In anticipation of their first ever Australian tour, Apocalyptica have revealed which local acts will accompany them on their string of East Coast shows this August/September.

Brisbane’s Awoken Solace will lend their blend of orchestral power metal, medieval baroque and fantasy soundtracks to the August 30th show, while Sydney’s progressive doom five-piece Rise Of Avernus will accompany them on August 31. Finally, Melbourne’s Be’lakor will return from their European tour just in time to join Apocalytpica at Melbourne’s Hi-Fi Bar on September 1.

Apocalyptica are coming. Twenty years from inception, one of the biggest names in European metal is finally touring Australia. Combining classical nuance with brutal breakdowns, this fantastic Finnish four-piece are quintessential Eurock with a difference. They are metal, with cellists.

Their most recent album, 7th Symphony was produced by Joe Baressi (Queens Of The Stone Age, Tool) and features guests vocalists including Gavin Rossdale (Bush), Brent Smith (Shinedown), Joe Duplantier (Gojira) and Diane Warren (Award winning songwriter for artists like Aerosmith, Toni Braxton, Celine Dion). 7th Symphony has been touted as the band’s most inspired release to date, with equal emphasis on beautiful melodies and heavy, bombastic rhythms.
Continue reading Tour News: Apocalyptica Australian Tour – August/September 2012 →

Praying For Sunshine is the third brilliant single, lifted from Children Collide’s album Monument, released today to radio and available digitally. Alongside the single is another clever video clip from the band, and several extra tour dates added to satisfy demand.

Children Collide certainly know how to make an intriguing video clip, their Loveless clip from Animal Kingdom director David Michôd was re-created by Triple J’s The Doctor and garnered a lot of attention including a J Award nomination. Most recent single Cherries video clip was an eye popping visual piece compiled using fan-shot photos captured on the Sword To A Gunfight tour and submitted online.
Continue reading Children Collide more shows announced on ‘Monument’ Tour! →

The 2012 Queensland Music Awards is shaping up to be one of the most memorable nights of the year, with Q Music today announcing a stellar list of finalists and live performances.

Nearly fifty judges from across the country have selected an amazing list of finalists, including Cub Scouts, Mosman Alder, Harmony James, Dubmarine, The Medics and many more.

Joining these artists are the nominees for Arts Queensland’s $10,000 Billy Thorpe Scholarship supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Please see below for the full list of finalists in all categories.
Continue reading 2012 Queensland Music Awards Finalists Announced →

After almost a decade, legendary New York rockers Nada Surf are finally returning to Australian shores to celebrate not only the recent release of their seventh full-length record The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy, but also their entire back catalogue for the first time ever.

Nada Surf is a name synonymous with music lovers the world over and one that tirelessly transcends their 1996 hit ‘Popular’ with a discography of what many describe as perfect indie-pop/rock.
Continue reading Tour News: NADA SURF Announce First Australian Tour In Almost A Decade →

Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s (Adam Sandler) lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free from meddling from the human world. But here’s a little known fact about Dracula: he is not only the Prince of Darkness; he is also a dad. Over-protective of his teenage daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), Dracula fabricates tales of elaborate dangers to dissuade her adventurous spirit. As a haven for Mavis, he opens the Hotel Transylvania, where his daughter and some of the world’s most famous monsters – Frankenstein and his bride, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more – can kick back in safety and peace. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but his world could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.

Continue reading Movie Trailer: Hotel Transylvania (2012) →

The Living End, John Butler Trio, The Cat Empire to headline!

Friday – The Living End
Saturday – John Butler Trio
Sunday – The Cat Empire.

And that’s just for starters.

Throw in Ball Park Music, Lanie Lane, The Whitlams, Boom Crash Opera, The Beards, the USA’s Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and you’ve got the makings of one of the best line-ups of any festival in the country.

Photo: Clave Contra Clave Brisbane Heat 2011, by Jacques Maudy
Playing Caribbean beats and sultry Salsa classics might seem like a pretty good gig, but for the best Latin musicians around the country, it’s serious business. Come October, Latin bands will be getting their trumpets in tune and their claves ready as ClaveContra-Clave, Australia’s only national live Latin band competition, goes on tour.

In its second year, the national competition showcases Australia’s leading Latin entertainers from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with the Grand Finale being held at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre on Saturday-the-27th-of-October.
Continue reading Clave Contra Clave 2012 – Heating Up With Latin Fever →

Following their seven-year hiatus, the return to Australia of Canadian rockers THE TEA PARTY this July sees the band welcomed back with open arms.

Thanks to the overwhelming support by fans in Melbourne & Brisbane, the SOLD OUT sign is up at The Palais & The Tivoli, with the other states soon to follow suit. For those lucky folk in Melbourne however, The Tea Party are set to rock the southern state once more with a 2nd show on Sunday July 15 at The Hi-Fi. Stuart Chatwood says, “We asked Paul Dainty, the promoter, if he could accommodate a club show for us on this tour. While we love doing theatres, there’s something about rolling up your sleeves and playing a packed rock club. It speaks to the roots of this band, the immediacy, the excitement…. we wanted to give fans the opportunity to see us in a different environment as opposed to just doing a repeat of the first SOLD OUT show at the Palais”. Tickets for The Hi-Fi show go on sale Monday July 2.
Continue reading Tour News: The Tea Party Australian Tour – July 2012 →

One of our nation’s most iconic voices, Xavier Rudd, is excited to announce the SPIRIT BIRD Australian Tour – his most extensive tour yet!

To celebrate the anticipated release of his striking seventh studio album, the tour will take Xavier Rudd to 28 cities and regional centers around the country, from Airlie Beach to Albany. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Thursday 21 June.

Already producing his highest-selling single to date with the beautiful Follow The Sun; Spirit Bird is Xavier’s deepest and most explorative album, finding the ever socially-conscience Rudd delving into his musical and spiritual ancestry.
Continue reading Tour News: XAVIER RUDD – The ‘Spirit Bird’ Tour | August-September 2012 →

By Natalie Salvo
Barry Morgan’s a piano man but he’s not singing songs. The man who put the “organ” into “Morgan” is the alter ego of comedian, Stephen Teakle, who originally rose to fame on Spicks & Specks. On his debut album, The Touch Of You he pulls out all the stops (that’s an organ joke) with eight instrumental songs that sound as big as his wind-swept hairdo and as wide as his enthusiastic smile.

For most people the organ is typically associated with the sounds of church or hold music, like muzak. But here we get a retro guy from the city of churches (we’re told his shop is in Adelaide’s Sunnyside Mall) and some rather real sounding music. Consider that he couples warm and velvety tangos with some lounge-style grooves and a few sultry bossa novas, for a start.
Continue reading Album Review: Barry Morgan – The Touch Of You →