It’s hard to believe I’ve been following the career of former Perch Creek singer-songwriter Eileen Hodgkins for roughly as long as this blog has been in existence. With her siblings they seemingly did it all, releasing a few albums, playing all the big festivals here and around the world, and even appearing on Spicks and Specks. But now she’s on to the next phase of her career with her latest band Eils & The Drip. Their latest single “Easy Rider” is a nostalgic alt-country tune that sounds like a classic from the first play.
Eils & The Drip are already on the right path to replicating Perch Creek’s success, releasing a few singles and playing key festivals like Boogie, Brunswick Music Festival, and Queenscliff. They’ll celebrate their latest single with a launch show at Shotkickers in Naarm/Melbourne on March 15.
Image used with permission from Dave Laing Publicity
As we watch another crop of Australian Idol hopefuls step up to impress the judges, it’s only natural to think back and wonder what became of some of the winners of the past? Are they still making music, or have they been forced to trade it in for a corporate career. Wes Carr is still living the dream, albeit under a brand-new moniker. Now recording as Wesley Dean, he relocated to Nashville a couple of years ago to hone a more country/Americana influenced sound. His latest single “Gunslinger” shows that he’s still got the goods.
“’Gunslinger’ is an exploration of what it means to be a man struggling with the masculine identity passed down from father to son,” Wesley explained. “The opening lyric, ‘Dead man walkin’ before his life begun, since his daddy taught him how to shoot a gun’, refers to the stoic mindset a man can be born into that’s perfectly portrayed by the outlaw archetype. On one hand, I identify with being an outsider and doing things my own way with all guns blazing, but on the other, the emotional isolation of an outlaw who isn’t allowed to acknowledge their vulnerability and ultimately ends up being ‘hung by the same rope that took his daddy’s life’ is something I wanted to highlight in this song.
“I believe isolating patterns of behavior can be broken when we become conscious of them, but sometimes we have to go through a dark night of the soul to wake up to our personal power. And I don’t mean macho, egoic power, I mean the empowerment that comes from having the ability to make a new choice when faced with old ways of being. Some men repeatedly surrender to what they know, which is where the line, ‘And there ain’t no turning back he was born in these bones’ comes from, but I hope the discussion around ‘Gunslinger’ will inspire men to take a deeper look at the intergenerational trauma impacting their lives, and initiate a self-awareness that gives them freedom to have more connected relationships with themselves and others.”
Wesley has just capped off his Crazy Hearts Across America tour, which saw his driving more than 5,000 miles from Nashville to Los Angeles in an RV. Footage captured on this epic journey will form his upcoming feature film, Crazy Hearts: The Documentary. Along the way he also took time to shoot the epic video for “Gunslinger” in Joshua Tree National Park and Pioneer Town. You might not have heard his music for a while, but releases like this let you know that this former Australian Idol still has plenty of musical tales to tell, no matter what name he’s recording under.
Order of Owls are back with a rocking new track “What Becomes.” The follow-up to “Speak Up,” the band’s latest single builds upon their commitment to putting mental health front and centre.
“Where ‘Freedom(ination)’ presents the hopelessness and fragile state of mind one can find themselves in and ‘Speak Up’ is the first action one must take to overcome this adversity, ‘What Becomes’ is the next step on the mental health journey,” lead vocalist Tim Leopold explained. “It asks the question: We have overcome many issues and are on the path to our better selves. But what is next? What becomes of the healed? What choices do we make now, and how do we not fall again? But more importantly, now we have seen both sides. How can we stop that cycle from happening on a large scale?”
It spreads a powerful message, but beyond that it’s got an incredible sound. It’s been far too long since I heard a song with a great guitar solo, but special guest artist Jake Webber reminds us how incredible they can be. The band filmed the music video for “What Becomes” at Aradale Lunatic Asylum, rumoured to be the most haunted place in Australia.
“The first thing I was told when I turned up to the shoot was that the site didn’t have power, I couldn’t help but laugh,” recalled Order of Owls’ guitarist Nathan Mesiti. “Luckily, we were somewhat prepared for this situation and managed to squeeze enough out of a little petrol generator and Ramon’s van with an inverter. I really do mean squeeze. The generator kept cutting out and struggled to run the haze machine at half power with the lights. That made for a lot of fun when we lost the daylight and struggled through the dining hall shoots, plunging us into complete darkness every 20 minutes. When you’re in rural Australia and the light pollution is non-existent, that particular darkness was unsettling.”
Eora/Sydney-based bedroom creator Lee Sugar has just dropped the video for his dreamy single “One Too Many.” Take a moment to relax and settle into the groove of this one. It’s very cool.
Lee says the song is “a reminder to trust your gut and grow through the acceptance of both your strengths and weaknesses.” As for the film clip, which sees Lee living his best life enjoying the best choreographed karaoke ever, he said “Honesty is the directive for this music video. Sydney cops a lot of flack for being stale and I’m guilty of perpetuating the sentiment, but let’s flip the narrative. ‘One Too Many’ is an honest song that hits close to home so it only seemed right that the video romanticised my city in some way. Sydney, sorry for all the times I said I hated you, I actually love you, you just suck sometimes.”
If you’re admiring the cover art, take note: it’s Lee’s work too. Is there anything this guy can’t do?
Claire Anne Taylor has one of those female voices that you just don’t hear in 2024. It’s raw, earthy, weathered. Richly textured, hinting at a life that’s been lived. Above all, it’s utterly unforgettable. The press release describes it as “the voice of Tasmania.” If that’s the case, I’ve got to listen to more of the women making music in Tassie. Take a listen to her latest song “Lay You Down in the Cold Hard Ground” and you’ll hear exactly what I mean.
This song comes from Claire’s album Giving It Away, set for release on February 16. “This album is a deeply personal one for me, and comes from a huge time in my life; following my son’s diagnosis with Angelman Syndrome. I guess you could say I took all my grief and anger and put it into my music and this has been my therapy and an escape of sorts.”
Claire will give music lovers plenty of opportunities to see her play in the coming months. Make sure you catch her when she’s in your hometown.
When I heard “Chapters,” the latest single from Eora/Sydney band 51st Avenue, a few days ago I was blown away by the way the band played with different sounds. Determined to learn more, I caught up with the band to learn more about the songs that helped inspire their latest single.
don’t sleep, repeat – 44phantom (feat. Machine Gun Kelly)
We really loved the upbeat nature of this track. Most of our tracks to date have had a slower sense of beat so when first creating this song we knew we wanted something more driving.
hurricane – 44phantom
Yeah so we were definitely going through a 44phantom phase but the tracks are too good! We loved the energy from the chorus. From this we drew inspiration and tried to create a chorus that was both driving and groovy.
love or chemistry – nothing, nowhere
We really liked the electronic verses for this song and this created the inspiration for our first verse. We thought it would be cool to have the song start like most of these tracks with a guitar part followed by an electronic drum beat.
acting like that – YUNGBLUD (feat. Machine Gun Kelly)
Once again this song has a similar vibe to the others, upbeat and driving. We really liked the double handed hi-hat groove for the chorus in this song. We ended up using the double handed-hit hat for the 2nd verse to help create more drive through the song and to give a contrast to the first verse.
“Chapters” by 51st Avenue is available now on all your favourite streaming services. Here it is again in case you missed it, or just want to hear it again!
Hollow Coves are making me nostalgic for a time gone by with their latest single “Photographs.” This charming folk song takes us back to a simpler time before mobile phones, when we’d only capture special moments and we’d have those physical images to proudly display. The song was inspired by Matt Carins’ mum and her collection of carefully curated family photo albums.
“This was the first song we wrote during our writing sessions with Matt Corby and Alex Henrikkson. We ended up having a conversation in the studio about how photographs use to be something special that people would keep in a photo album. However, now that we can take photos with our phones, it seems like photos will most likely just get lost amongst the sea of photos,” the band explained. “Matt (Carins) brought up that his mum has kept a photo album for him and his siblings since they were born. We all thought that was pretty special and kind of a lost art in this day and age. So we decided to write a song about her and the lost art of the photograph.”
“Photographs” is the first track lifted from Hollow Coves’ sophomore album Nothing to Lose. International fans can expect to hear more new music and their old favourites from the duo plays shows in Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America in the coming months.
26 March 2024 – Gebäude 9, Cologne
28 March 2024 – Muziekgieterij, Maastricht
29 March 2024 – TivoliVredenburg – Ronda, Utrecht
30 March 2024 – Zeche Carl, Essen
31 March 2024 – Uebel & Gefährlich, Hamburg
2 April 2024 – Columbia Theater, Berlin
3 April 2024 – MeatFactory, Prague
4 April 2024 – Simm City, Vienna
5 April 2024 – Technikum, Munich
7 April 2024 – Magazzini Generali, Milan
8 April 2024 – Komplex 457, Zurich
9 April 2024 – Les Docks, Lausanne
11 April 2024 – Halle02, Heidelberg
12 April 2024 – Opderschmelz, Dudelange
13 April 2024 – Le Trabendo, Paris
14 April 2024 – AB Ballroom, Brussels
16 April 2024 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
17 April 2024 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
18 April 2024 – Academy 2, Manchester
5 June 2024 – Union Stage, Washington DC
6 June 2024 – The Foundry, Philadelphia
8 June 2024 – Warsaw, New York City
10 June 2024 – Paradise Rock Club, Boston
11 June 2024 – MTELUS, Montreal
12 June 2024 – Danforth Music Hall, Toronto
14 June 2024 – Lincoln Hall, Chicago
15 June 2024 – Fine Line, Minneapolis
17 June 2024 – Gothic Theatre, Denver
19 June 2024 – The Grand at the Complex, Salt Lake City
22 June 2024 – El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles
23 June 2024 – Venture Music Hall, Ventura
24 June 2024 – Bimbo’s 365 Club, San Francisco
26 June 2024 – Aladdin Theater, Portland
27 June 2024 – The Crocodile, Seattle
29 June 2024 – Vogue Theatre, Vancouver
30 June 2024 – Capital Ballroom, Victoria
51st Avenue are ushering in the new year with the release of their fabulous new single “Chapters.” A song all about connection and the enduring bonds that bind us as we move through life, it’s a timely release that perfectly combines pop, punk, rock, and electronic sounds.
“The theme and meaning of the lyrics is really about friendship over time, and how time and distance doesn’t necessarily equate to a loss of friendship,” the band explained. “There are some friendships that are able to withstand time, distance and other factors, and in some circumstances, one party may think the friendship is over when in fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
51st Avenue created the film clip for “Chapters” with Oliver Clark of Dunelabs, noting “This was the third video we’d shot within a month and we’d started to run out of ideas. The venue really lent itself quite heavily in terms of inspiration and we just vibed with it for the whole day. Oli really knocked it out of the park when it came to the editing and it turned out to be a really fun video!”
“Chapters” is such an exciting release, and hopefully a sign of big things to come for 51st Avenue in 2024.
Mulga Bore Hard Rock Band were thrust into the spotlight when they were handpicked by their heroes KISS to support them on Yugambeh Country/Gold Coast in 2022. The schoolkids from the tiny Northern Territory community of Akaye (Mulga Bore) made the long trek to Queensland to support their idols on the biggest stage of their lives. Since then they’ve been capitalising on their success, opening Australia’s largest First Nations festival Yirramboi last May and releasing quality tracks like “Big Train” and “Let Me Rock N Roll.”
If you like what you hear, make sure you check out Mulga Bore Hard Rock at one of their upcoming shows:
19 January 2023 – Cherry Bar, Naarm/Melbourne
26 January 2023 – Share the Spirit Festival @ Myer Music Bowl, Naarm/Melbourne (FREE)
27 January 2023 – Brunswick Ballroom, Bulleke-bek/Brunswick (supporting No Fixed Address)
18 February 2023 – St Kilda Festival, Euro Yuroke/St Kilda (FREE)
2 March 2023 – Mona Foma Festival @ Cataract Gorge Reserve, Kanamuluka/Launceston (FREE)
I am really digging “Fake Plant on Fire,” the latest single from Eora/Sydney artist lovemedo. It’s so creative and catchy, a true original. And how often can you say that these days?
“’Fake Plant on Fire’ is one of those songs that in the beginning finds you in one place and, by the end leaves you in another. I wanted to make a video that took people on that same journey,” lovemedo said. “I like to step into my music videos the same way an actor would into a movie role. This video is heavily influenced by ‘art house’ mentalities and performance art. Visual art is truly an extension of my music and a big part of my creativity so I’m proud to say that ‘Fake Plant on Fire’ is the first video to be completely written, directed & edited by lovemedo”.
I am so excited by this song. It’s one of those tracks that takes you on a real ride, the sort of one that makes you want to jump back on when it finishes to experience it all over again. That music video is just the cherry on top of a very delicious dessert. More please!
Eora/Sydney-based bedroom creator 
