Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Fall For The Buckleys’ Latest Single, “Oops I Love You”

Country-pop sibling trio The Buckleys are spreading sunshine with their charming new single, “Oops I Love You”. Recorded in Nashville’s legendary East Iris Studios earlier this year, this track delivers two-and-a-half minutes of pure joy.

“Interestingly, this song started out on bass,” explained vocalist Sarah Buckley. “I was jamming with our youngest brother Dylan on drums just for fun and I started playing this bassline which you hear in the song. We kept jamming and when I brought it to Lachlan and Molly as just a bass and drum groove, they loved the direction, so we all started playing around with some ideas and the melodies started to take form.”

“Oops I Love You” comes from The Buckleys forthcoming EP Take It As It Comes. Set to drop on August 5, the release showcases the songs they laid down in Nashville with producer Chad Carlson, known for his work with Taylor Swift, Lady A, and Trisha Yearwood. The trio hope that releasing this new music will open a new chapter in their careers.

“It feels like a natural evolution from where we left things off with Daydream in 2020,” said keyboardist Molly.

Lachlan, the band’s guitarist, added “We’ve all grown a lot as individuals, songwriters, musicians and together as a band since recording our debut album. We are experiencing a new chapter in our lives, which you hear in the music.”

“We really want to get out on the road, play as much as we can, meet as many people as we can and soak in all the experiences,” Sarah confirmed.

The Buckleys will play the Fresh Country Festival at the NightQuarter on the Sunshine Coast on June 18.

Image used with permission from Identity PR; credit: Kimberley Vecsei

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Darren Hayes Back to His Best With Stunning New Single “Poison Blood”

As one half of Savage Garden, Darren Hayes created some of the world’s most iconic pop songs. Tracks like “Truly, Madly, Deeply,” “I Knew I Loved You”, and “To The Moon and Back” are the ones that are encouraging people to buy those tickets to his upcoming shows. While those tracks sold truckloads, many of his solo singles failed to chart. However, it’d be a mistake to think Darren’s best music is behind him. In fact, his new single “Poison Blood”, may be his best solo effort. Its stripped-back sound ensures we can hear every intimate lyric and the quality of Darren’s trademark falsetto.

“’Poison Blood’ is a song about choosing to stay when everything else in your life is telling you to leave. I have a family history of depression and suicide and I talk openly about my own diagnosis it in the hope that I might inspire someone who is struggling to seek help, as I have proudly done many times throughout my life,” he explained. “I describe my depression as a blessing, a gift, and a curse all at once. I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy and yet I’m aware I am a deeply sensitive person, and that my unique brain allows me to feel depths of emotions that many people don’t experience. So I have learned to use those moments to channel melodies and stories that I hope are so real and so relatable they might reach someone else who is in pain, like me, and remind them to stay, like I choose to, every single day.”

Darren will play his first Australian shows in more than a decade next year. No doubt the fans will scream for those Savage Garden hits, but I hope this special song gets a warm reception. Tickets are available now for the following shows:

31 January 2023 – RAC Arena, Perth
4 February 2023 – Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne
7 February 2023 – Aware Super Theatre, Sydney
8 February 2023 – Entertainment Centre, Newcastle
11 February 2023 – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
12 February 2023 – Convention & Exhibition Centre, Gold Coast

Image used with permission from Beehive PR

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Party on With Amber Lawrence’s New Country-Pop Bop, “Making Up For Lost Wine”

With a new album on the horizon, Amber Lawrence has dropped a fun new single “Making Up For Lost Wine”. One for all of us who love a cheeky prosecco, it’s a girl-power anthem about reclaiming your power and personality after the wrong relationship goes south. Amen!

“Making Up For Lost Wine” comes from Amber’s seventh studio album Living for the Highlights, which drops on July 22. She’ll promote it with shows almost everywhere. Raise a glass and enjoy the party at the following venues:

11 June 2022 – JK Kelly Theatre, Ingham (with Catherine Britt)
12 June 2022 – Top Rail, Malanda (with Catherine Britt)
15 July 2022 – Tuncurry Beach Bowling Club, Tuncurry
16 July 2022 – Fredo Pub, Frederickton
17 July 2022 – Nemingha Tavern, Nemingha
22 July 2022 – Australian Hotel Brewery, Rouse Hill
23 July 2022 – Goulburn Workers, Goulburn
24 July 2022 – Young Services, Young (with Catherine Britt)
29 July 2022- Harmonie German Club, Canberra
30 July 2022 – Ziggy Pops, St Kilda
31 July 2022 – Gerogery Hotel, Gerogery
12 August 2022 – The Entrance Leagues Club, Bateau Bay
20 August 2022 – Calliope River Village Festival, River Ranch
25-27 August 2022 – Gympie Music Muster, Gympie
2 September 2022 – It’s Still a Secret, Brisbane
3 September 2022 – Mt Isa Civic Centre, Mt Isa
24 September 2022 – Monte’s Lounge, Alice Springs
30 September 2022 – Wandoan Arts Centre, Wandoan
1 October 2022 – Camp Oven Festival, Millmerran
5 October 2022 – TBC, Pinnaroo
7 October 2022 – Junee Theatre, Junee
8 October 2022 – Spring in the Springs, Rankin Springs
9 October 2022 – Sandigo Hall, Sandiago
14 October 2022 – Hobart Uni Bar, Hobart
15 October 2022 – Forth Pub, Forth
22 October 2022 – Mandurah Country Music Festival, Mandurah
29 October 2022 – Beats on the Bend, Boundary Bend
4 November 2022 – Murgon Muster, Murgon
9 November 2022 – Cruisn’ Country, Super Cruise
17 November 2022 – Arco Bar, Melbourne
19 November 2022 – Sale Country Music Festival, Sale
25 November 2022 – Club Forbes, Forbes
26 November 2022 – Harden Country Club, Harden
3 December 2022 – Mornington Country Music Festival, The Briars

Image used with permission from Revolutions per Minute

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Girl and Girl Release Feelgood New Single “Dance Now”

Girl and Girl will have you grooving your way into the long weekend with their upbeat new indie-rock banger, “Dance Now”. From the moment that brilliant bass line kicked in I was absolutely hooked.

“Coby, our bassist at the time, brought this bloody magical little bass line to a jam one day and it just crawled into all of our brains and settled,” explained lead vocalist Kai James. “He and I wrote the rest of the track together, and it became this big, beautiful, passionate celebration of love. ‘Dance Now’ is so invigorating to play live and the recording allows an in-house opportunity to yell and scream about really cool nice stuff.”

Fans will have the opportunity to enjoy Girl and Girl’s electric live show when they play Brisbane’s Hot Dreams Festival tomorrow. The bill is stacked, Lucy Dacus, Cate Le Bon, Glass Beams, Andy Shauf, and heaps more on the lineup. There are still some tickets available, but they certainly won’t last so grab them while you can!

Image used with permission from Habit Music Co.; credit: Charlie Falconer

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Turn Up the Volume on Midnight Pool Party’s New Floor Filler, “Don’t Kill My Vibe”

With the long weekend looming, there’s no better time to get into “Don’t Kill My Vibe”, the latest dance track from Midnight Pool Party. This is the perfect song for shutting out the pressures of the final workday of the week and focusing on all the fun that lies ahead.

“We wanted to go back to a kinda more disco chill vibe for the next single,” the duo explained. “Instrumentally we were inspired by the Remix PNAU did for Elton John and Dua Lipa “Cold Heart”. We also were inspired by a few of Dua Lipa’s pop songs. A lot of the production behind her songs have inflections of disco and funk and we wanted to make a track that was catchy and poppy but with a disco flair. Lyrically this is a song about walking away from toxic situations, focusing more on yourself and not letting anyone kill your vibe. It’s almost like a SELF-HYPE song, to kinda recalibrate yourself. Even when you get into bad situations, you can still start over again. No regrets, just onward and upward.”

I hear this is one of many new songs Midnight Pool Party will drop in the coming months. If they’re all this banging, we’re in for one hell of a good time!

Image used with permission from Mammal Sounds

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Big Orange Go From Strength to Strength With “Mum Says I’m Okay”

I’m not sure what’s in the water in Perth, but they’re churning out some quality rock bands lately! Big Orange is another quality act making waves at home and abroad. Past singles “Love’s Not Enough” and “By the Dozen” scored airplay on American college radio and got the attention of IndieXL in the Netherlands, LA on Lock, the UK’s Radio Wigwam, and our very own Triple J, Double J, The AU Review, and theMusic. They’re refusing to take their foot off the accelerator, releasing their third single of the year “Mum Says I’m Okay”. If you love big guitar riffs, this one’s for you.

“I think everyone with a passion can relate to these lyrics,” Emma Adams, who plays the synth, said. “Daniel [Davis, vocals] showed me this track a few months ago and I dug the shit outta it. It’s a slow burn with a superbly hooky chorus when it hits.”

Crank this one up and I swear it’ll make your Hump Day better!

Image used with permission from Kick Push PR

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

The Southern River Band Release “Modern Romance”, Old-School Rock for the Digital Age

Their new track might be called “Modern Romance’, but Perth five-piece The Southern River Band are delightfully old school. If you love your rock and roll served neat like a good whiskey, this will be right up your alley.

“Modern Romance is about exactly that, traversing the already murky waters of love in the digital age,” explained the band’s frontman, Cal Kramer. “It’s pretty easy to sorta create a facade on the internet, so you never really know what’s going on, or how many people someone has on the go at one time, but if someone just all of a sudden stops talking to you completely, you can bet it’s more than just you! You hit unfollow, and thus, the circle of life and love continues.”

Having won the Western Australian Music Awards rock band of the year title in 2021, it’s time that the rest of Australia discovered what these guys can do.

Image used with permission from Beehive PR; credit: Greg Lewis

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Siobhan Cotchin Rocks Out With “Growing Pains”

Perth artist Siobhan Cotchin has released her relatable new single “Growing Pains”, a track which she calls an “ode to anxiety”. After an angsty couple of years for the planet, this song really hits. It sees Siobhan veer slightly from her country roots for a more indie-rock sound.

“‘Growing Pains’ is a super personal song about the realities of growing up,” Siobhan explained. “It’s about wanting to avoid all responsibilities of adulthood and the anxieties I think we’ve all faced at some point about who we are and where we fit in the world. It’s kind of an ode to my anxiety and the way it makes me act by ‘ghosting my friends’ and just generally avoiding people. I hope with ‘Growing Pains’, people can find solace and comfort in the lyrics and know it’s completely okay to be scared of the future and not know who you are. It’s all part of being human!”

Sam Ford, known for his work with POND, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and Abbe May, produced, engineered, and mixed the track at Perth’s Tone City Recording Studio.

“It was so incredible to work with Sam Ford at Tone City,” Siobhan confirmed. “I feel like I’m starting fresh and exploring aspects of my music I haven’t had the chance to yet. I always have the best time in the studio with my band, it was a super easy process and all just naturally flowed.”

Siobhan will celebrate the release of “Growing Pains” with a hometown show at The Bird on June 11.

Image used with permission from Beehive PR; credit: Micheal Tartaglia

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Human Nature @ The Art House, Wyong – 4 June 2022

I think most teenage girls need a boy band in their life. A bunch of good-looking, nice guys creating fun songs that can alleviate some of the angst that inevitably comes with that period. If they’re talented, well that’s a bonus. I like to think I had discerning taste even back then because my boy band of choice was truly talented. While many of my peers were swooning over Backstreet Boys, Take That, and East 17, I was mad for Human Nature. I moved on as so many of us do as we age, but with the fabulous foursome promising a night of greatest hits on the Central Coast, I couldn’t resist taking a trip down memory lane last weekend.

I must admit, as Human Nature began their signature acapella rendition of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” I was transported back. I was sitting next to my husband now, but my heart still skipped a beat marvelling at these men who had meant so much to me as a teenager. This was a night when we revelled in nostalgia. Andrew, Mike, Toby, and Phil took turns sharing stories of their journey from the 4 Trax singing at local RSLs to the Las Vegas strip. Their jokes were cornier than I remembered, but the songs still stack up. “Whisper Your Name”, “Wishes”, “Don’t Cry”, “Last to Know” … the hits that had me lining up at countless shopping centre instores kept coming.

Motown has dominated the last few Human Nature shows I’ve seen, so to enjoy a set that celebrated the original music I loved most was thrilling. Back in the day, the sections of Human Nature shows where they stripped the songs back were always my favourites, so I was in raptures to see so many songs get that treatment. Acoustic versions were balanced by big danceable numbers. And in case you’re wondering, these guys still have the moves to match. I found myself squealing as they ripped off their jackets to reveal rippling biceps while performing the dance steps I still know by heart. Sorry, husband.

The night leaned heavily on those nostalgic originals, but after intermission they proved they’re still much more than a covers band. A string of new originals, sadly ignored by radio but every bit as good as their early hits reminded me I really need to dig into their new music. They’ve still got those songwriting chops.

However, as we all know it was covers that gave Human Nature’s careers a shot in the arm and took them to the Las Vegas strip. While it’s incredibly popular, I must admit that I’ve never been a big fan of their Motown material. I always felt there was just a little more heart when they were performing their own songs. However, in a show like this, we got the best of those soul covers. I also can’t deny the power these songs have on the audience. The aisles were filled with people dancing.

This was a night for the fans, whether you were there screaming along at the shopping centre instores or you jumped on the Motown train. Human Nature evoked memories and reminded us all that 30 years on, they’ve still got it. Human Nature have plenty of local shows before Mike, Andrew, and Toby return to the US. If you’ve ever been a fan, you don’t want to miss this:

11 June 2022 – Royal Theatre, Canberra
14 June 2022 – Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane
15 June 2022 – Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane
16 June 2022 – The Events Centre, Caloundra
17 June 2022 – The Events Centre, Caloundra
18 June 2022 – Brolga Theatre and Convention Centre, Maryborough
21 June 2022 – Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Nowra
22 June 2022 – WIN Sports & Entertainment Centres, Wollongong
24 June 2022 – Blue Mountains Theatre and Community Hub, Springwood
25 June 2022 – Blue Mountains Theatre and Community Hub, Springwood
26 June 2022 – Blue Mountains Theatre and Community Hub, Springwood
28 June 2022 – Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre, Wagga Wagga
29 June 2022 – Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre, Wagga Wagga
30 June 2022 – Griffith Regional Theatre, Griffith
1 July 2022 – Griffith Regional Theatre, Griffith
2 July 2022 – Albury Entertainment Centre, Albury
3 July 2022 – Albury Entertainment Centre, Albury
8 July 2022 – Twin Towns Services Club, Tweed Heads
9 July 2022 – Twin Towns Services Club, Tweed Heads
21 July 2022 – Glasshouse, Port Macquarie
22 July 2022 – Civic Theatre, Newcastle
23 July 2022 – The Star Event Centre, Sydney
24 July 2022 – The Star Event Centre, Sydney
26 July 2022 – Albany Entertainment Centre, Albany
27 July 2022 – Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, Bunbury
28 July 2022 – Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, Mandurah
29 July 2022 – Crown Theatre, Perth
30 July 2022 – Crown Theatre, Perth

Image source: Stephen Katulka

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

The Smith Street Band Return to Scene With “I Don’t Wanna Do Nothing Forever”

Listening to The Smith Street Band’s first new music in two years has made me realise how much I’ve missed them. Don’t think they’ve mellowed in time. The new single “I Don’t Wanna Do Nothing Forever” is a passionate call to arms encapsulating the mixed feelings many of us have in these crazy pandemic times.

“A song about all the excitement and anxiety felt re-entering the world, what we’ve lost over the last few years and most importantly what we’ll gain when we finally get through everything we’ve all had to endure! This song is the first single off our upcoming record, we’ve been working hard and cannot wait to share everything with you!” said lead singer Wil Wagner.

The single comes bundled with a couple of choice live tracks on all the major streaming services. If they’ve got you nostalgic for the band’s gigs, you’re in luck. The Smith Street Band are preparing to visit most of the capitals and major regional centres with a brand new tour. Here are all the dates you need:

10 June 2022 – Volta, Ballarat
11 June 2022 – The Torquay Hotel, Torquay
24 June 2022 – The Westernport, San Remo
16 July 2022 – Beer & BBQ Festival, Adelaide
24 August 2022 – The Cambridge, Newcastle
25 August 2022 – Entrance Leagues Club, Central Coast
26 August 2022 – The Metro, Sydney
27 August 2022 – UOW, Wollongong
16 & 17 September 2022 – Kambri, Canberra
22 September 2022 – Miami Marketta Gold Coast
23 September 2022 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
24 September 2022 – Eleven Dive Bar, Maroochydore
7 & 8 October 2022 – The Gov, Adelaide
23 October 2022 – The Forth Pub, Forth
28 October 2022 – Astor, Perth
29 October 2022 – Wintersun, Geraldton

Image used with permission from Little Giant Agency; credit: Ian Laidlaw