Recurrent Verse

Australian hip hop artist Drapht has today released his new album 'Shadows and Shinings'. I caught up with him a few weeks back to talk about the album.

“This album to me has been one big purge and a reset for the most part.  It kind of feels like it's meant to be slotted in just after my 2011 release The Life of Riley.  Some song ideas had been following me around for 8 or 9 years, with others only being a few months.  For the most part I owe finishing it to the isolation period in 2020.  I had a lot of…

In 2019 I stumbled across Letterbomb AD when they released their self-titled EP. Fast forward two years and a few line-up changes and these boys are going from strength to strength. Hardcore fans will froth over their latest single ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ it is a chaotic experience. I caught up with Dom to chat all things Letterbomb AD. 

First off I need to ask what is the connection between ‘Smoke and  Mirrors’ and ‘Cigarette and a Blindfold’. Cigarette/Smoke Blindfold/Mirror. Surely there is a good story…

Benedict's emotive single 'Wake Up' came about during a zoom call with a friend. It is an anthemic call to action that speaks on behalf of all humanity, calling for understanding and peace.

Your single ‘Wake Up’  came out last week. I get goose bumps every time I listen to it. 

Thank you so much. I love hearing that. 

It’s a powerful song with a very powerful video clip. 

That was the aim, to try and get that across. To bring a message that I think everyone is a bit desperate to hear at the moment as well…

Before I write anything I have to give a huge apology to these guys. We did this interview back in July for their single release and it didn’t make it to my whiteboard ☹ hence my mush brain completely forgot about it. So it’s my shout for coffee next time boys. 

The first time I saw Sasha play I thought we had accidentally ended up at a Bieber gig…. The moment that vocalist Darcy stepped onto the stage there was a mad rush, from the females in the room, to the front of the stage amid screams and flailing…

Harley, Max and Andrew from Trouble In Paradise dropped by to talk about their new single Survival Instincts, the sick artwork for the single and how that came about. 

Let’s talk about your new single Survival Instincts! I love the artwork on the cover it’s sick. 

Harley: Thanks 

Andrew: It’s cool hey. I can’t remember how we came up with that hey. I remember you just floated it to us Harley. You came up with that right? 

Harley: It was actually a guy that I work with. We were driving along to a job one…

Yesterday Brisbane’s Empire Within released an absolute belter of an EP. ‘Critical Mass’ is up there in my Top 10 EP releases of the year. Critical Mass shows just how versatile Empire Within are. With monstrous riffs, djenty guitars, the odd synth and some herculean drumming the instrumental side of this album is every changing and shows the talent of the band. Vocalist James Ring has managed to bring out the very best of his range with the compilation of songs on this EP. There are quite a few tasty…

In Ancient Times to be a Druid was to be a religious leader, legal authority, adjudicator, lore keeper and political advisor. In 2021, DRUID are re-writing the definition, bringing heaviness to the world in the form of their new breed of nu-metal/metalcore machinations.

I don’t even know where to start because you guys have had a massive two months! 

Yeah the last couple of months have blown up completely, more than Druid has in the last year. It’s been pretty intense for us and surreal. 

From dropping…

Michael Murphy, vocalist from Written By Wolves dropped in for a zoom chat recently to talk about The Collab Project. Anything that supports mental health gets a massive thumbs up from me. 

This is the perfect time to be talking about mental health with the latest lockdowns here looking like they are going to be around for a while. I know so many people are struggling right now. 

That’s it. It is something that is already bad enough, it is already so insanely prevalent that we have just kind of buried and…

Brisbane's Sunset Junkies, who may well be Australia's answer to Tool, have taken a darker turn with their new music. Pentagram is the first single off of their up coming album 'Darkness Visible'. Byron Short and I caught up to talk about Pentagram and how Grammy award winning producer David Bottrill came to be involved.

You’re new single Pentagram is amazing. 

You like it? 

Love it. It wasn’t what I was expecting, a lot darker than I thought it would be. 

Yes certainly . It’s the first taste off an album…

Without Belief have today released two new singles that tell the story of hitting the darkest of times. Vocalist Ralph Brown who is also a dear friend of mine shared his story with me as we went deep into the songs.

You have not one but two new songs coming out this week. 

Yes new songs. The songs hit for various reasons. There is a reason why the songs are coming out together. I asked the guys and they suggested releasing one at a time but once I explained why they were chill with it. They had to be…

Montreal's Suicide For A King released a four track EP 'Corrupted Vision' last week. I caught up with guitarist Raph on the eve of the release to find out what makes SFAK tick. 

Vocals: Jay Rodriguez Carignan  

Lead Guitar: : Raph Stooke  

Rhythm Guitar: Fred De Celles   

Bassist: Éma-Loup T. Gravel  

Drum: Vince Henri

FFO: Northlane, Polaris, Mirrors

Hey Raph thanks for taking the time to chat. Suicide For A King has had a few line-up changes since its inception. 

This line-up we have had for about…

First off I wanted to say that I love ‘Liquid Numbing Pain’ 

Oh thank you. 

It hit home for me having been there before. Is this your debut EP? 

I did technically release one when I was seventeen but I took it off Spotify, so its not but it feels like it. The last one I didn’t do any promotion, I just recorded it and uploaded it. 

Can we talk about each song on the EP seeing as it really is a journey? 

Sure. I’ll go in order I guess. ‘What Is Next’ was actually the first time I explored pushing the guitar…

Daniel and Terry from Brisbane's The Lost Knights dropped by to talk about their new single 'Paper Skies', writing a song with their fans during lock down and some of the cool bands they have shared the stage with. 

"Songs take mountains of effort but they’re a drop in the ocean that is billions of unheard worldwide music releases. This song takes a trip down memory lane and we reminisce about our failed & separated previous bands and their respective band members who have said goodbye along the way.…

Good News Everyone are a relatively new band out of Melbourne. The band have two EP's under their belt, the latest one 'All I Have Is Memories' being mixed and mastered by Jaime Preciado from Pierce The Veil. I caught up with Jordan, Alex and Adam for a chat about the band. 

You guys are relatively new! 

Jordan: Yes we are. We are two EP’s deep. 

And you’re in Melbourne? 

Jordan: Yeah we are out of Melbourne. 

Are you guys in the lock down zone? 

Adam: I haven’t really been paying to much attention because…

FFO: THE OFFSPRING, THE LIVING END.

Welcome guys lets start off with a bit of the story of Heligan.

Miles: It was in the lockdown in 2020 at the start of the year. Basically it gave me the time to look at what I was doing musically. I knew I needed an original project; we had just finished up with our high school band, and I really wanted to write music. I started to put a plan together and finish off some songs that I had started. I ended up forming Heligan just through these songs that I wrote through…

Father Deer Hands recently released 'Factory Reset', I caught up with guitarist Wade Garnett a few weeks back to have a chat about the single and accompanying film clip which depicts a Robot having the worst day ever! 

You headlined a gig Saturday night! How was it. 

It was awesome, we sold it out so that was pretty cool. It was a crazy good response from the crowd and we had all our friends there. There were people we didn’t know too which was really cool. 

The video clip for your new single ‘Factory…

Adelaide’s Sam Brittain has a new single ‘Hitchhiker’ that comes with a hilarious video clip. I caught up with Sam recently to talk about the single.

You’re an Adelaide boy! 

I am, from the glorious Barossa Valley. 

You have a killer new single out. 

Yes we are pretty excited about it. It’s been a long time coming. The record was finished quite a long time ago but due to the world being the way it was we had to put it on ice for awhile.  It’s all coming to fruition now which is great. 

I’ve watched the…

You guys opened The Wolfstone Park tour in Adelaide recently. 

Jesse:  Yes we were added on their last minute because they needed a local opener for the Adelaide show because capacity was increased. 

Gino: We had only just got a new drummer and bassist and it was only our second or third week rehearsing with them. We were like Boys we need to get this as tight as we can as quickly as possible!! 

Jesse: I think we had a month to get it all tight and done. But it went pretty good. 

Gino: Yeah it was good. 

I…

GhostSeeker 

A few weeks back Letters to Amara mysteriously changed their name to GhostSeeker on Facebook and dropped a killer debut single ‘Live To Hate Me’.  I caught up with Celeste and Breenie for the goss! 

New name, new single guys?! 

Celeste: Do you want me to explain that component Breenie? 

Breenie: Considering  I was the last one to join yeah. 

Celeste: Obviously Letters To Amara had been together for awhile and considering as such some either wanted to go separate ways and others wanted to…

Colour and Shade’s EP Hostile Ground came out Friday. Mat Purcell virtually sat down with me to talk us through the EP.

Your EP ‘Hostile Grounds’ is out this Friday.

Yes. I don’t really know how to explain it because we had our plans change on us so many times. We had three different main approaches on how we were going to release everything and it obviously got changed. We ended up releasing more singles than we had planned. We have released three and there are two more to come out, they are a…

Friday saw nu-metallers Bison make a triumphant return to the scene, after a 15 year absence, with the release of a new EP ‘Perfect Mistakes’. Their first two singles, the aptly named ‘Begin Again’ and ‘Take Your Place’ have seen old fans rejoice and the band garner some new fans. Andy and I had a chat about the new era of Bison and how it came to be.

Bison are back!

Yeah, we are, well somewhat back.

How did that happen after all these years?

We had the opportunity to play a gig a couple of…

Robbie Wilson – Vocals

Jake Wiffen – Guitar/Clean Vocals

Jayden Zago – Guitar

Jesse O’Brien – Bass

Sean Wilson – Drums

Visioner’s new single Psyche comes from a dark place. Vocalist Robbie Wilson had this to say about the song:

“Once I heard the dark instrumental vibe for Psyche, the idea for me was to write about something I had struggled with in my past. The song touches on a time of insanity that I had dealt with from making mistakes lead on from drug abuse. I went against all my…

Get your calendars out and lock this one in. The brainchild of Andy (Grizzlyshark), and in conjunction with the team from Deaf Cult Initiative, PolarFest is coming to you Brisbane. PolarFest will be held at The Brightside in Brisbane on 14^th August and the line-up is huge!!

YOUNG LIONS    TAKE US TO VEGAS    APATE    CLOSURE    PAPERWEIGHT   

WOLF AND CHAIN  RARE WORDS    EMPIRE WITHIN    GRIZZLYSHARK   

CHELSEA DRIVE    NERVOUS LIGHT IN EYES    SENTIMENT    STRANGE FICTION

PolarFest is…

“Delivering an eclectic musical concoction, Sunset Place twist influences from a wide range of artists such as Hiatus Kaiyote, Erykah Badu, Jeff Buckley, and Joni Mitchell. With soulful harmonies and groovy rhythms which contrast their brooding, powerful lyrics, Sunset Place brew a unique sound that continues to captivate audiences.”

Listening to Neo-soul newcomers Sunset Place is like having warm sunshine beaming down on your face. Already having performed around Sydney and gaining a following it…