Tag: "Australia"

It was only a week ago that Black Sabbath released the studio version of “God Is Dead?,” and already more new material has found its way online.

While performing in Melbourne, Australia recently, the men of Black Sabbath debuted a new song entitled, “Methademic.” The song is in a similar vein to “God Is Dead?,” with brooding metal pairing with Ozzy‘s atmospheric drone. The quality of the fan recorded footage is not top shelf, but the audio is good enough for sampling. Click below to view the performance.

13 arrives in stores June 11. Continue reading ‘Black Sabbath Debut “Methademic” In Australia’

Australia’s Tonight Alive have been making waves in the alternative scene for the better part of two years. Their fame hit a new peak last Summer when the band appeared on Warped Tour for the first time, and it seems they’re destined for even bigger and better things when they return to the tour in June. For now the band keeps us excited about the future with the release of the official video for their latest single, “Breakdown.”

Breaking out in pop rock is hard to do, and it may be even harder than usual with a female lead singer. Every band gets compared to others, and when it comes to female fronted acts it seems they all can only be compared by most to Paramore. The result of this monopoly of notable alternative female lead bands seems to give people a predisposition to write new groups off as copycats. Tonight Alive are not that kind of band. “Breakdown” features a sound all their own, with a hook far bigger than anything you heard on the last Paramore release. Hear for yourself, after the jump.

Don’t forget, the band kick off their first nationwide tour of 2013 later this week. All dates and ticket information can be found here. If you plan to go, comment below and let us know! Continue reading ‘Tonight Alive Release “Breakdown” Music Video (ft. Benji Madden of Good Charlotte)’

Australia’s Gold Fields are in for quite a year. After being named one of 2013′s bands to watch by MTV alongside up-and-coming heavyweights like Macklemore, the band is ready to take their insanely catchy blend of synthpop and indie rock to the international masses. They’ve already toured the states with the likes of St. Lucia and Diamond Rings, and are gearing up for another US jaunt this February. We caught up with frontman Mark Fuller to chat about the triple recording of the band’s upcoming album Black Sun, their remix process, and the effect of their massive burgeoning buzz.

OS: You guys just wrapped up a US tour with St. Lucia a little while ago. What was that like?

Mark Fuller: It was awesome. We were already fans of St. Lucia before we heard we were doing the tour and how it actually happened was that they asked us to support them. It was a pretty short tour, I think it only was six or eight shows, but getting to watch them every night was awesome. And when you tour with great bands like that you learn a lot, especially from their live shows; theirs is very tight, and they’re almost perfect live. Even though they’re a young band like us, they’ve got their live thing down pat. Touring with a band like that lets you learn a lot, but at the same time it’s fun because we love their music. The shows themselves were in front of crowds that reminded us of crowds that we play in front of back home, and they were probably bigger. The show in New York was amazing. It was to a packed ballroom; Bowery Ballroom maybe? It was just packed and awesome. One of our favorite shows.

OS: You’ve been named a band to watch in 2013 by multiple big sources: MTV, MySpace, and more.  What’s your relationship like with that buzz?  Do you try to ignore it?  Embrace it?

MF: We don’t really feel it at all. I know that reading stuff like that – like MTV coming out and calling us a band to watch for the year – is really weird for us, because MTV to us is like this massive American thing. It seems almost like it’s not real for something like that to happen, for them to talk about our band. Obviously we’re thankful that they’ve done that, and we feel very lucky that they’ve come across us and are thankful they’ve included us. At the same time, anything like that isn’t going to change what we’re doing. Since we’ve started, we’ve always tried to do what’s best for us and make sure we’re having fun and get other people to enjoy it as well. Any sort of things like that – the buzz – you have to take it in your stride, but it doesn’t change anything really. We’re still doing exactly what we were going to do all along.

Continue reading ‘Exclusive Q and A: Gold Fields Talk Buzz, Buds, and ‘Black Sun’’

It’s always interesting to find out that one of your favorite artists, known for a particular genre, is quite talented in another style of music. Sometimes fans get so used to a person as a specific character fulfilling a familiar role that, at times, it can be a surprise to hear the musician’s alter ego. Often times though, it can be and eye-opening experience, creating crossovers and introducing listeners to a new style of music that they would have otherwise been oblivious to. So, with that in mind, I’d like to acknowledge and pay respect to a few eclectic rockers who have challenged their fanbases with side-projects that are almost polar opposites from their main work. Some you may know, others may surprise you. In the end, you may feel inspired to finally start that pseudo-electronic jazz fusion folk band you’ve been dreaming about for so long. Continue reading ‘Jekyll & Hyde: Rockers And Their Alter Ego Side Projects’

Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive have a new album coming out on October 30th called Atlas. Released by Epitaph Records, it will be the band’s fourth full-length studio album. This time around, they’re laying it all on the line and confronting some of the world’s most trying issues, such as global warming, as can be seen in their video for “Darker Days,” which features footage of pollution and other manmade destruction to accompany vocalist Winston McCall‘s enraged lyrics (“With narrow minds we decimate our one true home”). The metal heavyweights are sure to be dropping the world on our shoulders with the release of Atlas. Click here for pre-orders, and check out the video for their new single “Darker Days” below.

More Like This:

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• Exclusive Q and A: Wade from Gallows Talks About Upcoming Album And Tours
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Internet denizens from down under received a special hello yesterday. The message rang out a little differently depending on one’s country of origin. “G’day,” it began for the Aussies and “Kia Ora,” for the Kiwis. Both audiences were then encouraged to “Spotify here.”

Yes, the interactive music streaming service Spotify made its debut in Australia and New Zealand yesterday. But it wasn’t all free tunes and good news for the company. Triple J reporter Sophie McNeill addressed some of the typical complements and complaints lobbed at the service during an interview with Spotify Managing Director Kate Vale. While some have questioned the depth and presence of local Australian artists on the service, Vale was quick to point out that Spotify’s 16 million song catalog would present a wealth of options for users. Vale has also noted Spotify’s desire to make everything available globally.

However Vale had an issue addressing questions regarding royalty payments and transparency:

Sophie McNeill: “Is Spotify going to make public its finances when it comes to contracts with the labels and how much they receive per play of the songs that they own?”

Kate Vale: “I don’t think so at this stage.”

McNeill: “Why?”

Vale: “I’m not sure.”

Vale did not go into further detail regarding the issue. Vale later asserted that Spotify has been instrumental in combating music piracy in every country that it is featured in and refuted a claim that Lady Gaga had only earned $167 for a million streams of her song “Poker Face.” So while Spotify is sure to hit big with music lovers in the Southern Hemisphere there are still some questions about the service to be addressed.

You can listen to the full radio piece here.

Australian rock and rollers Jet, who broke big internationally in 2003, have called it a day.

Comprised of brothers Nic (vocals/guitar) and Chris Cester (drums), along with lead guitarist Cameron Muncey and bassist Mark Wilson, Jet came up through the Melbourne music scene, influenced by both British Invasion classic rock and Australian indie rock stalwarts like You Am I. In the wake of the garage rock revival, which saw bands like The Hives, The Datsuns, and fellow Aussies The Vines rise to prominence, Jet signed with Elektra Records, which released Get Born in 2003. That album spawned the smash single “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” a song that synthesized the band’s major influences like The Stooges and AC/DC.

That the band wore their influences on their sleeve diminished their standing with some critics, but Jet continued to find success, having built a large and enthusiastic fan base. While they did not again reach the heights of “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” they released Shine On (Atlantic) in 2006 and Shaka Rock (EMI) in 2009. The former album went platinum in Australia and Gold in the UK, while their final record went gold in Australia.

On their website, the band posted a simple farewell to fans:

After many successful years of writing, recording and touring we wish to announce our discontinuation as a group. From the many pubs, theatres, stadiums and festivals all across the world it was the fans that made our amazing story possible and we wish to thank them all. Thank you, and goodnight.

Radiohead is adding several more gigs to their already humongous world tour in support of their album The King of Limbs. Though the band is currently on tour, they’re still continuing to book shows for the rest of the world. Recently, they’ve added six more shows to the tour that will continue throughout nearly all of 2012. These performances will be “down under” in Australia and New Zealand, starting at Auckland’s Vector Arena and ending with two shows at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena. Clearly, success does not rest.

For those merely interested in American tour dates, Radiohead will be playing the Coachella Festival in Indio, CA on April 14^th and 21^st. They will also play a set at the legendary Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 8^th in Manchester, Tennessee. Unfortunately, Coachella is sold out, but you can still snag a ticket to see Radiohead rock Bonnaroo.

Click here to see a full list of upcoming Radiohead tour dates.

Hell yes! Joe Satriani has come out with his first 3D theatrical concert film movie entitled – yep, you guessed it - Satchurated. By the way, how badass is that name? Filmed in Montreal, Canada during  2010′s Wormhole Tour, this movie is finally making it to the big screen! Unfortunately, that big screen is in Australia and only for one night: Wednesday, March 7th. But don’t be too sad, it’ll be in stores soon…

Directed by GRAMMY and EMMY award-winning filmmakers Pierre & Francois Lamoureux and produced by Cinemusica & Fogolabs, this movie is jam-packed full of the latest audio and video production standards – ten 2D and 3D cameras with 7.1 Dolby Digital sound. The brothers are recognized for having directed and produced concert films/documentaries for RUSH, The Who, Harry Connick, Jr., Slipknot, Rihanna, The Pretenders, Zappa Plays Zappa, Branford Marsalis, Cowboy Junkies, Collective Soul, Ben Harper, Willie Nelson, Deep Purple, The Stray Cats and others. So if you got a 3D TV, this is absolutely a recommended buy!

• Satriani’s “War” from Satchurated.

And if you happen to be in Australia…below are the 2012 G3 tour dates for that part of the world:

24 March ‘ Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
25 March ‘ Logan Campbell Centre, Greenlane, Auckland
27 March ‘ Royal Theatre, Canberra
30 March ‘ Hordern Pavillion, Sydney
31 March ‘ Palais Theatre, Melbourne
3 April ‘ Festival Theatre, Adelaide
5 April ‘ Convention Centre, Brisbane
6 April ‘ Byron Bay Blues Festival, Byron Bay

Lee Coulter

Who says that practitioners of Americana have to be American? Lee Coulter hails from the land down under, not the one between sea and shining sea. Nonetheless, his self-described brand of “funkacana” feels as American as apple pie. The Australian singer-songwriter blends acoustic rock, folk and funk into breezy, wheezy little melodies. “Like They Used To” is a simple, stringy strut that could have been plucked from any era. On the laid-back “Photograph,” Coulter continues the feel-goodiness, singing, “Music is just a photograph of the way you feel.” If so, then the singer is feeling frisky on “Booty Voodoo.” Perhaps you’re wondering what funkacana is, well, here’s your first taste. The rhythmic, almost Latino dance track is quicksilver and grit, kinetic and cheeky as hell. Coulter will fit right in here. We Americans like our songs about female posteriors, don’t we, Sir-Mix-A-Lot?