Jim from Aussie prog rock outfit Caligula’s Horse joins Dave Griffiths to talk about their brand new album In Contact. Jim also talks about how the prog rock scene has changed over the years and what it has been like to share the stage with bands like Opeth.
You can listen to or download our Caligula’s Horse interview right here.
Byron Bay heavyweights PARKWAY DRIVE have spent the past decade at the fore-front of heavy music worldwide. Today, they share “Devil’s Calling”, a brand new single from the IRE Deluxe Digital Edition released on all digital platforms, Friday 15 July via Resist Records.
PARKWAY DRIVE push themselves as musicians and songwriters and continue to take their established classic sound with big heavy riffs on new track “Into The Dark” and anthemic chants on Devil’s Calling.
“Devil’s Calling was written post the release of IRE. The lyrics came as a response to the growing tensions we are seeing worldwide. In the last year we have seen people with flames of hatred, war, bigotry and fear used as a tool once again to divide and deflect our attention away from the corruption and malice that sits at the head of our power structures. It was written simply as a protest song; we see it, we all see what is wrong. This is a redirection of the energy; we take the fires you light and use them to burn the bridges that connect the power from the base.” Explains Winston McCall
The Devil’s Calling video will go live on Friday 15 July at 9am Australian EST time
Another track”A Deathless Son” is a love song Winston wrote for his wife. It’s a reference to The Great Gatsby book his wife read to him on their honeymoon and showcases Winston singing for the first time. The remix features Jenna McDougall from Tonight Alive.
Winston McCall tells Buzz “I’ve had massive respect for Jenna ever since Tonight Alive appeared on the music scene. Not only does she have an amazing voice but she uses her presence in the world in an incredibly inspiring and positive way. A Deathless song was originally written as a duet, hence the repeating chorus but with time constraints in the studio we never had a chance to fully explore it, which is why we chose this path. The collaboration aspect was amazing. She worked so well with the material and concept of the song in creating a vibe that breathed life into our original vision and for that we couldn’t be more thankful.”
PARKWAY DRIVE have completed their ALL AUSSIE ADVENTURE tour and head to Europe for an extensive August headline tour that culminates in the band playing mainstage at legendary Reading/Leeds festivals.
The 5 piece alt rock ensemble that is DRAW are an intriguing band to listen to. From inner Sydney the band have crafted their music from a variety of backgrounds. Ironically the name itself as coined by the band themselves is in reference to the ‘Mega Jackpot Mega Draw’, a great analogy really as you feel each track (each ball) may well be a snippet of influence that makes up sound of DRAW.
2014 was a busy year, the band releasing and touring their debut single ‘I’ll Save you’ and following up by dropping another single ‘Ish’. It didn’t stop there, hungry for more and keeping the best and biggest for last releasing what leads us to this piece ‘Wave Rider Blues’ EP featuring two more tracks on top of the aforementioned singles. It looks like this year is kicking off in the same fashion with DRAW hitting the road once more in early January to rock stages across the east side of Australia. So if you were heading along, what would you be getting yourself into?
In short I would say the twilight zone. From go the EP starts with ‘I’ll Save you’, classic chill wave rock guitars crash over a rolling bass line. The vocal lines are very much something influenced by The Doors, the slow romantic hooks that almost have a 50’s vibe in the way they present themselves. ‘Ish’ is delivered in a similar vibe, there is however a more pronounced surf swagger to it, especially in the chorus. By now from the tracks so far you begin to think DRAW could be slotted into the breezy, relaxed rocker letter box, but that would only be half of the story.
Keep yourself in the same era of the 70’s, up the tempo and put a slight distortion on the vocals and you find that there is more of Led Zeppelin thing going on in ‘Sweet Mary’, especially with the guitar tone, its got a cool old school feel to it. Indeed the crux of the song ‘Mary-Jane’, it’s a name you rarely hear in this day and age and again makes you feel nostalgic. There is also a Black Sabbathesque quality to the vocals which well and truly confirms, the characters in DRAW grew up on the good juice of past generations. Another fork appears along the path of ‘Wave Rider Blues’, aptly being the title track of the release, we are back to a familiar slower drum pace accompanied by heavier distorted guitar sounds. Moving forward some years we can draw similarities to the vocal style of Kurt Cobain yet crossed with almost a Danzig contribution as the song progresses but only ever so slightly. ‘Wave Rider Blues’ is song that doesn’t hold any one constant sound, rather invites a variety of churns along the way leading into a clever guitar solo evolving into a dreamy fuzz rock climax that suddenly has you chewing within a psychedelic space.
This is a release wherein its key strength lie in the variety of sounds on offer. You get the sense that DRAW want to be atypical, different and experimental. Like a kid in a candy shop there is plenty of flavor to choose from in just 4 tracks. While the lyrics are tough to discern at times and the sounds are not something entirely new, the variety and imagination present in ‘Wave Rider Blues’ is something to be admired. DRAW are appealing as they keep you guessing as to what is coming next, anyone who appreciates the classic rock sounds of the 70’s will not be disappointed.
– Reviewed by Morgan O’Brien
Iconic Swedish hardcore group Refused return to Australian on the back of their killer 2015 LP Freedom. One of the most important groups of the 90s, everyone who has attended a Refused show since their second coming has yet to be disappointed. Guitarist David Sandstorm had a chat with us just before Xmess from his LA base.
Munster: I saw your play the old Palace Theatre on Bourke Street back in 2012 for your first tour and first reformation tour, what was your memories of that tour?
David: oh it was magnificent it was the peak of that year. After that tour we did a few shows in Sweden and that was it, but the Australian tour was the peak. After that tour I collapsed in my house and smashed a bunch of teeth. So that’s how hard we worked (laughs).
Munster: When you broke up back in the 90s and you did this huge reunion tour where you surprised at how much interest was in Refused in places like Australia and America?
David: Yeah I always find it surprising, but we love playing so we/re so grateful we get the chance to play all over the world, it’s the main thing we get to tour, playing on stage where at home. When we were kids we/d play our home town for months and months, so its awesome we branch out from that.
Munster: What process went into making Freedom?
David: We spent…its really burly now as we spent so long writing it, we started writing it before the reunion tour so it was a drawn out process by the time we were recording we reached a fever pitch, I remember collapsing in the middle of the night I was working so hard on the arrangements and I was working two days straight with no sleep so we were warm out. We went to LA to record and the pressure we put on ourselves was very high and we wanted to make the best Refused record and we hadn/t been writing for 14 years so we had to figure out what that was. So there was a lot of trial and error.
Munster: what lead to reforming? You don/t seem like guys that would do it for a cash grab and it would ave to be for the right reasons, what lead to the call?
David: it’s the kind of thing, its hard to compress, and also looking at where we had come and looking at our lives. When we started we all lived in the same city and hung out a lot working on a lot of compilations. Me and Kris were writing music for the first time since 1998 we didn/t know then it would turn into a Refused LP, it was meant to be an instrumental project. I was making music and Magnus was doing this own projects, at a certain point it was the same band and similar music, we did/t do it intently but it was like wow Refused is hanging out again. At the end of the day it was music and friendship that got us back. The things money and travel that’s great but we/d ave offers in the past but we blanked it just not interested, but after enough time it just happened.
Munster: You mentioned friendship as a big reason for reforming but even after you broke up you still worked with each other in different bands so you were never out of contact with those guys?
David: Yeah its, I mean we spent the week writing in an Island just because we wanted some isolation. Its really cold, so were just trashing it out in a shitty rehearsal space. We sheared apartments had breakfast, hang out rehearse, lunch hang out, coffee, then dinner then a few beers in the evening then talk shit and sleep thats what we did for five days. It’s a joy being in each other company and we hadn/t done that in a long while.
Munster: Scandinavia has always had an amazing rock scene particularly from the mid 90s onwards, is there anything you put that down to?
David: We ave had a very safe and kind of sheltered existence, its several things. Politically we were sheltered, Finland is between us and the Russians, and Europe is between Russia and everywhere else, I had very little travel and the democratic system kept everyone in a very nice place, like all health benefits where taken care of it was a very ordered life, and also we had music schools, so whether or not you had money you still had an instrument and got lessons every other week. So anyone who was musical at all you play . Also its very Americanised, a lot of USA TV films and rock n roll was successful and we speak the language to it translated well. It’s the same with hip hop it reaches people fast in Sweden.
Munster: When I saw you play in Melbourne you mentioned your love of Australian music like the Hard Ons and the Victims and Paul Kelly, considering you said it was sheltered was that stuff hard to come by?
David: We were big on Radio Birdman too. I guess its always been a big second hand music culture in Sweden and that connected. The kids, the middle class mostly are sheltered and their interests. Same in Finland and Denmark, there was a very open door to western music, being into punk we found it, but I had no idea which bands were English or Australia or American.
Refused play the Prince Bandroom Wednesday January 25.
http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/Refused-tickets/artist/1682371
Gold Coast Acoustic Rocker’s The Silencio have just released their debut album ‘ANATHEMA’ and we are loving it!
The album is a collection of dynamically-rich Alternative Rock songs that have a truly unique sonic.
The lads will soon announce a run of tour dates here in Australia.
Check out their latest film clip below for single ‘Been There All Along’ (the first single from ‘ANATHEMA’)
Brisbane’s Skies Collide have just released their new film clip for single ‘Come Alive’ and we absolutely love it!
The film clip has garnered over 35,000 views since release. The single was premiered via Idobi Radio in the US and is gaining a very positive response here in Oz.
Press play and enjoy!
Newcomers and last year’s Melbourne Music Bank winners, Tempus Sun have today announced their captivating folk pop single Gold alongside a fittingly heartwarming video directed by Andrew Kose and Edwin Tedjokusumo (Eskimo Joe). Gold follows the group’s first offering Owls, and precedes their self-titled debut EP that is set to drop August 25. To celebrate, Tempus Sun will be hitting the road to play The Milk Factory (Bris) on August 25, Brighton Up Bar (Syd) on August 26 and The Evelyn Hotel on September 1.
Gold is a seriously accurate name for this poignant track. Following an expressive piano intro that showcases Rya Park’s exquisite vocal, Gold swoops into gear, evocative of influences such as Mumford & Sons and Kita Alexander. Euphoric and vibrant, percussive elements drive the folky arrangement and precise vocal harmonies propel the choruses into the atmosphere. Tempus Sun’s keyboardist Grant Hardisty couldn’t be happier with the single, beaming, “The track is about exactly what the title suggests, moments of euphoria and bliss that just want to be relived again and again. It’s remembering those unparalleled happy moments with that golden tinge of nostalgia that can make you forget all your worries and stresses in a hazy daydream. It’s those summer nights that last with a sense of timelessness, a reflection upon a memory that you’d give anything to revisit, those times with friends that extend from a couple of hours to an entire day. It’s also about love with a slightly bitter twist, but it’s equally about light, warmth and all things Gold.”
The accompanying clip for Gold encapsulates the nostalgic vibe of the track through a retro lens; as though shot through an Instagram filter, the clip showcases some seriously cute candid moments between lovers, friends and families alike. The sun is ever-present, happiness glows off the screen and in a world that’s often so hard to handle, the clip for Gold is a welcome reminder that there is still honest goodness to be found. Grant reflects on the concept behind the clip, “Our overarching inspiration was pure joy and we wanted to capture a time we could escape to, and I think Gold can evoke those individual memories of times we all hold dear, be it of a lost loved one, an old flame or simply a time with your friends. The film clip was absolutely about capturing raw and natural emotion, simple times in life that you wish could be bottled. As Missy Higgins perfectly puts it, ‘seems those ordinary days are the ones that last’ – and so we wanted to try to almost film people not acting, but simply living.”
The upcoming EP is full to bursting with standout songwriting, thoughtful, lush arrangements and stunning vocal harmonies. Produced by Tom Larkin (Bodyjar, The Getaway Plan), Tempus Sun have managed to evoke their many influences – which include genres as far-reaching as classical, metal, and jazz-fusion – and funnel them into a concise, considered collection of folk-rock songs, many of which will remind the listener of early Boy & Bear and Mumford and Sons. Thrilled with the result, Grant explains, “It was such a massive learning experience for us, going through the process of pre-production, production and post-production. Recording at Studios in the City, we spent 6 solid days straight, building the layers from the ground up until they resembled – and then surpassed – our imaginings. It’s a very hard thing putting your trust in another’s hands, especially when they are dealing with your baby. In handing ourselves over to the professionals, it was hard to measure to what extend we should stick to our guns in some cases or take on their suggestions, but everyone made this process so welcoming.”
Well-deserved winners of 2016’s Melbourne Music Bank competition, Tempus Sun have gratefully reaped the rewards which have enabled them to propel their careers forward like they never could have imagined. Out of hundreds of entries and thousands of public votes, the group took out the top prize which included the EP recording and mixing process, press photos, publicity, radio plugging and much more. Grant enthuses, “Winning Bank of Melbourne’s Melbourne Music Bank was the most exhilarating experience of my life. We entered it on a whim, with an optimistic ‘why not?’ attitude, but we never honestly considered that we’d be a shot. I remember the call so vividly… I had to leave class to answer and hear the ridiculous news that we had made the Top 12!”
Set to wow audiences with their impressive live show all the way up the east coast, tickets to the TEMPUS SUN tour are available now.
Tempus Sun is Andrew Wortes, Lucy Travis, Grant Hardisty, Ed Borromeo, Sean Close and Liam Purser.
Stream: Gold Watch: GOLD Stream: TEMPUS SUN EP Preorder: TEMPUS SUN
TEMPUS SUN EAST COAST TOUR
FRI 25 AUG | THE MILK FACTORY, BRIS | 18+
http://tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=76160
SAT 26 AUG | BRIGHTON UP BAR, SYD | 18+
https://www.musicglue.com/brighton-up-bar/events/2017-08-26-tempus-sun-brighton-up-bar
FRI 1 SEP | THE EVELYN HOTEL, MEL | 18+
Legendary Northern Ireland punk band Stiff Little Fingers raised the bat in 2017 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the group. Starting out on indie giants Rough Trade, the group has written some of the most in your face and also hitting home tunes in relations to the issues happening in their homeland. 2013s Not Going Back proves they are still at the top of their game and prove they still ave something to say. Frontman Jake Burns spoke to me from his home in Chicago.
Munster: Hows 2017 treated you?
Jake: Busy, very busy. This was our 40th anniversary year so we did a lot of touring, so its been a complete shock to the system, we/ve been building up to it for the last year. We didn/t get to everywhere we wanted to get to, so we/re taking more time to expand the tour that will lead into 2018. Basically its been a year of airports and suitcases basically (laughs)
Munster: how did you want to celebrate the 40th anniversary, I take it you didn/t want it to be a nostalgia fest?
Jake: I think you used the right word, celebrate. We did want to make it a celebration, people are coming along to celebrate the long Gevity of the band, but we didn/t want to make it a nostalgia fest, thats something we wanted to avoid but its hard to, you know we didn/t want to do a whole “hey this is my favourite song”. So when we put the set together theres bout seven songs that are standard tracks, like if we don/t play them they will lynch us. Once you put those in, we tried to put some more obscure LP tracks and some of the more popular album tracks, and like I said try to make it as a representation of the bands 40 year span but not make it a nostalgia fest. But we/re hoping by the time we get to Australia we will ave one, maybe two new songs. Its kind of not a deal of what do you put in, what do you leave out. I think we/ll grit our teeth and maybe ask if we can play an extra 15 minutes so we can cram it all in.
Munster: The Damned and also Glen Matlock toured here for their 40th year anniversary celebrations, what do you put down the longevity of all these bands down to?
Jake: well im not sure we do really, the acts you mentioned, and there are others, bands like the Buzzcocks and also the Stranglers who ave been round even longer, and I think the fact all those bands ave last this long is for a number of reasons, but one of the keys is the fact they wrote great songs, and I think that is one of the real keys to longevity. If you write three minute songs that are instantly forgettable you/re not going to last long, I think all those bands ave written songs the minute you hear, like New Rose and Ever Fallen in Love, you know who it is, and even today you probably still turn up the radio every time they came on. I wouldn/t say we stand out any of those acts, if anything we/re flattered to be in that company.
Munster: back in the late 70s and early 80s you guys had a lot of trouble when you started and found gigs hard to come by, is it hard to look back on those days with rose tinted glasses?
Jake: I do ave fond memories, but you/re right. We were one of the first punk bands in Northern Ireland, and like all those bands, you are going to come up against a resistance. We had no commercial value and theres a covers band down the road and there doing the Eagles and Steal Dan, and when I rang the venues to ask for a gig, we say we play original material they would hang up the phone. And then when we found a venue that had original music when they asked what kind of music and we said punk they hung up again (laughs). I can look back and laugh but it was frustrating at the time. We knew what music we wanted to play and we knew we were/t alone. There was like three punk rock bands that appeared overnight in Belfast. It was funny at first it was just me and my mates then you find out there are like minded souls at the time. I can look back with fondness now but it was hellish frustrating at the time.
Munster: was it real DIY where you would book a hall and thats how you got gigs and youd ave a line up with the other few punk bands at the time?
Jake: yeah we did that. Not so much with other bands but we would keep an eye when they would play. We would see a band at a new venues then we/d ave a beer with them and we/d asked them how they got the room. There was a time a mate said what you do is you call this hall and tell them its a 21st birthday you want to put on. So then you sell tickets in the carpark. It worked great we did it several time and it was cheaper than booking a club and we gave us the bar staff which was great.
Munster: you mentioned we might here a new song when you come to Australia, can you write on the road?
Jake: nah I cant write on the road, I got friends that can do it and I don/t know how they go about it and how they do it. I need to be at home and concentrate, but thanks to the wonders of cell phones you got a little voice recorder in your pocket, so you can sing the idea in the phone so you got something to work with when you go home. Also bands don/t operate during social hours we don/t get to the hotel till bout 3 in the arvo, make a call home, ave a cup of tea and a sandwich, then you don/t get back to the hotel until 1am at the earliest. And I don/t think people would appreciate me banging on a guitar at 2 in the morning. So im trying to be neighbourly but I am jealous of people that can do it.
Munster: what Pisses you off in the world today that makes you want to write a song?
Jake: We/re do you start. I/ve been living in America for the last 13 years or so, obviously its been a year with the new government, it seems like a new disaster has happened every day. I saw a friend when Trump got in and he said wow you/re not going to be short of material. But its not a question of tyring to find something to write bout, its like you/re at the words biggest all you can eat buffet and its like where do you start (laughs) hes already featured in a few songs but I aint writing a three LP concept album or anything like that.
Munster: I read an interview with John Lyndon and he says that he is against gun control and I was disappointed to read that, but then I thought that he lives in American so maybe hes just exposed to that culture, whats our take on that?
Jake: Growing up in Northern Ireland we had guns in our culture but they were illegal. The trouble in Irelands started when I was 11 so I ave always been opposed to guns, and aving been exposed to guns and seen the violence that can come from guns I will always be against them. And im not talking about riffles and hunting, thats not the case, no one uses a hand gun for hunting, the hunting lobby is a different argument, lets be completely honest, the only [purpose of a handgun is to kill another human being. Unlike Mr Lyndon im still firmly opposed to the bloody things. Im faced with this argument almost daily, and on TV time after time, and it doesn’t seem to matter how many mass shooting take place and also school children getting killed, I forget who said it but after Sandy Hook, someone said “basically the Republicans are ok with the killing of school children and theres little more we can come up with that will change their minds”. And thats sad but that doesn/t mean we should not give up with the argument.
Munster: tell us the process that went into making the 2013 LP Not Going Back
Jake: we had this off on relationship with EMI, where we hadn/t made a record for a few years and then we would show up and say hi remember us we were signed to the label for a time can we make another record. And they would be like oh you guys. Yeah heres some money. Everyone we knew at EMI had left, so our management said EMI ave passed so we can shop it round to the other majors, and keep going til someone says yes, or you can crowdfund it. I don/t think theres many majors left. We went with crowdfunding. It has its pros and cons like most things, we were completely independent so we can make it the way we wanted, and also it helps break the barer between band and audience. You can keep going through record label to label until someone said yes, but instead we went straight to our audience and pretty much said do you want to buy this record in advance without hearing it. And if they said no we were screwed, you know we couldn/t go to the Buzzcocks crowd (laughs). But our audience came through and we had the funds within 24 hours and lucky when it came out people liked it. It was a different way to do things, but nerve racking but very happy with how it went, we made a live album and DVD and we went down the same road. You make mistakes in the funding process but its something we/re still learning. We/ve been a band for forty years but we haven/t been a record label for forty years so there are missteps along the way but in general it was a worthwhile and useful way to do things
Munster: Thats an interesting progression, going from Rough Trade and the birth of indie music in the UK to a major in EMI and then to Crowdfunding
Jake: to be honest it kind of felt like going back to your roots it wasn/t quite back to the early days where we had to tick together. But there was a huge amount of freedom. There was no one from the label checking on us or no one saying well this isn/t going to make it as a single. There was none of that, so we were able to ave complete freedom which was a relief. For example one of the more popular songs off the LP is called My Dark Places, which I wrote about my battle with depression, and I could imagine a label executive saying this isn/t going to fly (laughs). When you get to a certain age you end up dealing with issues like this and our audience can relate to that but it felt like coming full circle doing it for ourselves and the audience, but with 40 years experience behind us.
Munster: you/ve done tours with the Offspring, Pennywise and Bad Religion, that must be a ace feeling aving the next generation being fans of yours.
Jake: we did a tour with the Offspring and Pennywise and Bad Religion, and we/ve done shows with Dropkick Murphy’s. Yeah its flattering, but it also makes you feel your age. All these guys saying “I brought you LP when I was in school” (laughs). Yeah thanks for that. Its nice its flattering, and there all nice people and there all great bands. And thats the biggest complement, Bad Religion I consider friends their also an amazing band so to spend time on the bus together. So thats always nice I don/t think theres anymore validation when someone buys your record but if there pick up an instrument because of that’s. its the best.
Munster: and finally favourite LP by the Fall?
Jake: The Fall? I don/t ave any of their records. Im not a fan
(editors note: ive had many people say they don/t know the Fall but this is the first not a fan answer. Re reading Mark E Smiths book over the holidays Mark mentioned they toured with Stiff Little Fingers but no further details are mentioned. Hmmm I should ave asked what Mark was like on that tour)
Stiff Little Fingers play the Croxton Saturday 24 February.
Perth has been renowned for producing some of Australia’s finest musical talents over the years.
Scarlet Drive are no exception to the rule. The band create a unique Alternative Rock sound that has been causing a buzz in the local music scene over the past couple of years.
The band have now released a new music video ‘Sad Robot’ and have announced the release of their debut EP
‘Echoes Of Apprehension’ on Friday 21st September.
Scarlet Drive kick off a run of tour dates on October 4th.
Check out ‘Sad Robot’ and let us know what you think!
ANDY BLACK, A.K.A. Andy Biersack, frontman and founding member of BLACK VEIL BRIDES, is heading down under this August and September for his first-ever solo headline tour.
After gaining the world’s attention nearly seven years ago with the emergence of heavy rock band BLACK VEIL BRIDES, who quickly created a buzz and has built one of the most passionate and formidable fan bases the world over.
2016 see’s ANDY BLACK step out as a solo artist with the release of his highly anticipated debut album The Shadow Side. Cinematic in scope, ambitious in concept, yet down-to-earth in execution, the album carves a brash new place for a bold new singer, using all the tools of pop craftsmanship and lush arrangements available. Songs like ‘We Don’t Have to Dance’, ‘Put the Gun Down’, and ‘Homecoming King’ are readymade anthems embodying all that it means to be young, to be an outsider, to champion oneself and one’s loved ones with a vulnerable but unashamed urgency.