Her latest single “Loud and Clear” is a beautiful tune that perfectly shows off lead singer Megan Hickey’s ethereal vocals and haunting slide guitar skills. You can hear the new song now on The Last Town Chorus’ MySpace page.
If you like what you hear, make sure you get along to one of The Last Town Chorus’ gigs next month. They’ll play Sydney’s Hopetoun Hotel on March 18, and Byron Bay’s East Coast Blues and Roots festival on the 20th and 21st.
Last night I headed out to ACER Arena to catch living legend, Carlos Santana. Before entering the venue I had one big question on my mind: “How would he handle the duets?” There’s no doubt that Santana’s recent star-studded duets album are the key to his latest wave of popularity, but without the likes of Rob Thomas, Chad Kroeger, and Steve Tyler on the tour I wasn’t sure how they’d work, or indeed whether they’d make the set at all. I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
As is typical when you’re contending with Sydney traffic, we were running late and missed most of Blue King Brown’s set. I’m not sure it was a great loss though. They’re clearly accomplished musicians, but the three songs I heard tended to sound the same. I can imagine how the early part of the set sounded based on that.
Anyway, Carlos was the main event, and after a confronting look at the pain of war on the big screen, we were ready for a concert of hope. Carlos was clearly the star of the show. I’ve seen a few brilliant guitarists in my time: John Mayer, Tommy Emmanuel, Pete Townshend, and more. But as good as those guys were, Carlos is in a completely different league. The sounds he gets from that instrument are phenomenal. Dad said he heard somewhere that he has the fastest handspeed of any guitarist, and I think that could be true. Wow.
Carlos mostly lets his guitar prowess speak for himself. He’s a man of few words, but what he did say resonated. He received thunderous applause for his comment that Australia has “high moral leadership,” and his endorsement of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generation. And we all laughed when he said we could have America’s constitution because they weren’t using it.
While Carlos was the main attraction, he was backed up by one of the greatest bands I’ve ever witnessed. Three drummers, another two guitarists, the brass stylings of a trumpet and trombone all led to one hell of a big sound. Often times I felt like I was witnessing a private jam session as these guys launched into extended solos, improvised and natural. Out front we had two stellar male vocalists in Tony Lindsay and Andy Vargas. Their rich soulful voices skillfully delivered Santana’s English and Spanish lyrics.
So back to the question of those duets. If you were a new fan and attended the show based on the strength of those songs alone I think you would have been disappointed. It took until halfway through the show for us to hear a track from Supernatural, the smouldering “Maria Maria.” We certainly weren’t let down by The Product G&B’s absence here. But it was a different matter later in the show when they took on “Smooth.” I know I may be biased as a major Rob Thomas fan, but I really missed his rock and roll rasp. The only other duet that made the cut was the new single, “Into The Night.” It was a sweeter take on this song, but I think I preferred it.
While I love those duets albums, I’m glad most of those songs didn’t make the show. Yes we had Santana, but I think without the added star power of their original singers they would have been a let down.
What we did hear was a whole lot of Santana’s earlier material, which made my dad pretty happy. It was the perfect showcase for these musicians, and ultimately the way this show should be.
This week was 70s week on American Idol, and Aussie hopeful Michael Johns opened the show with Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.” I’ve got to be honest, this performance has me worried. Again the judges seemed fairly positive, but from where I sat it was vocally pretty weak and a little bit pitchy.
I’d hate to think we’ve seen the best of Michael Johns in the preliminary rounds, because this is where the performances really matter. I just hope his fan base is strong enough to get him through. I’m not sure he deserves it based on this performance, but I do believe he’s got a lot more to give us.
Ben Lee has just finished working on the soundtrack of Nash Edgerton’s upcoming movie The Square. But you won’t hear Ben sing any of the tracks. That job will be handled by Jessica Chapnik, who you may know from her role as Sam on Home and Away.
“I’m really happy with these recordings,” Ben says in his online blog. “Apparently they showed a sneak preview of the trailer that features a song of mine at Tropfest last week, and people liked it.”
The Square sounds like it’s going to be pretty fantastic with a script penned by Nash’s brother Joel. It stars Bill Hunter, Peter Phelps, and The Chaser’s Julian Morrow.
Delta Goodrem’s bid to break into the US market has faced a major setback after she was dumped by the American arm of SonyBMG.
The record label had originally planned to release Innocent Eyes and Mistaken Identity as a double album. However now, according to The Sunday Telegraph, they claim Delta is not a viable act in America.
But Delta’s not going to let that stop her. She’s apparently in talks with other labels, and is likely to sign with Universal.
“I strongly believe I’ll have a career there one day,” she told The Sunday Telegraph. “I certainly haven’t admitted defeat. I feel I haven’t even started the battle.
“I’m completely new over there … it doesn’t matter that I’ve sold records anywhere else. You have to be a new artist, take the good with the bad, build strong bonds, with the people you’re working with.”
Congratulations to Kezin, the lucky winner of the Guy Sebastian giveaway! Kezin has won a copy of Guy’s latest CD, The Memphis Album.
Kezin, who is from Singapore, said “I want this album for my best friend … she’s CRAZY about him. We pop in any and every CD store we pass so that she can ask about the album. We’ve got no clue as to when The Memphis Album is arriving which means this endless loophole will continue until she gets her hands on one!”
It looks like your friend can stop searching Kezin!
Thanks to everyone who entered, and keep watching Oz Music Scene for more great competitions!
The buzz surrounding Perth rockers Gyroscope is massive at the moment as they prepare to release their third album Breed Obsession next month.
The album’s first single “Snakeskin” recently won WAMI Awards for best single and film clip. Its follow-up “1981” is the most requested song on national radio network Triple J. And the band are whipping crowds into a frenzy on their Pre-Obsession tour.
I recently caught up with Gyroscope’s guitarist Zoran Trivic to chat about Breed Obsession, life on the road, and why Western Australian bands are some of the country’s best.
How would you describe your latest album, Breed Obsession? We really tried to push the envelope of Gyroscope with this record. We have a feeling that this could possibly be the most important record of our music careers. So we wrote songs like our lives depended on them. This record has a lot of different shades from the super heavy to the really light and I’d like to think it tells a good story from start to finish.
You recorded Breed Obsession in the UK. What made you decide to work so far from home?
We didn’t really decide to travel afar purposely. We loved Dave Eringer’s work [producer on Breed Obsession] for his previous records with Idlewild. His sounds are broad and varied and raw but still precise. He lives in London so we had to travel to work with him. And he was a godsend to tell you the truth. A great experience.
Neighbours hunk Dan O’Connor is leaving Ramsey Street to pursue a musical career.
Dan will film his last scenes as sweet single dad Ned Parker in April. He’ll then travel to Britain in June to launch his musical career. He hopes to have a pop/rock record ready to release by the year’s end.
“To try to do music and the show at the same time is really hard,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “I wanted to commit to it (music) 100%.”
I just hope he’s improved since his stint on Australian Idol in 2004. Even his good looks couldn’t keep him in the competition. He was booted in the second week of the finals. Even Millsy did better than that.
Earlier today I gave you a bit of a blast from the past with a collection of Australia’s finest one hit wonders. If you’re keen for some more one hit wonders, check out these posts all around the music channel.
Stacey shows us that even hippies create irritating one hit wonders. “Afternoon Delight,” “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” and “Spirit in the Sky” are just some of the songs on her Hippie Sounds hit list.
Bruce at Our Digital Sounds also gets cheesed off by one hit wonders, particularly gems by Nena and a-ha.
Bruce is at it again at The Rock Dose, with a tribute to Richard Harris and his one and only hit, “MacArthur Park.”
The Beatles definitely weren’t one hit wonders, but Gilan at The Beatles Invasion loves plenty of artists that are! Soft Cell, The Knack and Cornershop all make this awesome list.
If you browse around the music channel today you’ll notice it’s all about one-hit wonders. I’ve got to admit, this list was a lot harder to compile than I first thought!
Firstly, it seems like the New Zealanders are the ones who really have the market cornered on the one-hit wonders. It seemed like just about everything I thought of was released by a Kiwi! I know most Australians seem to claim the New Zealanders as our own anyway, but I resisted the urge to add the musical stylings of Bic Runga, OMC, Mark Williams, and Dave Dobbyn and The Herbs.
Then I started to realise Australia seems to have a lot more two-hit wonders than one-hit wonders. Did you realise The Sharp, Radio Freedom, Rat Cat, and even Scott Cain graced our charts more than once? So you won’t find them here either.
I also restricted myself to one hit wonders I actually liked. No matter how desperate I got, “Strawberry Kisses” by Nicky Webster was not going to make my list! Here’s what did.
Weddings Parties Anything released plenty of singles, and were favourites on the Australian live circuit for more than a decade, but “Fathers Day” was their only song to achieve any sort of commercial success. This beautiful track about a broken home and a father’s love for his son deservedly won Song of the Year at the 1993 ARIAs. Their follow-up single “Monday’s Experts” was another great song, but it limped into the charts at number 45.
Melbourne’s The Ferrets struck gold in 1977 with their debut single “Don’t Fall in Love.” In actual fact, this song was supposed to be the B-side. But when they decided to sing it on Countdown, Australia went wild. It rocketed to number 2 on the charts. It may be older than I am, but this song is still so much fun.
Things of Stone and Wood were another band who burst onto the charts, then disappeared just as suddenly. Lead singer Greg Arnold wrote “Happy Birthday Helen” as a present for his girlfriend. It must have worked, because he ended up marrying her.
You know, it wasn’t until I started to research this list that I discovered The Dynamic Hepnotics are Aussies. “Soul Kind of Feeling” is 1980s funk at its finest.
The Poor rocked onto the charts in 1994 with “More Wine Waiter Please.” I remember buying their album on cassette while shopping with my grandma, and carefully peeling off the explicit lyrics sticker so my family wouldn’t realise how naughty it was. Wine may not be the most rock and roll drink, but this song still stands up.
Max Merritt may be a Kiwi, but his band The Meteors were 100% homegrown. They reached number 2 in Australia and number 5 in New Zealand in 1975 with the beautiful “Slippin’ Away.” The group disbanded the following year, leaving this stunning track as their greatest legacy.
Peter Blakeley was a member of The Rockmelons before he struck out on his own in 1990. “Crying in the Chapel” was massive, reaching number 2 on the Aussie charts. Sadly, nothing else he recorded came close. I can never resist singing along to this one.
Destiny’s Child covered it in 2001, but before they were even born Australia’s own Samatha Sang had a worldwide hit with “Emotion.” The Bee Gees wrote the track, and even sang the back-up vocals for her, so it was always going to do big things. She was offered more Bee Gees songs, but was determined to make it on her own merits. She never did.
Stunning siblings Matt and Becky Thomas made “Cry” a massive hit for The Mavis’s in 1998. I can’t believe it’s been ten years either. I just love this song, and the film clip is just so pretty.
I couldn’t write a list about Australian one hit wonders without including the granddaddy of them all, “Shaddup You Face” by Joe Dolce. This song regularly makes those worst songs of all time lists, but I still love it. It’s silly, it’s fun, and old Joe even makes it easy to sing along.
Later in the day I’ll clue you in on all the other one hit wonder posts in the music channel. But until then, I’d love to know what you think about one hit wonders. Do you love or loathe the songs I’ve listed. And what did I miss?
