Islands
Peaches
The Chills
Kae Tempest
black midi
Nakhane
Monolake + Electric Indigo
Hear My Eyes: Pan’s Labyrinth x Sleep D
Robin Fox + Yann Novak + MHZ
Zimoun
Dates & Venue
Wednesday, 15th February–Friday, 31st March – Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane
Jimmy Barnes has announced that he will soon be undergoing back and hip surgery and has consequently withdrawn from his upcoming summer tours. This includes his scheduled appearances at Bluesfest and Summernats.
Barnes explained the reasons for the change of plans in a statement released on Tuesday (29th November). “I’ve been jumping off PAs and stomping around stages for nearly 50 years, but it’s finally caught up with me.” As a result, the need for surgery has become urgent, said Barnes.
Jimmy Barnes in “Constant Pain”, Cancels Summer Tours
“I’ve had niggling back and hip issues for years, but things suddenly got a lot worse over the last few weeks and I’m now in constant and severe pain,” said Barnes.
Barnes explained that although it’s “against [his] religion to blow out gigs,” doctors instructed him to get “an operation as soon as possible.” He continued, “It will really limit my movement for a few months. As much as it kills me to inconvenience everyone, I have to get this fixed so I can jump around onstage for another 50 years.”
Barnes intends to honour one last commitment before his surgery: his headline set at the Valo Adelaide 500 on Saturday, 3rd December. Meanwhile, Hoodoo Gurus have stepped in to fill Barnes’ spot on the upcoming Live in the Vines and By The C events, while Jon Stevens, Daryl Braithwaite and Diesel have replaced him for Summernats.
As an aside, if there was an award for “ageing Australian rockstars being cute on social media” – which, honestly, there ought to be – Barnes’ Instagram would be a top contender. On it he shares family vids, recipes and performances with his wife Jane (like this one of them performing ‘My Girl’ together). It may be a little Jim-esque, but the content is so wholesome it doesn’t really matter.
Primavera Sound has announced its 2023 lineup for Barcelona and Madrid, and, as expected, it is large. The festival is happening across the two Spanish cities in early June 2023. There’ll also be a third event held in Porto, Portugal, the lineup for which is to be announced.
Blur, Halsey, Kendrick Lamar, Depeche Mode Set to Headline Primavera 2023
The 2023 edition marks the first year that the festival will be held in the Spanish capital Madrid alongside its regular homes in Barcelona and Porto. The Porto lineup is yet to be announced but, based on previous years, punters can expect similar lineups at the Portuguese incarnation.
In the meantime cast your eyes across the lineup below, with the Barcelona and Madrid lineups identical over consecutive weeks in early June.
Primavera Sound 2023
Tickets on sale 12pm CEST Thursday, 1st December. Tickets available here.
Barcelona, Parc Del Fòrum: Wednesday, 31st May + Madrid, Civitas Metropolitano: Wednesday, 7th June 2023
Pet Shop Boys
Jake Bugg
Confidence Man
La Paloma
Barcelona, Parc Del Fòrum: Thursday, 1st June + Madrid, Arganda Del Rey: Thursday, 8th June 2023
Blur
Halsey
Darkside
Ghost
Le Tigre
Nxworries (Anderson. Paak & Knxwledge)
Turnstile
Central Cee
Drain Gang
Loyle Carner
Pusha T
Rema
Sparks
Alex G
Amenra
Anyma
Arthur Verocai
Black Country, New Road
Boris
Built To Spill
DJ Playero
Emeralds
Folamour Av
Hudson Mohawke
Machine Girl
Off!
Perfume
Pinkpantheress
Red Velvet
Self Esteem
Sudan Archives
The Comet Is Coming
Yard Act
Antönim
Ascendant Vierge
Blackhaine
Brutalismus 3000
Cabiria
Chica Gang
Come
Flowerovlove
Heather
Heinali
Isabella Lovestory
Jana Rush
Joe Crepúsculo
Joe Unknown
Julia Colom
Juliana Huxtable B2B Jasss
Karenn
Maral
Rhyw Live
Salamanda
Shannen Sp B2B Joe Cotch
Slauson Malone 1
Terno Rei
Verraco
Barcelona, Parc Del Fòrum: Friday, 2nd June + Madrid, Arganda Del Rey: Friday, 9th June 2023
Kendrick Lamar
Depeche Mode
Baby Keem
Four Tet
Fred Again..
Skrillex
The Moldy Peaches
Bad Religion
Bleachers
Christine & The Queens
Mora
Sparks
The Mars Volta
Alvvays
Beak>
Cavetown
Channel Tres
Daphni
Gabriels
Israel Fernández Y Diego Del Morao
Japanese Breakfast
John Talabot
Julia Holter
Julia Jacklin
Karate
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
Lebanon Hanover
Nation Of Language
Swans
Tems
The Delgados
Trueno
Tsha Live
Unwound
Vtss B2B Lsdxoxo
Yves Tumor
Bala
Beth Orton
Bill Kouligas
Carlota Fläneur
Gaz Coombes
Georgia
Gigifm
Honour
Judeline
Los Hacheros
Low Jack X Lala &Ce (Live) + Guests
Maddy Maia B2B Tottie
Nazira
Niña Coyote Eta Chico Tornado
Soul Glo
The Beths
The Soft Pink Truth
Tongue In The Mind
Tzusing-Upsammy: Velmondo
Voices From The Lake
Barcelona, Parc Del Fòrum: Saturday, 3rd June + Madrid, Arganda Del Rey: Saturday, 10th June 2023
Rosalía
Calvin Harris
Bad Gyal
Fka Twigs
Mäneskin
St. Vincent
The War On Drugs
Caroline Polachek
Charlotte De Witte
Maggie Rogers
My Morning Jacket
Tokischa
Arlo Parks
Death Grips
Domi & Jd Beck
Eddie Palmieri
Ezra Furman
Gilla Band
Holly Humberstone
Jayda G
Jockstrap
John Cale
JPEGmafia
Kelela
Laurie Anderson
Nia Archives
Overmono
Shellac
Surf Curse
The Voidz
¥///0 S#Et Wv&S#&-3
Yung Lean
Alissic
Anish Kumar
Avalon Emerson & The Charm
Bar Italia
Be Your Own Pet
CCL
Crack Cloud
Desert
Dj Coco
Dj Storm
Grupo De Expertos Solynieve
James Ellis Ford
Josey Rebelle
Los Ganglios
Mala
Núria Graham
Om Unit Live
Oriana B2B Melina Serser
Pional
The Drift Institute
Twin
Ubaldo
Villano Antillano
Wednesday
Wooden Wisdom + Dj Fitz
Barcelona, Parc Del Fòrum: Sunday, 4th June + Madrid, Civitas Metropolitano: Sunday, 11th June 2023
The Amity Affliction have released their first single of 2022 ahead of their appearances on the Good Things festival tour. ‘Show Me Your God’ is set to appear on the Queensland metalcore group’s eighth studio album, the band’s first album to be produced entirely in-house
The Amity Affliction – ‘Show Me Your God’
‘Show Me Your God’ represents the heavier side of The Amity Affliction’s artistry. It arrives close to 12 months after the band’s 2021 EP, Somewhere Beyond the Blue, which compiled the singles ‘Like Love’, ‘Give Up the Ghost’ and ‘Death Is All Around’.
In a statement, The Amity Affliction said their forthcoming album was shaped by challenging life experiences. ‘Show Me Your God’ navigates mental health struggles and emotional trauma.
“The song is the first in a series of explorations and internal meditations on how our past shapes us and interacts with our various mental struggles in the present, drawing from both personal experience and also the trauma of close friends who have passed away or who have dealt with close loved ones passing away,” the band said.
Look out for ‘Show Me Your God’ at the upcoming Good Things festivals in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Tickets for Sydney and Brisbane are on sale here. Melbourne is completely sold out.
The Amity Affliction Live
Friday, 2nd December – Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne (SOLD OUT – Good Things Festival)
Saturday, 3rd December – Centennial Park, Sydney (Good Things Festival)
Sunday, 4th December – Showgrounds, Brisbane (Good Things Festival)
Geelong’s newest live music event – Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree – has grown with new artists revealed on their 2023 lineup today. With the likes of Pavement, Spiderbait, Magic Dirt and CLAMMalready announced to perform, Tent Pole is shaping up to be a must-attend event for rock and alt fans of all ages.
Today, the festival welcomes more international guests in garage punk group Black Lips and alt-country performer Charley Crockett to the bill; as well as MOD CON, The Prize and local dream-pop/prog group Sirens.
Black Lips – ‘Lost Angel’
Situated out on Wadawurrung Country at Mt. Duneed Estate, the March festival is sure to be a drawcard for those hoping to escape the city for a day and night of live music.
The festival is the first collaboration between the teams behind A Day On The Green, Love Police and I OH YOU, which makes the lineup make even more sense. The programming, clever and far reaching, while focusing on incorporating local talent where possible.
In addition to the main stage entertainment, the team behind OK Motels will curate a second stage, with a focus on local regional talent; as well as a retro aesthetic. We’re talking nods to the ’70s and the Australiana that was attached to it, courtesy of curators Shaun Adams and Kate Berry.
Tickets are on sale for Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree now via Ticketmaster.
View the updated lineup below.
Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree
Saturday 4 March – Mt. Duneed Estate, Geelong (Wadawurrung Country)
Mdou Moctar, the acclaimed guitarist from Niger, will to take to the iconic Sydney Opera House for the first time in March.
Set to perform in Australia as part of a number of festivals, including WOMADelaide, Golden Plains and Perth Festival, Mdou Moctar and his full band will stop by the intimate Utzon Room for two nights only.
Mdou Moctar – ‘Afrique Victime’
A self-taught guitarist, Moctar enjoyed his breakout success back in 2013 with the record Afelan. A prime example of his incredible talent – innovative and instinctive. Following this up with 2019’s album Ilana, and Moctar had solidified his status as a worldwide phenomenon.
His most recent record landed last year in the form of Afrique Victime. It was his first album to feature a full band: bassist Mikey Coltun, guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane, and drummer Souleymane Ibrahim. Expanding on Moctar’s already layered sonic ideas, the band’s work on Afrique Victime made it one of the most intriguing and engaging psych rock records of 2021.
Says Ben Marshall, the Head of Contemporary Music at the Sydney Opera House, “Mdou Moctar has emerged as one of the most exciting singular voices in guitar music, injecting Tuareg desert blues with the incandescent energy of psych rock, and his own innovative, self-taught flair.”
“Like friends and families gathering for his communal open-air shows in his native Niger, join us in the Utzon Room and Mdou transports audiences to another dimension, backed by the ascendant might of his full band.”
Everclear are bringing their 30th anniversary tour to Australia, on what’s shaping up to be their most extensive tour here yet.
The 17 date run will see Everclear traverse the East Coast first, starting in Queensland, before move down through NSW, Victoria and South Australia; winding up in Western Australia at the end of February.
Everclear – ‘Year Of The Tiger’
The alt-rock legends have already been celebrating their 30th anniversary throughout North America; the set lists have been pulling from right throughout their 11 album strong catalogue. For fans in Australia, this should be exciting news; Everclear promising that these performances have revitalised some of these songs, making them more fun to play.
“After spending the better part of 2022 celebrating our 30th anniversary as a band, releasing our remastered debut album World of Noise on digital platforms for the first time ever, and recently releasing our new single ‘Year of the Tiger’, we are so excited to be coming back to our home away from home with the largest and most inclusive Australian tour we have ever done,” said frontman Art Alexakis.
“By mixing it up and digging into the catalogue, it still makes it fun and relevant for us, and I think for the fans as well. It’s still important to play the hits, but by playing those other songs as well, it makes it all seem more vibrant and real.”
Tickets for the upcoming Everclear tour dates are on sale through Oztix from Wednesday 30th November.
Everclear 30th Anniversary Australian Tour 2023
Thursday 2 February – Racehorse Hotel, Ipswich
Friday 3 February – Miami Marketta, Gold Coast
Saturday 4 February – Chardons Corner Hotel, Brisbane
Sunday 5 February – Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville
Wednesday 8 February – Drifters Wharf, Gosford
Thursday 9 February – The Basement, Canberra
Friday 10 February – The Ettamogah, Kellyville Ridge
Saturday 11 February – Crowbar, Sydney
Sunday 12 February – Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Thursday 16 February – York On Lilydale, Mt. Evelyn
Friday 17 February – The Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne
Saturday 18 February – Chelsea Heights Hotel, Chelsea Heights
Sunday 19 February – Torquay Hotel, Torquay
Thursday 23 February – The Gov, Adelaide
Friday 24 February – Freo Social, Fremantle
Saturday 25 February – Carine Tavern, Duncraig
Sunday 26 February – Dunsborough Tavern, Dunsborough
Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, RIIKI REID shares her affection for A Beacon School’s 2018 single ‘It’s Late’.
RIIKI REID is the project of Aotearoa vocalist and songwriter Raquel Abolins-Reid. REID’s new dance- and pop-leaning mini-EP, Crash & Collide, is steeped in joy and momentum. “The dance world is something I’ve always been so within,” REID said, “and I want this EP to capture that.”
RIIKI REID’s Love Letter to A Beacon School’s ‘It’s Late’
RIIKI REID: ‘It’s Late’ by A Beacon School has hugely inspired the new direction I’ve gone in, entering more dance and up-tempo music, and has always been a song that has stayed by my side through all the ups and downs of the past two to three years.
When I first heard the song back in 2019, I immediately became infatuated with the feeling it gave me. I loved that it felt so nostalgic to me, and it weirdly felt like a song I reflected to every time I listened to it. It’s hard to remember to reflect and acknowledge everything going on around you sometimes, but this song honestly forces me to.
It reminds me of the sad times and occurrences that entered my life during Covid. It reminds me of the happiest memories I have with my best friends. It reminds me of my family who I am so grateful to have. It reminds me of falling in love and living life with nothing but adventure and fun.
It always boggles me how music can affect us this powerfully. It is so easy to have songs that you love, but songs that you find that change you and the way you think is a rare occurrence that is so fulfilling. I want to make music like this and I want to have this effect.
This is something I keep at the forefront of my mind when I am writing music. It feels so important to make sure that I am finding ways and sounds that connect to people and help them the way the music I love has helped me.
I have always said that if I were to walk into a club or a show and this song was playing, I would probably start crying and it would be one of the most euphoric and greatest moments.
Meanjin/Brisbane indie pop band Moreton released their latest single, ‘Glass’, in October 2022. Produced by Big Scary’s Tom Iansek, ‘Glass’ is a tense, piano-focused power ballad that navigates the emotional pain of a non-mutual separation.
The lyrics of vocalist and songwriter Georgia James Potter capture the impulsive thoughts that go along with feeling wistful and forlorn – “Is that the sound of your car? The sound of you turning in?” she asks – as well as the way one’s perception changes in periods of emotional instability – “Saturday nights move quickly on my own without you,” she sings.
Relative to the lyrics, the arrangement has a sober, restrained quality, but the song’s loaded emotional core gradually weighs down on the listener. Music Feeds spoke to Georgia James Potter about writing ‘Glass’, working with Iansek, and what to expect from Moreton’s upcoming The Dog Years EP.
Moreton – ‘Glass’
Music Feeds: Is there something specific about glass that corresponds to the emotional state you were trying to convey?
Georgia James Potter: It’s all of the things glass can be. Strong, fragile, sharp, dangerous, luminous, beautiful, heavy. And I kept having an internal conversation at the time about heartache versus heartbreak, and where the weight of that line balances when you’re navigating emotional pain.
MF: Did a lot of genuine, raw emotion go into writing ‘Glass’?
Georgia: It sure did, but my writing is always a blend of story and confession, memory and illusion. [‘Glass’ is about] the separation of a bond, the letting go of an idea you had about the present and the future, and accepting that a new version has arrived whether you like it or not – as painful and heavy and unfamiliar and thrilling and empowering as that can be.
MF: Did you do a lot of honing and editing to get the lyrics just right?
Georgia: I mostly think of myself as a poet who likes to sing, rather than a musician, so honing the narrative is my favourite part. I was writing ‘Glass’ at a new old piano I’d bought myself, a little cheap number from Marketplace. I put it in my bedroom, which overlooks the driveway.
At that time, as I fought for productive ways to manage heartache lest it turn to heartbreak, I started doing a lot of object writing. It’s an exercise that focuses on using only the physical senses to recount things, which is a universal way to talk to a listener, because we can all imagine with the senses.
So, while much if it was also free-flowing improvisation, which is another big part of my process, once I was getting into the minutiae of it, I used object writing to describe the scene – how they would never again appear in my driveway, which I could see from the piano.
MF: Did you think much about how you’d balance the level of intensity in the performance while also getting across the feeling in the lyrics?
Georgia: I think it’s something I’m still working on, performing in the studio, as singing live is really what’s native to me. But you can’t always bring that same intensity to the studio; the microphones don’t capture it, everything turns thin and shrill.
So I’ve been focusing a lot more on under-singing on the record, letting the lyrics do the work, and going hard at the shows. Tom Iansek does this so well with his records so he was inspiring to work with in that sense.
MF: Did Tom play a part in nailing down the arrangement?
Georgia: This was my first release playing piano and adding some synths. I’ve been a tiny bit nervous about revealing this side of our sound because piano and synths just don’t have the same kind of attitude that guitars do. They’re always going to be more slick and clean, which aren’t words I’m very comfortable with in relation to Moreton, but the piano sound is actually my main instrument.
We just went with what felt right, both in the demo and in the studio. My co-writer for the song, Caspia, actually brought a lot of the identity – the drone, the tambourine, and the piano waterfalling in the bridge. Then Tom is always a champion of keeping it simple. We tracked it live as a three piece – piano, bass, drums – then just a few synth layers for the back half that felt right. I have a lot of trust in the way Tom approaches sound.
MF: How does ‘Glass’ relate to the rest of The Dog Years EP? Is it a signal of the sound or mood of the record as a whole?
Georgia: I feel like ‘Glass’ sits nicely with ‘Count a Heart’ featuring Jordan Rakei, and one other, yet to be released piano driven track. And then the other released track from this EP, ‘Down & Out’, nods to the guitary half of the EP.
There’s a bit of permission with the EP format to kind of show your cards, all the sounds you can do, in a way that an album doesn’t lend itself to as much, in my opinion, because you don’t need to have this long thread running through everything. An EP is kind of a sonic aesthetic piece, rather than a concept. That being said, The Dog Years is definitely a concept I look forward to talking about closer to the record.
Tasmania’s MONA FOMA has announced its enormous program for 2023. The music and arts festival takes place in Launceston from Friday, 17th–Sunday, 19th February and in nipaluna/Hobart from Friday, 24th–Sunday, 26th February.
There’s a sprawling array of musical experiences on offer across the two weekends, including international heavy hitters Bon Iver, Kae Tempest, Pavement and Angel Olsen.
All the Music at MONA FOMA 2023
The festival will host a diverse range of performances including the jazz event Lost in Place, the orchestral compostions of MONA artist-in-residence Nico Muhly as well as gigs at the Punk Bunker venue. There’ll be a headline show from Bon Iver and the classical quintet, A Dread of Voids, performing “intimate psychoacoustic works”.
There’ll also be several mutli-artist lineups. In Launceston: The Chills, Chikchika and I Hold the Lion’s Paw; Kae Tempest, Yirinda, and Turiya Always (Celebrating Alice Coltrane); and Perturbator, Soccer Mommy and Parvyn. And in Hobart: Peaches, Chloe Kim and Shoeb Ahmad; Pavement, Angel Olsen, Jockstrap and Van Diemen’s Band; and Bikini Kill, Vieux Farka Touré, Kutcha Edwards and Miss Kaninna.
The full lineups can be found below, separated by city and program stream.
In welcome news for Sydneysiders, iconic late-night venue The Abercrombie has announced that it will be reopening on Friday, 23rd December 2022. The hotel, which has undergone a large renovation and refurbishment, has acquired a 24-hour licence and will be home to three seperate venues.
The Solotel hospitality group plan to celebrate the return of the Abercrombie with a 36-hour party running from Friday, 23rd December until 5am on Christmas morning, followed by a 7-day program commencing on Boxing Day.
The lineup for the 36 hour launch party includes Mike Who, Andy Garvey, Ayebatonye and Dameeeela, while the subsequent 7-day program will be hosted by House of Mince, Sweat It Out, Motorik and more. The full lineups can be found here.
The aforementioned three venues include the Abercrombie’s flagship ground floor nightclub, the cocktail lounge and rooftop terrace Casa Rosa, and the aperitivo wine bar Lil Sis. The Abercrombie is a cultural touchstone for Sydney’s club scene and its return may signal a broader cultural revitalisation across the city.
The hotel, which is located on Chippendale’s Broadway, was built in 1938. It closed down in 2014 before its acquisition by hospitality group Solotel in 2016. Solotel, which is co-owned by chef Matt Moran and hotelier Bruce Solomon, had originally planned to reopen the venue in 2018.
The Abercrombie 36-Hour Launch Party
Friday, 23rd December (5pm)–Sunday, 25th December (5am) – The Abercrombie, 100 Broadway Chippendale, NSW
Sydney via Los Angeles musician Andy Clockwise is preparing to release the first volume in his four-part album suite, War Stories. Clockwise wrote, produced, and played all of the instruments on the 36-track release, which is expected in 2023.
So far we’ve heard the singles ‘The Big Think’ and ‘Gonna Get It (Just What We Deserve)’, with Clockwise’s next single, ‘The Lucky Ones’ feat. Rosa Pullman, due on Friday, 2nd December. Here, Andy Clockwise names five artists and personalities who influenced his recent singles and the forthcoming four-volume record.
Andy Clockwise – ‘The Big Think’
Malcolm McLaren
Andy Clockwise: ‘Madame Butterfly’ – this song and its video is everything I would ever want to make. Not only was Malcolm McLaren a supposed bastard who ripped off the Sex Pistols and Vivienne Westwood, but he also released almost anthropological albums that explained what cool stuff was going on in New York City and in true imperialist English fashion, put them out under his own name.
This is a gem though, a song that mixes opera with LinnDrum and Beat Street style R&B to explain the opera itself and show the world haute couture. Video is in my top five.
My dad’s mate
Andy: Growing up in the late 80s and 90s, my dad had this mate who had gold-capped teeth and wore a chain, dressed immaculately like Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, and carried a mobile car phone that was the size of the Harbour Bridge. He played me Dire Straits for the first time.
This charmer seemed to have the most sophisticated but complicated and sleazy life going around in the suburbs of Sydney and everything including the simple nature of those times influenced these songs.
Lijadu Sisters
Andy: Two Nigerian sisters from the 70s who made incredible records singing together out of that whole Nigerian funky but deep thing. The Lijadu Sisters sound so beautiful together and the song ‘Come on Home’ is about pleading for someone to come home. How can you go wrong with that?
Mark Knopfler
Andy: Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero is a soundtrack for a revered 80s film about a corporate takeover in Scotland. It’s the first CD cover I ever remember. It’s mostly ambient synth music, a couple of Celtic guitar pieces, some cheesy stuff, and then some bangers with Gerry Rafferty. Some of it is skippable, but when I started the album I could not stop listening.
A supergroup I made up consisting of Chic, late-’80s Dylan, The Clash and The Cure
Andy: Combine Empire Burlesque-era Dylan lyrics (‘Tight Connection To My Heart’), with The Cure guitars and melody (‘In Between Days’), the vitriol of Joe Strummer (‘This is Radio Clash’) and the unending timeless dancing of Chic (‘Thinking Of You’).
Metallica have announced a new album and an extensive tour of North America and Europe. The Bay Area metal band’s 11th album is titled 72 Seasons and is due for release on Friday, 14th April 2023. Metallica have announced a comprehensive 2023/24 tour in support of the upcoming release. The tour features two shows in every city, with the band promising unique setlists on each date.
Metallica have released ‘Lux Æterna’, their first new single in over six years. The first taste of the band’s upcoming album is accompanied by a film clip from director Tim Saccenti.
Metallica – ‘Lux Æterna’
In a press release, the band’s lead singer, James Hetfield, shared his inspiration for the album title. “72 Seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves,” Hetfield said.
He continued, “The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”
The full list of tour dates can be found here, and supports have already been announced, including UK metal band Architects and Texan thrashers Pantera. Also included are Greta Van Fleet whose Led Zeppelin-lite aesthetic has received both praise and derision. 72 Seasons is Metallica’s first new album since Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, which came out in November 2016.
Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Mark Piccles of Sydney band A.D.K.O.B raises a glass to Brian Eno’s 1975 masterpiece Another Green World.
Sydney indie-rock foursome A.D.K.O.B – also known as A Different Kind of Busy – released their debut album, Defender, on Monday, 31st October. Featuring the singles ‘November’ and ‘A Boring Neighbourhood’, the album is the culmination of more than half a dozen years of creative exploration for guitarist and vocalist Mark Piccles, along with bass player Andrew Quizon, drummer Andrew Clews and backing vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jane Doutney.
A.D.K.O.B’s Mark Piccles on Another Green World
Mark Piccles: I was 18 years old, sitting in a dull TAFE class on music business. Daniel, a fellow classmate, had snuck a single earphone under his shirt so he could listen while studying away. Daniel leaned over at one point and asked if I had ever listened to Brian Eno’s solo records. I said something along the lines of “I have been meaning to” – in actual fact I had never even heard of the guy.
Reaching under his shirt, Daniel grabbed his second earbud and shoved it in my ear. He hit play on a song called ‘The Big Ship’, and in three minutes and two seconds, everything changed.
That evening, finding a copy of Another Green World somewhere was my utmost priority. Not too long after, I was lost within it. Textures I couldn’t put my finger on, off the wall production, weird robot vocals. It was like hearing a genre of music I yearned for but never knew existed.
Eno’s ability to create such emotive sonic palettes using nothing but machines is something to behold. Another Green World is a masterclass on this.
‘In Dark Trees’ sounds like you’re on a train going through a dark tunnel. ‘Golden Hours’ paints imagery of waiting in line, stuck in traffic, time passing. Eno has this knack for drawing the humanity out of distinctly non-human situations.
‘The Big Ship’ changed everything for me. It could have been any track I heard first from this record, but happened to be this one. It has no vocals. It has a simple repetitive structure. No guitars. It was missing all the key elements of music I was used to hearing and identifying. And it single-handedly made me realise that above all else, music should just make you feel something.
A.D.K.O.B: Defender
A.D.K.O.B will launch Defender on Friday, 2nd December at Waywards, Sydney. Tickets here.
Melbourne-based hip hop and neo soul artist VOLDY has released the mixtape, Solplay Tape, Vol. 1. Clocking in at under 20 minutes, the latest release from the South African-born singer and rapper includes guest appearances from Amara, SwimGood, Benny Morrell and Aman.
VOLDY was unequivocal about his intentions for Solplay. “I am trying to bring back some things that I think are lost in rap music, and that’s soulfulness,” he said in a statement. Here, VOLDY expresses his affection for a number of artists who inspired the writing of Solplay.
VOLDY: Solplay Tape, Vol. 1
Anderson .Paak
I’ve always been a fan of Anderson .Paak because the dude really knows how to express a sound that you feel. Silk Sonic really inspired Solplay.
Saba
The dynamics in Saba’s cadence is unmatched. In Solplay, I definitely was inspired to be dynamic. Sometimes I’ll sing, sometimes I’ll rap-sing and sometimes I’ll just rap. So, I can keep the playfulness interesting and fun.
GoldLink
I’m a big fan of GoldLink in the way he attacks his records. You can tell he has refined the ability to cater his voice to any sounding production. He’s unapologetically him and I know I have a similar way of rapping, especially in the Solplay outro, ‘Goodthing’.
SiR
SiR has a unique way of layering his voice with harmonies that pierces through your soul, which is something I learnt at church and apply into my songs like ‘Virus’, ‘Lost’ and ‘Tonite’ (feat. Amara). I really gravitated to singing and using harmonies to bring out the soulful aspect of Solplay.
Cordae
Funny, me and Cordae are the same age so we would have been listening to the same kind of music growing up. Cordae is real and remains real regardless of the influences of today’s music. The Solplay song, ‘Breathe’, is similar to some of his songs, which is a sound I describe as “evolved boom bap rap”.
Outkast
The playfulness of Outkast is something that really inspired Solplay, switching between real rap shit to colourful singing and with a twang in my voice. To me, that feels very André 3000.
Shane Eagle
Shane Eagle is a South African rapper who really inspired me to rap in the first place. Back where I’m from, we live a very different reality than in Australia that doesn’t mean there’s no struggles. Shane expresses struggle from a different perspective, which I drew from when I wrote ‘Pain’ on the EP.
It’s taken Alpha Wolf a decade of nose-to-the-grindstone work to earn international recognition, and the members of the Melbourne band feel like they’re just getting started.
That’s the sentiment of lead vocalist Lochie Keogh, who’s talking to Music Feeds ahead of the band’s appearance at next year’s Knotfest Australia. Alpha Wolf will appear on all dates of the 2023 Knotfest tour alongside Slipknot, Megadeth, Parkway Drive, Trivium, Amon Amarth and more.
“We found out about Knotfest when we were out on the town mid-tour in Europe,” Keogh says, “and we instantly toasted to it.”
Keogh didn’t grow up listening to Slipknot. “I started off with more trendy scene stuff,” he says. But his perspective shifted a few years ago. “I realised they had done everything before everyone else. When you go back to bands like that, you realise nothing that you listen to was original.”
Alpha Wolf aren’t complete Knotfest maidens. “We saw a Knotfest in Cleveland recently, in this gigantic basketball stadium, so getting the offer for this was so dope for us. It’s fucking Slipknot.”
Alpha Wolf feat. Holding Absence – ’60cm of Steel’
Alpha Wolf’s second LP, 2020’s A Quiet Place To Die, was released internationally via SharpTone Records. Led by aggro singles ‘Akudama’, ‘Creep’, and ‘bleed 4 you’, the album racked up press accolades on both sides of the equator and landed Alpha Wolf tour supports with the likes of Thy Art Is Murder, Fit For A King and Justice For The Damned.
The record was Keogh’s first stint on the mic for the band, a role he’s seized by the throat since replacing original vocalist Aidan Ellaz in June 2018. Alpha Wolf will celebrate their tenth anniversary in 2023.
“It’s weird,” says Keogh of the impending milestone. “You think of a human, and a 10-year-old goes from a baby to a full-on person in that time. [The band’s] been going for so long, but it only feels like we’re getting started.
“Some bands have one album that’s an awesome success and then they do 20 records that do nothing. We’re trying to make music now that people will still love in five years.”
Alpha Wolf at the ARIA Awards 2021 | Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Like all bands, the pandemic momentarily halted Alpha Wolf’s touring momentum, with the majority of shows supporting their newest record played over the last nine months. However, industry-wide shutdowns didn’t stop them from working on new material, with this year’s EP, The Lost & The Longing – a split release made with UK metalcore outfit Holding Absence – providing a possible clue to the band’s future direction.
“When I joined, we were always talking about how cool it would be to put out songs whenever we wanted, do collabs whenever we wanted,” Keogh says. “But once I joined, we quickly signed to SharpTone, and there were contracts and stuff.”
“The label really looked after us over Covid,” Keogh adds. “They didn’t put too much pressure on us and they gave us a full blessing to do that split with Holding Absence, which was sick.”
But Keogh and his band mates – drummer Mitch Fogarty, guitarists Sabian Lynch and Scottie Simpson and bass player John Arnold – are still generating more material than the label can accommodate. “We always have music sitting around in a pile. That’s where those two new songs came from on the split,” Keogh says. “We’ve planned out our year and there are definitely slots for more writing and recording.”
Alpha Wolf – ‘Akudama’
Given the quality of Alpha Wolf’s output, it’s no wonder audiences want a piece of them, which is something Keogh and the rest of the band are still getting their heads around.
“We were gone for three months last time doing both the US and Europe. I only processed that when I was at the airport, realising that we were going to be gone for a huge chunk of the year. My mind is still bent from this last round of touring,” he says.
“It’s easy though because it’s fun. You get tired and you bottom out, but then you start recouping again. It’s such a wave for us doing these longer tours. If the last six months are anything to go by, that’s nothing compared to what we’re about to start doing – it’s only getting more and more exciting.”
Knotfest Australia 2023
Slipknot
Parkway Drive
Megadeth
Trivium
Northlane
Amon Amarth
In Flames
Knocked Loose
Spiritbox
Story of the Year
Alpha Wolf
Void of Vision
Bad Omens
Malevolence
Dates & Venues
Friday, 24 March – Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Cara Walkam began her solo project meadowhip after experiencing a major hemorrhagic stroke in 2019. At the other end of the illness, Walkam felt a newfound commitment to pursuing creative endeavours. “After several months of intense recovery, I started finding clarity,” she said in a statement. “I realised that I couldn’t ever be truly happy unless I committed fully to living creatively as a songwriter, performer, recording artist and poet.”
As meadowhip, Walkam makes heady alternative R&B that shares common ground with Kehlani and homegrown acts like Liyah Knight and Felivand. Today, we’re premiering meadowhip’s debut EP, Ruckus, a six-track release built around blissed-out guitars and lush textures, which provide a backdrop for the singer’s soulful, emotive vocals.
Listen to meadowhip’s ‘Ruckus’ EP Below
“Ruckus is a snapshot of some of the phases of my process of evaluating my life,” Walkam said. “I’m documenting my regrets, my hopes, the things I’m grateful for, the people I love, and the questions I was asking myself at the time.”
The EP includes several heart-on-the-sleeve meditations on transformation, leaning in and moving forward. “When I wrote these songs, I was writing music and poetry pretty much everyday, and pushing myself to work with different themes and genres, really trying to challenge myself to come up with distinct and self-contained pieces,” Walkam said.
“But amidst everything I had written in that period, I had a feeling that these six songs belonged together. I actually think that they each carry so much more meaning when they’re part of the whole.”
The lineup has been announced for the 2023 edition of For the Love, which will stage events in Wollongong, the Gold Coast Melbourne and Perth next February and March.
Leading the bill is UK pop sensation Charli XCX. The singer was last in the country for Laneway 2020 and has since released two new albums – 2020’s How I’m Feeling Now and 2022’s Crash. The bill also includes DJ Duke Dumont, house producer Sonny Fodera, duo Snakehips, and more.
Charli XCX – ‘Beg for You’
There’s a strong homegrown contingent, with Cosmo’s Midnight, Budjerah, KYE, Sumner and Jade Zoe rounding out the bill. For The Love 2023 will kick off on Saturday, 25th February at Doug Jennings Park on the Gold Coast, before heading to Thomas Dalton Park in Wollongong on Sunday, 26th February.
The festival’s Melbourne leg will take place at Catani Gardens on Saturday, 4th March, before it wraps up at Taylor Reserve in Perth on Sunday, 5th March. Tickets will go on sale this Thursday, 1st December, at 4pm AEDT, with a pre-sale kicking off that morning at 9am. Register for that here.
For the Love’s 2023 lineup arrives shortly after the announcement that Charli is heading to Australia for Sydney WorldPride, with the singer performing at WorldPride’s opening concert on Friday, 24th February alongside Kylie Minogue and Jessica Mauboy.
For the Love 2023
Charli XCX
Duke Dumont
Sonny Fodera
Cosmo’s Midnight
Snakehips
Budjerah
KYE
Sumner
Jade Zoe
Dates & Venues
Saturday, 25th February – Doug Jennings Park, Gold Coast
Sunday, 26th February – Thomas Dalton Park, Wollongong
Melbourne community radio station Triple R has announced its Live at RRR programming for December. Courtney Barnett, NO ZU and Dry Cleaning will perform in the Triple R Performance Space in Brunswick East in the lead up to Christmas, while Vika and Linda will appear on the Breakfasters‘ end-of-year broadcast at Richmond’s Corner Hotel.
Since launching in July 2022, Triple R’s Live at RRR series has hosted Cash Savage and the Last Drinks, Party Dozen, CLAMM, Jen Cloher, HTRK, Izy, The Stroppies, Kylie Auldist, Eggy, Dallas Woods, Freya Josephine Hollick, Allara and Olenka, Amaru Tribe, jade imagine, Our Carlson, June Jones, Kutcha Edwards, Adalita and Emma Donovan & The Putbacks.
Dry Cleaning – ‘Anna Calls From the Arctic’
Courtney Barnett will perform in the Triple R Performance Space this Friday, 2nd December. Fee B-Squared from Maps will host. Barnett released her third LP, Things Take Time, Take Time, in November 2021 and recently performed at Adelaide’s Harvest Rock festival and supported Nick Cave and Warren Ellis over two nights at Hanging Rock in regional Victoria.
NO ZU will perform in front of a crowd of Triple R subscribers and volunteers on Thursday, 8th December. Dylan Bird from The Grapevine is hosting the NO ZU edition of Live at RRR, which will go to air at the usual time of 7pm on Friday (9th December). NO ZU released their Heat Beat EP in mid-November, their first original music since 2016’s Afterlife.
South London post punk and art rock group Dry Cleaning will perform at 6pm on Tuesday, 13th December, a few hours before playing in front of a sold out crowd at the Corner Hotel. The performance will broadcast live on Triple at 6pm, hosted by Vaughan Quinn for Double Bounce. Dry Cleaning released their second album, Stumpwork, in October 2022. They’re in Australia for the first time, playing a string of headline dates and a slot at the Meredith Music Festival.
The Triple R Breakfasters – Daniel Burt, Bobby Macumber and Monique Sebire – will record their final show of the year between 6am-9am on Friday, 16th December at the Corner Hotel. Entry is free and all are welcome. There’ll be free food and coffee courtesy of Wide Open Road; Vika and Linda Bull are locked in to perform, with more acts to be announced.
Access to Courtney Barnett, NO ZU and Dry Cleaning is only available to Triple R subscribers. Though, First Nations people are encouraged to email [email protected] to RSVP to attend.
Alfred “Weird Al” Yankovic has announced he’ll head back to Australia in March 2023 for his first tour of the country in seven years. “Weird Al” is performing a string of shows as part of his The Unfortunate Return of The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour.
The tour will feature scaled-down production values – “no costumes, props or video screens” – in more intimate theatre settings than previously. Setlists for the shows eschew much of Al’s direct parody work, instead focusing on originals like ‘Albuquerque’, ‘Dare to Be Stupid’, ‘The Night Santa Went Crazy’, ‘Christmas at Ground Zero’ and ‘Craigslist’.
“Weird Al” Yankovic’s 2023 Tour Comes to Australia
The tour will kick off on Friday, 10th March at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre. It travels to Norwood Music Hall in Adelaide on Monday, 13th March and Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Wednesday, 15th March. “Weird Al” heads to Perth’s Astor Theatre on Saturday, 18th March and brings the tour to a close on Monday, 20th March at QPAC Concert Hall in Brisbane. Al and his band will be joined on the run by comedian Emo Philips. Tickets are on sale this Friday, 2nd December.
Yankovic last toured Australia in 2016 in support of his latest album, 2014’s Mandatory Fun. The album – which featured parodies of Iggy Azalea‘s ‘Fancy’ (‘Handy’), Lorde‘s ‘Royals’ (‘Foil’), Robin Thicke‘s ‘Blurred Lines’ (‘Word Crimes’) and Pharrell Williams‘ ‘Happy’ (‘Tacky’) – marked his first number one album in the US, and won Best Comedy Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards.
The “Weird Al” film, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, was released in September 2022, with Daniel Radcliffe starring as the man himself in a fictionalised, over-the-top satire of rock biopics. When an Australian fan asked Yankovic on Twitter this month how fans down under could watch it, he responded that there was “VPN (Very Probably No)” way of legally seeing it, adding that he was sure the fan had a “TORRENT” of other questions.
Ashnikko has announced her first-ever Australian tour. The US pop artist will play five shows in April 2022 in support of her debut full-length project, last year’s Demidevil mixtape. The tour will kick off Saturday, 1st April at Northcote Theatre in Melbourne, with both an under-18s matinee and 18+ show at the venue.
Ashnikko will perform at Adelaide’s Hindley Street Music Hall on Monday, 3rd April, Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on Tuesday, 4th April, and the Big Top in Sydney on Thursday, 6th April. Ashnikko will then head to New Zealand for a show at Auckland Town Hall. Tickets are on sale this Friday, 2nd December, with a Frontier Touring pre-sale kicking off Wednesday – sign up here.
Ashnikko – ‘Daisy’
Ashnikko rose to prominence in 2019 with the single ‘Stupid’, a collaboration with rapper Yung Baby Tate. Since then, she’s collaborated with Grimes (on ‘Cry’), Kelis (on ‘Deal with It’) and Princess Nokia (on ‘Slumber Party’). Last year, she helped out on a new version of Lady Gaga‘s ‘Plastic Doll’ for the remix album Dawn of Chromatica.
Demidevil arrived in early 2021 and spawned Ashnikko’s biggest hit to date, the pop-trap crossover ‘Daisy’. Announcing the project, Ashnikko described it as, “[the] fruit of my loins, the apple of my eye, the product of my blood, sweat, snot, and tears, my mixtape DEMIDEVIL!!!!!”
Ashnikko 2023 Australian Tour
Saturday, 1st April – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne (U18 matinee)
For a home-grown act who came in third in the annual countdown that soundtracks 50,000 barbecues, you’d be forgiven for wondering what happened to The Tenants.
The Tenants – ‘You Shit Me To Tears’
The Tenants might now seem like a one-hit wonder of the Aussie indie music scene, but that shouldn’t overshadow the wild popularity of ‘You Shit Me To Tears’, with its ska guitar chords and memorable, cuss-filled chorus.
The Bathurst outfit’s debut single scored massive airplay after winning triple j’s Unearthed competition in 1998. A few singles and an EP followed, as well as the band’s lone full-length, Everything You Know Is Wrong, in 2006. In the subsequent 15 years, however, The Tenants’ have only been active for a few sporadic reunion shows.
And while The Tenants were never able to recapture the highs of their debut single, they did hold a 22-year record as the Aussie band with the best batting average in the Hottest 100 countdown – with their only charting song landing at number three spot, ‘You Shit Me to Tears’ is on par with Coolio’s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’(#3 in 1995) and Chumbawamba’s ‘Tubthumping’ (#3 in 1997).
The Wiggles and The Kid LAROI broke The Tenants’ record in the 2022 countdown. And maybe that was enough to rouse them from their dormancy. The band recently made their Spotify debut, and they’re promising new music and live shows in the near future.
The Tenants’ guitarist and vocalist Jason Rooke spoke to Music Feeds about the history of their record-making track and what’s coming next for band.
Music Feeds: What’s the story behind ‘You Shit Me To Tears’?
Jason Rooke: I was challenging myself at the time because I bought all this simple recording gear and wanted to make a record at home on the farm. I was just writing anything, playing solo. I was doing this kind of morose, sort of mellow country stuff, and then I’d go and fill in for a band doing rock’n’roll stuff.
The lyrical side of things was the culmination of nearly five years spent in Sydney and being really frustrated with not being able to get anywhere. I couldn’t do any of the good things in Sydney because I just didn’t have the money to do it anymore. Everywhere used to be free, but then you had to pay to get in, the pokies were coming on, and it was all becoming a nightmare. It was just frustration and getting it all out on the page.
MF: When did you realise the track was starting to take off?
Jason: It was pretty quick, it didn’t take very long. After the first day that triple j announced the song, the phone was just crazy, running off the hook. And it was pretty scary because I had no one; I had no managers, no people in my life like that. So it was me trying to be polite and going, “Can you just hang on a minute? I’m gonna go and ask somebody some questions before I can go and sign anything.”
I think there were plenty of record companies, but I don’t think they really got the gist of what we were about. Everyone, typically, was just like, “So where’s your new ‘You Shit Me To Tears’ song?”, and I’d say, “Yeah, don’t have one, but I’ve got these other ones.”
You can’t write the same song over and over again because it sounds stupid. We ran into that quickly, but mostly we were on the road pretty much within two weeks of getting announced – we were the road, like, just going crazy. We didn’t stop for months.
The Tenants – ‘Boredom’
MF: How did it feel to make it into the Hottest 100? I’m assuming that you probably didn’t think you’d make the countdown, let alone feature that highly.
Jason: No, we were all having bets. We were home at the time. We’d been away for so long – we’d been going to Cairns and back, touring up and down the coast, and then back down in Melbourne for ages.
I was at home in Bathurst and the funny thing was that the farm I was living on didn’t even get radio or TV reception. So in order to actually listen to the countdown, I had to come into the town to go to the pub, and I was trying to explain to the publican that there’s this radio station called triple j, “blah, blah, blah.”
And he’s just looking at me with the blankest stare. “Is there any chance you could just do me a favour and put the radio on?” He wouldn’t have a bar of it. Then one bartender came over and said, “Oh, you’re talking about the Hottest 100?” So he put it on the speakers and it was the only way I could actually hear the announcement.
I thought I’d missed everything because they were down to 20 or something like that. And I was trying to call people and go, “Did we make it anywhere?” Everyone’s going, “No, haven’t heard a thing.” I went, “Oh, it’s all over. Doesn’t matter.”
MF: Were you aware that you’d held this record for being the Aussie artist with the highest average in the Hottest 100 for so long?
Jason: Absolutely zero awareness. I’ve kind of been in a cocoon for the last few years, especially since Covid anyway, sort of just trying to worry about making a living and paying a mortgage rather than doing anything. So we’ve only just awoken from the cocoon.
MF: This year The Wiggles and The Kid LAROI overtook that record, but there’s a strong chance they might appear again soon, meaning there’s a good opportunity for you guys to reclaim that record once again.
Jason: It’s great. Well, it’s kind of strange the way life… I mean, I teach music to people with disabilities – songwriting and all that sort of stuff – and it’s just so far removed from back then.
I actually teach with the guitar player of – well, he just left Rose Tattoo, but he’d been with Rose Tattoo for 15 years. And we quite often just see the kids and we’re writing songs and recording things, and then somebody mentions something like that and you go, “Wow, that was about a thousand years ago.”
It’s really hard to bring yourself back and remember all these things that happened around that time. But it’s a really nice feeling. I mean, it’s great that it’s there in music history.
The Tenants – ’39 Steps’
MF: What was the plan for you after the Hottest 100?
Jason: We’d already been in the studios and we were about halfway through an album, but then we got the news that we weren’t getting any income from the single because the company we were with had been liquidated. So our whole way of paying for the rest of the album was like, ”Righto, let’s go to plan B”, which was to wrap it up, call it an EP, get it out as soon as possible and head on the road.
MF: You released a full length album in 2006. How long had that been in the works?
Jason: It was about 2001 we started. We had a fellow called Mark Thomas, who was a legendary sound engineer at Festival Studios. We got maybe four or five songs in and then unfortunately Mark committed suicide. I think it made us all stop for a little while and just go, “Is this driving around, running circles all over the place, is it really worth it?” It did bring up a lot of questions and we slowed down a fair bit.
Then we changed drummers because he was a bit sick of touring. We went down to a three piece, but in the middle of that we won Aus Music Week. So we went to South By Southwest in 2003. When we got back from there, we were all a bit more invigorated and back on the trail, but it just took forever to finish because we were just doing it in tiny bits and pieces.
The Tenants – ‘Ready To Rumble’
MF: You have continued to play occasionally. There was a show in 2018 that was advertised as a reunion gig.
Jason: We do catch up, but our bass player lives in Mullumbimby. So we usually go up there and hang out at his place for a couple of days, practice up and whatnot. We recorded another ten tracks that we did the other year, but Covid sort of put a pin through that.
But I think we’ll finish that. We’re almost done, we’ve just gotta pay for the mixing. So we’ll release it, but no one’s really looking for stardom. We’re just doing it because we like it. It’s a sense of accomplishment to be able to write and put things out. It’s not because we’re gonna get anything from it; it’s just purely because we wanted to do it.
MF: Once it’s released, are you planning on doing any shows?
Jason: I think we will. Everyone’s sort of keen to, it’s just the distance. Having a bass player up there and he’s got a business and he’s got kids and all that sort of stuff, and I’m teaching music now. I used to be a carpenter, so I had like ten years of pretty hard yakka, so there wasn’t much left at the end of the week. But now I’m back to teaching music, I have a bit more head space and I’m in the same world when I come home.
So yeah, we definitely will be, it’s just a matter of when. I’m not quite sure at the moment. Whenever [the record] gets finished – as soon as it comes out we’ll follow that up with some shows.
Nearly a decade since the release of her last studio album, pop legend Jennifer Lopez has announced the arrival of her ninth record, This Is Me… Now. The new album will land in 2023, with details of its exact release to be announced.
The 13-track record will be Lopez’s first full-length album since 2014’s A.K.A.. Lopez hasn’t strayed far from the music world since that time, releasing numerous standalone singles and working with Colombian musician Maluma on the soundtrack to 2022’s Marry Me, a film in which Lopez also starred.
Jennifer Lopez has announced her new album, This Is Me… Now
Lopez announced the forthcoming album on Friday, 25th November, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of her third studio album, This Is Me… Then. Lopez shared a video on social media that underlined the transformative nature of the album, and showed the artwork of the original record transforming into more recent photos.
This Is Me… Then was released during Lopez’s high-profile relationship with and engagement to Ben Affleck, and featured a track titled ‘Dear Ben’. 20 years later, and following their eventual marriage in July 2022, This Is Me… Now features a sequel to that song titled ‘Dear Ben Pt. II’.
Melbourne trio HighSchool have announced a hometown headline show to take place next month. The gig will be a celebratory homecoming for the Victorian outfit, who have spent much of the last year sharing their eclectic, gothic indie-pop sound with the wider world.
The show will be held at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on Wednesday, 14th December, with the venue having been upgraded after an initial sellout of the Northcote Social Club. The group will be joined by fellow locals Grazer and Equal Parts.
HighSchool – ‘Only A Dream’
First emerging onto the scene last year, HighSchool caught the attention of global tastemakers with their debut six-track EP, Forever At Last. Following a positive reception for the release, the band relocated to London where they supported the likes of CHVRCHES, NewDad, and Wet Leg, and played their own headline shows around the UK and Europe.
HighSchool returned home earlier this month for a run of Australian shows as the support act for Sam Fender, just weeks after releasing their newest single, ‘Only A Dream’. Despite having garnered massive international acclaim, the forthcoming show at the Corner Hotel will be the group’s first headline performance in their hometown.
HighSchool – Melbourne Headline Show
With Grazer and Equal Parts
Wednesday, 14th December – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
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