Author: Troy Culpan

Young Guns – Ones and Zeros

Young Guns – Ones and Zeros

The third album from any band can sometimes be the make or break, and honestly some bands these days don’t even get to three, so when I heard Young Guns were making their third, I was stoked as these guys have made a couple of killer records previously so I’m looking forward to checking out ‘Ones and Zeros’ and reviewing […]

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Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Malmsteen

“There’s a saying, there’s only two man-made objects that can be seen from outer space, The Great Wall of China and the Malmsteen Marshall stacks *laughs*.” From release: Yngwie J. Malmsteen has been blowing minds across the globe with his incredible guitar skills and showmanship for over 35 years and in June 2015, Yngwie and his band will be returning to Australia […]

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Markus Grosskopf of Helloween

Markus Grosskopf of Helloween

“…but in general Helloween sounds like Helloween sounds and you cannot go any other way you know, so it was clear from the beginning that it might be slightly different sound from record to record, but in general you have a very Helloween-y sound which is great.” From release: When you think of Power Metal, one of the first bands […]

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Jeremy Widerman & Brandon Bliss of Monster Truck (Video interview)

Jeremy Widerman & Brandon Bliss of Monster Truck (Video interview)

“At least from the album perspective, at least what I wanted to achieve with it was not stray too far from what we’ve done in the past because that’s obviously been working… but at the same time trying to evolve a couple of the songs a bit further in a different direction just because I think it’s important to kind […]

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Jason Wade of Lifehouse

Jason Wade of Lifehouse

“We spent two years working on this album and couple of times we thought we were finished we scrapped the whole thing and started over again, so we put really our heart and soul into this record and really came up with something that we’re really inspired by and we think something our fans will really appreciate…” From release: Out […]

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Nickelback – Allphones Arena, Sydney – May 22, 2015

Nickelback – Allphones Arena, Sydney – May 22, 2015

You should all know by now that May The Rock Be With You is a Nickelback friendly zone, that won’t change, and this will be my hmm… Maybe 10th or 11th time seeing Nickelback since 2001 and they’ve always delivered an amazing live show and I’m expecting tonight to be no different. Here off the back of their newest album […]

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Daniel Estrin of Voyager

Daniel Estrin of Voyager

“So the nice thing about having an album and having it released for some time already is that you get all the sort of end of year reviews coming up on facebook and all that and you see peoples top ten lists and you see consistently that you’ve made it into their top ten lists and that’s a really nice […]

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The Peep Tempel

The Peep Tempel

“Typical live show… there’s not really ever a typical live show with Peep Tempel *laughs* we never know what to expect, but it’s just going to be a lot of sweat usually, you can expect that, but there’s going to be a lot of dancing and an all-round good time.” From release: Indomitable Melbourne trio THE PEEP TEMPEL are taking […]

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Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber

Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber

“The right time because it’s the right time for us, and you don’t ever want to live with regret, man, when an opportunity comes up to make up with somebody that you feel out with and it feels good and it feels right, you want to take advantage of that and you want to say you know what? Let’s do […]

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Mötley Crüe / Alice Cooper – Allphones Arena, Sydney – May 16, 2015

Mötley Crüe / Alice Cooper – Allphones Arena, Sydney – May 16, 2015

In my twenty eight or so concert going years I’ve been to a few ‘farewell’ tours, KISS and John Farnham the most notable, but as both of those artists continue to tour, tonight we’re here to say goodbye to Mötley Crüe, this one you can guarantee will be it, because as they say, ‘All bad things must come to an […]

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Everclear – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – May 10, 2015

Everclear – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – May 10, 2015

It’s time for another celebration album, I love these things, I love when bands take the time to remember and relive a landmark album for them, and tonight we get to feel a little old as we celebrate an album twenty years old… man… that’s over half my life… but it’s time to feel 19 again… I made it in […]

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Peace – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney – May 8, 2015

Peace – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney – May 8, 2015

Man this place filled up! I was worried for a while when I got here that the turn out wasn’t going to be the best but I stand corrected as the band hit the stage and it’s a jam packed floor that are ready for some Peace.  Here for Groovin’ The Moo, we are lucky to get them in a […]

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You Me At Six – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – May 6, 2015

You Me At Six – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – May 6, 2015

You Me At Six or maybe tonight it’s You May The Sixth ha ha… man it’s the small things that amuse me sometimes. So here we are again at The Metro, I’ve found myself a perch at the back of the venue to be able to see everything and everyone, and judging by the length of the line to get […]

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Art Alexakis of Everclear

Art Alexakis of Everclear

“A lot of people who had success and are not as successful look at it as some sort of commentary on themselves and to me it’s cyclical man, you do what you do and put your best in to it, sometimes it connects with people, sometimes it doesn’t, doesn’t mean it’s not as good, just means it’s different. You just […]

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Opeth – The Enmore Theatre, Sydney – May 3, 2015

Opeth – The Enmore Theatre, Sydney – May 3, 2015

Ok so I’ve never seen Opeth before and I’ve been told this will be an experience so I’m looking forward to this. Having recently spoken to Mikael, I’ve been looking forward to this for a while now, so let’s go! An excited Sleepmakeswaves tick something off their bucket list tonight as they open for Opeth, now in seeing these guys […]

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Karnivool – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – May 2, 2015

Karnivool – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – May 2, 2015

Ten years is a long time. Two Olympic Games are held in that time, even three depending on when you start the count, and usually in a decade some bands come and go. That isn’t the case for Karnivool, a band still going strong to this day and here we are tonight celebrating a momentous occasion, a decade since their […]

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The Script – Allphones Arena, Sydney – May 1, 2015

The Script – Allphones Arena, Sydney – May 1, 2015

The Script are back in Australia, seems they’re here a lot and why not when you’re at the stage where you’re playing arenas! They’re here off the back of their new album ‘No Sound Without Silence’ and it’ll be great to hear some of these newer songs in this big room tonight… Colton Avery lit up Allphones Arena (literally) as […]

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Ace Frehley – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – April 30, 2015

Ace Frehley – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – April 30, 2015

There are a few iconic guitarists in the world, you can name them, but one that I’ll name is Ace Frehley. You know him from KISS, yeah, that band, but without the makeup Ace is still as iconic and he’s back in Australia for the first time in a while to treat us to his live show in support of […]

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Bam Margera of Earth Rocker / FFU

Bam Margera of Earth Rocker / FFU

“This time I promised my Dad that I wouldn’t paint on my spare time anymore, because I had about $40,000 worth of damages overall from hotels just fuckin oil paint stain on the rug and oil paint doesn’t dry for like four days so it fuckin spread everywhere and at the end of my Australian tour I was $40,000 in […]

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Mark Hosking of Karnivool

Mark Hosking of Karnivool

“So it was a challenge and it was exciting but we knew we had something, we knew the sound was fresh so we were just excited. We weren’t kids but we were much younger back then and I think we just wanted to get it done real quick and get out there and present it to the world…” From release: […]

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Deez Nuts

Deez Nuts

“We have always been a band that likes to let things come together organically you know what I mean? If you head into an album or head into a studio to write songs with something set in your mind of it has to be this or it has to be that or has to remain in the compounds of this […]

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Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth

Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth

“…it’s just the five of us playing the songs and we’re trying to play them as good as we can with as much passion as we can. I think what we have to offer is just more of a musical experience you know and very little eye candy, and some people probably find that very boring and they need that […]

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Lzzy Hale of Halestorm

Lzzy Hale of Halestorm

“Instead of thinking about that we just went in and had a great time *laughs* and made some music that got us excited and put it together, so it was a different mindset, again I think that the only rules in place were we’re not going to record the record in the same way that we did the last two, […]

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Erik Ohlsson of Millencolin

Erik Ohlsson of Millencolin

“So this time around we focused on how do we sound when we play live because when we play live that’s really what we are and those songs we choose to play from our records sound a lot like the songs on the new album, so it felt like it’s been a fun and great process trying to bring out […]

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Matt Barnes of You Me At Six

Matt Barnes of You Me At Six

“I remember the first time we did it was a Soundwave we were plying to four or five hundred people and then last time was supporting Paramore on those gigs was absolutely monstrous, some of those were like 15,000 odd people, so it’s been a steady grow I think.” From release: From infamous sold out shows at London’s Wembley Arena […]

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Laurent ‘Lags’ Barnard of Gallows

Laurent ‘Lags’ Barnard of Gallows

“I felt like this album is a chance for us to really experiment and push ideas and try new things… I feel like Gallows has always been a very aggressive band and for this record it would be nice to turn that aggressive behaviour and explore the darker depths as opposed to just being angry in black and white you […]

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Counting Crows – The State Theatre, Sydney – April 9, 2015

Counting Crows – The State Theatre, Sydney – April 9, 2015

Counting Crows have been a household name since they burst onto the scene back in 1993 with their monster album ‘August & Everything After’… and 22 years on, they’re still going, still making music and now off the back of their newest album ‘Somewhere Under Wonderland’ they’re back in Australia and here we go… Support act Ben Salter made his […]

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Peace

Peace

“…some of the songs on the record are sad and some are happy, but in our world even at our saddest we should be happy in comparison to some of the stuff that’s going on in the rest of the world, with what’s going on in the news and I don’t know, some of our worst problems are not problems […]

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Halestorm – Into The Wild Life

Halestorm – Into The Wild Life

OK, so I fell in love with Halestorm (and Lzzy Hale mind you) within seconds of hearing the cowbell intro to ‘It’s Not You’ back in 2009, since then I have spread the word, shared the love about this killer band and watched them make a name for themselves out there in this big world. I wasn’t sure how it […]

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Dellacoma – South of Everything

Dellacoma – South of Everything

I love a debut album, I just do, it’s the chance to make that introduction and make that statement of ‘here I am’ and Dellacoma is here to do just that. You may know Dellacoma from his days fronting the killer band Sunset Riot, but now after going solo and traipsing around the USA playing shows and kicking ass it’s […]

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