The years have not been kind to the musicians who formed the fabled scene that coalesced in Dunedin, New Zealand in the 1980s. Martin Phillipps, leader of the Chills, died last year. Hamish Kilgour, drummer and co-founder of the Clean, took his own life in November 2022. Andrew Brough, guitarist for the Straitjacket Fits, died in non-suspicious circumstances […]
Shayne Carter: Life in One Chord Read More »
Rob Hirst knows he’s dying, but he doesn’t let it get in the way of kicking back. Hirst – for five decades the co-founder, drummer and driving force of Midnight Oil – is enjoying a sunny afternoon in Sydney, relaxing on an old-school banana lounge, soaking in Vitamin D. But even when he’s putting his
Rob Hirst: Feeling good, for 100 years or more Read More »
Paul Kelly is 70, and he has never been bigger. He has just headlined his first arena tour. The shows sold out. In an industry as ageist as Australian music, it’s a remarkable career trajectory. There’s been no sudden revival of interest, nor a belated rediscovery of his vast catalogue. Slowly, over a career spanning 50
Paul Kelly: Seventy Not Out Read More »
What would make Harry Vanda – the last surviving Easybeat, the man who co-wrote Friday On My Mind, the original architect of what we came to know as Oz rock – come out of retirement at the age of 79 to release his first solo single? To any Australian music enthusiast, the very thought is unlikely enough. But here
Harry Vanda plays the devil’s music Read More »
When Kate Ceberano played the Australian Made tour with her band I’m Talking in the summer of 1986-87, she was already a veteran of the Australian music industry at barely 20 years old. The concert series, which saw Ceberano and her band rubbing shoulders with INXS, Jimmy Barnes, Divinyls, Mental as Anything, Models and the
Kate Ceberano: still brave, still burning Read More »
Sir George Telek is not an easy man to get hold of. For a start, the celebrated Papua New Guinean singer lives in a remote village outside Kokopo, on the island of New Britain. It’s on the eastern edge of the Bismarck Archipelago, near Rabaul. Phone lines are often down. I can’t call him; repeated
Not Drowning, Waving: Sing Sing Read More »