Category: 27 Listicle Series

Norwegian band Ondt Blod (translation “Bad Blood”). Despite of having only released one album, Ondt Blod have a lot to show for. Not only have Ondt Blod been deemed the “pride of the North” in Norwegian media; their debut-album “Finnmark” was nominated as the “new-comer of the year” for the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammys in 2016, and they have been listed on Norwegian national radio with five songs. The band has toured Norway alongside Kvelertak, and played the Roskilde Festival in 2016.

We asked them to give us a run down on the thing that inspire them. 

Guitarists:

Top Five Guitarists
Bill Kelliher
Brent Hinds
Kerry King
Steve Ray Vaughan
Ola Salmi Seipæjærvi

Top Five Home town bands we love

Jabba,
Heave Blood and Die
Die a Legend
Jørn Hoel
Betablok

Top Five Bands
Refused
Kvelertak
Mastodon
Against Me!
Young Guv

Top Five Tour Stories
When Aslak (the singer) did a 10 min stand-up routine in front of a rowdy crowd waiting for Kvelertak, and got death threats and booed of stage.
When Håvard (the drummer) on a dare told a girl to “loose the zero, get with the hero” in front of her boyfriend- this one also ends in fear of lost life and limbs.
When Kristoffer (the bass player) barfed all over the backstage bathroom, due to over eating at a pizza buffet like a fucking 11 year old, leaving an intolerable odour that both bands using the backstage could bask in.
When our artist host passed out in an epileptic fit due to the stage lights at the first song in our set.
The gig at a skateboard festival, where all of the 20 attending the concert by the end of the gig were bloodied up, and on their way to the ER due to the magnificent combination of drunken backflips and broken glass.

Top Five Musicians that inspire us
Agnetha Fältskog
Björn Ulvaeus
Benny Andersson
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Varg Vikernes

Check out the new video here

Melbourne’s Slow Talk are today releasing their gorgeous new single “New Vernacular”, the title track of their EP, out April 27. This new single is about realizing a burning desire to experience new things, explore the world and escape the monotony of daily life.

We caught up with the guys to find out their Top 5 Music Videos

Top 5 Music Videos  with Slow Talk

1. 1. The 1975 – Robbers

James and Ash: Sex, drugs and the epitome of cool, Matty Healy, in a modern day Bonnie & Clyde interpretation. Say no more.

2. 2. Northlane – Citizen

James: When I grow up I want to have my own sick Jason Eshraghian performance video. The camera work, the imagery, effects… As far as ‘white room’ rock clips go, Citizen is untouchable.

2. 2. 1. 1. 3. Childish Gambino – Sweatpants ft. Problem

James: An oldie but a goodie. Maybe it’s just me fetishising American imagery in some way but I find the imagery really visually enticing despite its simplicity. For the photography aficionados out there, certain moments give off an almost Gregory Crewdson feel, creating tension and narrative from almost mundane situations. I’m a sucker for that stuff.

2. 2. 1. 1. 4. James Vincent McMorrow – Cavalier

Ash: This is an absolute whirling of emotions. It has everything from stark realism that puts your heart on the ocean floor, to beautiful and perplexing splendour that puts you above the clouds. The sleazy lighting in the brothel always fascinated me, it becomes completely reiterated and given new context by the song. I can’t not mention the flag scene too – sublime

Seoul – Stay With Us

Ash: I always got a foreign feel from this video. The wandering of the city and catching the subway alone gives reassurance in solitude. The timing of the full band entering with the train going past is almost physiological, as if you feel the breeze too. I’m a huge fan of low light filming and gentle visuals, and the strobe lights tick even more boxes.  

Based in Melbourne, Australia, the pair has been writing in tandem since 2014, sharing a love for emotionally expressive music and progressive songwriting. The pair are influenced by bands like Citizen, Circa Survive, Gleemer, Emarosa, and Turnover – and on a composition level, inspired by bands like Gang of Youths, Bon Iver, and The National. Slow Talk’s DIY approach has seen the pair oversee not only the musical production of their songs but the construction of the band’s visual and auxiliary content as well.

Slow Talk‘s EP ‘New Vernacular’ will be released on Friday April 27 and is available for Pre-Order now on iTunes, Google Play and Bandcamp. For more information, go to http://www.slowtalk.com.au.

Our past days – too much too soon

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After last year’s release of the standalone single Brain Drain and a sold-out tour, Adelaide’s indie-punk duo, The Hard Aches are releasing their sophomore album, Mess out next week (April 13 via Anchorhead) and will be touring nationally to support the album.

We caught up with the band to talk about their Top Five Fave Guitarists. 

Billy Bragg – Billy was the first guitar/singer/songwriter I fell in love with. The way he made an electric guitar sound on his early recordings really resonated with me. Billy inspired me to play and to play the way that I wanted because that’s how I wanted to. I was definitely lucky to be bought up on a strict music diet of Billy. Now in my more grown up (mature?) years I’m constantly being inspired to say something more with my music this I can thank Billy (and strummer) of course.

Johnny Ramone – The first songs I ever played, the first songs I ever performed in a band were the Ramones. Johnny’s no bullshit approach to playing guitar spoke to a young rebellious me. I could play the songs and even figure them out all by myself when I could barely play a 2-string power chord. Long live RAMONES.

Tom Petty – Greatest songwriter of all time? Yeah, I think so. Simple, meaningful and beautiful songs. I wasn’t exposed to Toms music until my late teens but it was an instant connection for me. Writing songs in a way that would be as strong and as powerful with an acoustic guitar (or piano) and a voice as they would be with a big band. This just made sense to me. I carry a lot of Toms wisdom with me every song I play.

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – The perfect duo. They complement each other’s guitars playing like no one else. I love a lot of country music and these two are at the top of the list for me. Although I haven’t ever tried to learn their stuff, they are one of the few that get me so hyped on guitar playing every time I hear it.

Stuart Adamson (Big Country) – I’ve been exposed to Big Country’s music ALOT throughout my life. It was one of those bands that as a kid I always asked my dad to change when it was playing but as time went on I fell deep into Big Country’s extensive back catalogue. The TONES, the fucking TONES. Taking traditional folk style songs to electric guitars and (in my opinion) one of the best rhythm sections of all time. I think my riffs are very inspired by Stuarts guitar playing.

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The Hard Aches hit the road on tour, catch them at a venue near you.

Less than a year since the release of their latest album, the explosive Forgetting The Future, British India are thrilled to announce they’ll be returning to stages around the country in May and June on the Midnight Homie Tour that will kick off in Bendigo on May 11 and continue through regional and metropolitan cities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, before finishing up at The Gov in Adelaide on July 6.

With all that hectic touring we asked the lads what are their Top Five Travel Essentials on Tour. 

UE Boom 2 speaker – It might be just to have some relaxing tunes to drift off to at night or it might be the vibe setter when there are a bunch of you hanging out in the hotel room. This thing sounds a million times better than your tinny laptop or phone in a plastic cup and weighs nothing and fits in your backpack.

A new album to listen to – Travelling and new music go so well together, If i listen to R.E.M – Murmur I am instantly transported to when we were recording in Berlin. Every morning i would wake up with a rancid hangover and walk from our AirBnb to the studio listening to this album and slowly feel the hangover dissipate.

Toiletry bag – Now this might sound obvious but if we are flying to Perth for a two week run and I forget my toiletry bag I am eating hard into my profits. Razors are a rip off, toothpaste, new toothbrush, deodorant etc. That’s at least $50 right there.

Snare – Recently we flew Qantas instead of our faithful Virgin Airlines with its magical baggage allowance and we had to carry on a few extra bags. I was in charge of the Snare. Now in my defence I only ever take my backpack on the plane with the essentials, a book, laptop, pen for Declan to borrow and lose, so I was on auto pilot. It wasn’t until we landed back in Melbourne after having a connecting flight in Brisbane that I received a phone call saying they still had our snare and it would have to be shipped at our expense because it was my fault…..unlucky. Thankful to the wonders of social media the snare was returned to us by a trusty fan at our next show in Joondalup.

A vibe – As much as good vibes are infectious bad vibes can be terminal. This is supposed to be fun! Who cares if you had to wait twenty minutes while the plane taxied. It’s the same with a holiday, why do i read more Facebook status updates about how someone was delayed and it ruined their holiday rather than recommendations on brilliant spots to go. You know you don’t always have to complain.

Catch British India on tour near you

MIDNIGHT HOMIE SINGLE TOUR

Fri 11 May Tap House Bendigo

Sat 12 May Pelly Bar Frankston

 Fri 25 May Towradgi Beach Hotel Wollongong

 Sat 26 May Narrabeen RSL Narrabeen

 Fri 1 June Newport Hotel Fremantle

 Sat 2 June Badlands Perth

Sun 3 June Secret Show Scarborough

 Fri 8 June Sooki Lounge Belgrave

Sat 9 June Karova Lounge Ballarat

Fri 15 June 170 Russell Melbourne

Sat 16 June Barwon Club Hotel Geelong,

Fri 22 June Miami Tavern Gold Coast

Sat 23 June The Triffid Brisbane

Fri 29 June Cambridge Hotel Newcastle

Sat 30 June Oxford Art Factory Sydney

Fri 6 July The Gov Adelaide

CAMARANO ‘Somebody Else’ EP Launch
Saturday April 21 – The Odd Fellow, Fremantle
w/ Chip Hazard and Bri Clark

Cheeky little doggoes SOPHISTICATED DINGO are sick of your smashed avo, craft beer and buzzfeed articles about the yoof and their inability to save money.  We asked the guys who their Top Five live bands are. 

We love playing live. So much so that we started Sophisticated Dingo for the sole purpose of getting out to play and see more gigs. Seeing a band play live can often provide the ‘last piece to the puzzle’ or strike you with that ‘eureka’ moment you’ve been looking for in allowing you to understand an artist’s music more and bring new light to their recordings. These five bands all have fantastic catalogues of music that when performed live possesses the most pure representation of them as artists. We love the energy, power and raw interpretation of art that each of these acts offers in a live setting and strongly recommend checking them out at a gig soon.

The Pretty Littles

– A great story-telling band that is as honest in their songwriting as they are raucous in their on-stage antics.

DZ Deathrays

– An emphatically ‘big’ sounding band that has complete control over a crowd and mosh pits charged on hook-filled rock anthems.

Tropical Fuck Storm

– Enchanting and mysterious. The songs don’t play at breakneck speed but you are drawn into their powerful in-your-face performance that’s impossible to veer away from.

The Gooch Palms

– Complete fun, catchy tunes and comic relief from the best stage banter out there. But the songs alone stand up for themselves as killer garage pop tunes and even have moments evoking a modern ‘dance-hall’ sound.

Amyl and the Sniffers

– In. Your. Face. Much more than a 70s Aus-rock revival band but they are bringing all the best bits of pub anthems, mullets and all.

These party starters are ripping up Sydney and Melbourne on their Yuppies Tour!

Saturday April 21st  Oxford Art Factory Sydney

Rare Finds 3rd B-day gig

Tickets Here

Thursday May 17th The Gasometer Hotel Melbourne

In the physical world, Shiva and the Hazards were formed in Melbourne Australia earlier this decade by Douglas Hind and Leigh Baines. The pair then relocated to the U.K.  the land of their previous colonial occupiers, full of ambition and naivety.

Following their return to Melbourne, Shiva and the Hazards are planning to finish what they started. The band are now joined by Baines’ former collaborator, singer- songwriter and guitarist Jet O’Rourke (The Gear), to propel the release of their first collection of music, aptly titled, ‘Future Cult Classics

With the new music video East India Empress having a 70s vintage feel we asked the band to tell us what they loved the 70s and what they would bring back. 

​Since independently releasing his debut single ‘Crescent feat. Liahona’ in April 2017
and Bodybound (EP) the month following, ORCHA has been steadily creating a path of his own. The project’s beginnings came as a test. Being influenced by North American artists Andrew Bird, Rhye and Nicholas Jaar, ORCHA was determined to create electronic sounds using only his violin.

Orcha gives us his menu of top tastiest artists

SUBMERSIVE #1
ORCHA WITH SPECIAL GUESTS JUICE WEBSTER & HYPER REELIST
SATURDAY MARCH 24
NEON PARLOUR, THORNBURY VIC

Spylights is a progressive style alternative rock project from New Orleans.
The music has many different feels, emotions, and dynamic musical coloring.

We caught up with them to find out about their Top Five Fave Musicians 

Top Five favorite musicians

1. Freddie Mercury-

Freddie will always top my list as a god. He was such a raw, groundbreaking and naturally multitalented composer, vocalist, and piano player with a golden vocal tone. To this day I have not felt or heard anyone move me as deeply as Freddie and Queen do..

Mike Patton-

I have been a fan of his style and mind since I was a kid.   He is a creative genius musically and has many different styles, moods, attitudes, and quirks with him. He is fluent in many languages, can also sing and perform in any style or genre of music and change mood at the drop of a hat. He has influenced so many great singers of my generation!

John Mayer-

Plenty of people don’t understand what an amazing musician, guitar player, and songwriter John Mayer is.    His guitar skills are so refined and flavorful, and as a lyricist he is very clever but still also very heart on sleeve. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and knows how to get you thinking deeply about some real shit.

Steve Lukather-

Steve is one of my favorite guitar players as well as the one of the most talented singer songwriters of all time. He was and is still a very key member of one of my favorite bands of all time ,TOTO. Steve and the guys from the band basically were Michael Jackson’s backing band and songwriters for the Thriller record!

Enya-

I am and always will be a massive fan of Enya. Every thing she touches musically sounds so colorful and epic.      Her songwriting and production are amazing, and her vocals are always so velvet and ambient.    Her character, sound and uniqueness is why I put her on this list.

I have been a fan of his style and mind since I was a kid.                        He is a creative genius musically and has many different styles, moods, attitudes, and quirks with him. He is fluent in many languages, can also sing and perform in any style or genre of music and change mood at the drop of a hat. He has influenced so many great singers of my generation!

https://spylights.bandcamp.com/