Author: Troy Culpan

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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Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low

Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low

“…the record started taking shape as we started writing songs but we definitely knew we wanted to push things, we wanted to make a dynamic record, we didn’t want to do a repeat of the one we had just put out before. Those were all the things that we went in with to start and then I think when we […]

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Zac Brown Band – The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – April 1, 2015

Zac Brown Band – The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – April 1, 2015

After enduring the world’s seventeenth longest line to get into the venue, this country loving crowd have turned out in droves to catch one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen in the Zac Brown Band. Now the last time we saw ZBB back in 2013 I was blown away so tonight I’m looking forward to seeing the band in […]

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Cancer Bats – Searching For Zero

Cancer Bats – Searching For Zero

Cancer Bats are back with their new album ‘Searching For Zero’ their return after 2012’s ‘Dead Set On Living’ and it’s time to start my own one man circle pit at home and get ready for what I’m expecting to be a fast, heavy album! Opening track ‘Satelites’ with its gentle ‘whoa oh’s has you settled in and then it’s […]

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silverchair – ‘Frogstomp’ 20th Anniversary edition

silverchair – ‘Frogstomp’ 20th Anniversary edition

Do you have a silverchair story? I do… don’t worry it’ll all be relevant to this review… so in 1994 I was going to school in St Kilda, one of the guys tells us to come to The Espy on Friday as ‘there are these kids that are unbelievable, they’re going to be huge…’ we look at him like ‘ok…’ […]

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David Ellefson – The Factory Theatre, Sydney – March 26, 2015

David Ellefson – The Factory Theatre, Sydney – March 26, 2015

They always say that there’s a first time for everything, so here I am at The Factory Theatre in Sydney to see not only a spoken word tour, but my first experience in seeing one. So a pretty good way to start is with David Ellefson, Megadeth’s co-founder and bass player, but more on him shortly… Carbon Black open proceedings […]

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Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

“…it’s connecting with other people through the medium of music, we love playing in our studio, we love recording the songs but they never have the same passion as when you’re trying to play them in front of someone. I think almost the goal of our band is to be like a magician who’s equally as surprised when the rabbit […]

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Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper

“…when I created Alice it was at a time when I looked at all the bands and they were all heroes, all rock heroes and I said where’s the rock villains and rock needed a villain and I will gladly be Captain Hook, I will gladly be the Dracula of rock…” The word legend gets used a little too much […]

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Jim Bogios of Counting Crows

Jim Bogios of Counting Crows

“It’s great to have something that’s stood the test of time like that and where people just relate songs to certain periods of their life or certain things that happened to them and you can see that on people faces because they get really emotional about a lot of the songs on that record.” From release: Counting Crows have sold […]

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David Ellefson of Megadeth

David Ellefson of Megadeth

“Part of rock and roll is doing things out of the box and trying new things that push the envelope and kind of open your thinking up to different things, so I’m very appreciative that Australia has welcomed the idea and opened it up for me to do it.” From release: From the Megadeth’s inception in 1983 until the band’s […]

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Rage of Venom

Rage of Venom

“…we had to do something a little special so we did take a little bit more time than we probably should’ve but we just wanted the album to be perfect and knew we had to hit a home run with this album because the last album was so strong and very popular with the legion, this album had to be […]

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Nick Martin of Sleeping With Sirens

Nick Martin of Sleeping With Sirens

“I think when we originally did the record that got scrapped, there were some preconceived ideas and kind of direction they wanted to go in but then when we did ‘Madness’ I felt all we threw all that out the fuckin’ door. Let’s not have a path and got into it and see what comes out…” From release: Sleeping With […]

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Sully Erna of Godsmack (Video Interview)

Sully Erna of Godsmack (Video Interview)

“Music is not supposed to be a competition, there’s too many bands out there that are angry and they want to be the best and they want to win everyone’s fans over and they give you the stink eye, and it’s like ‘get over yourselves’ you know what I mean? Just enjoy it, it’s music, everyone has their own fans, […]

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Soundwave – Day 2 – Olympic Park, Sydney – March 1, 2015

Soundwave – Day 2 – Olympic Park, Sydney – March 1, 2015

It’s weird, it’s come around so quick that I feel like I was only just at Soundwave yesterday… oh wait… that’s right, welcome to Day 2 of the Soundwave extravaganza… now after yesterday I’m sore and weary but that doesn’t stop me getting in nice and early and already losing about 15kgs from sweat in the most ridiculous heat possible, […]

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Soundwave – Day 1 – Olympic Park, Sydney – February 28, 2015

Soundwave – Day 1 – Olympic Park, Sydney – February 28, 2015

Well here we are again, trusty old Soundwave… This will be our sixth time covering the festival and we get to do it twice… Yeah in 2015 Soundwave is one louder taking on a two day monster. Today obviously is day 1… As I sit here on the train I reminisce, how many times have I done this Journey thinking […]

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Incubus / Antemasque / Le Butcherettes – The Enmore Theatre, Sydney – February 27, 2015

Incubus / Antemasque / Le Butcherettes – The Enmore Theatre, Sydney – February 27, 2015

As I caught the Incutrain on my way to Incubus tonight I was thinking how I’d never seen them before and that somewhat confused me, as I’ve always been a fan of what they’ve done but have no idea why I haven’t. So tonight, that changes… Le Butcherettes are on nice and early and although there’s only no word of […]

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Lamb of God / Killer Be Killed – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – February 26, 2015

Lamb of God / Killer Be Killed – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – February 26, 2015

Gotta love a week where we cover Roxette and the next night we’re all about the METALLLLLL at Lamb of God and Killer Be Killed for their Sidewave… As the show isn’t even close to starting, many people behind me are clearly peaking to early, they are pumped. It’s actually quite cute as they are shouting out lyrics and getting […]

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Cormac Neeson of The Answer

Cormac Neeson of The Answer

“We just wanted to trust in our own song writing abilities and really enjoy the whole process, so we didn’t really have any fixed agenda as to what kind of record we wanted to make but then a couple of months into the process we started to get a really good feel that this record was going to be the […]

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Roxette – ‘On The Steps’, Sydney Opera House – February 25, 2015

Roxette – ‘On The Steps’, Sydney Opera House – February 25, 2015

Roxette, you know the songs, you know the sound and you know ‘The Look’ (pun intended) but for 30 years the Swedish powerhouse have been making music and tonight here to showcase the hits of their career they couldn’t have picked a better place to do it than on the steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House. Boom Crash Opera […]

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Mick Box of Uriah Heep

Mick Box of Uriah Heep

“I think the essence of it all is that we’ve still got the same passion and edge we’ve had for our music and we’re driven by that, and to be in the band at this juncture just to enjoy it, writing new songs, recording new songs, playing new songs and doing live shows, it’s as simple as that really, we’ve […]

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Slash / Steel Panther – The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – February 24, 2015

Slash / Steel Panther – The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – February 24, 2015

What a pairing! This Sidewave is one for the rockers, when you take a band from day one of Soundwave and a band from day two of Soundwave and put them together, what have you got? Slash Panther! Well, that’s what I’m calling it… This one is going to be off the charts, so without further ado, it’s almost 7pm […]

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Scott Gorham of Black Star Riders

Scott Gorham of Black Star Riders

“…I think and I know that everyone else in the band thinks it was the right thing to do is to change the name from Thin Lizzy and we’re gonna go Black Star Riders and come what may… we’ll see what happens and hopefully we’re good enough to cut the mustard here.” From release: It was in 2012 that Black […]

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