Author: Troy Culpan

Closure In Moscow

Closure In Moscow

“A song would start developing and I would attach some ideas to it, then it would take a turn and start to fit somewhere else, say coupled with another song… This was definitely a challenge to try and juggle everything and try and keep a mental overview of everything at once” From press release: It’s been a while between drinks, […]

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Mark O’Connell of Taking Back Sunday

Mark O’Connell of Taking Back Sunday

“…The thing is, we didn’t come up with the title because of this, but at the same time personally the relationships within the band are the best they’ve ever been throughout the fifteen years of being a band, so it made perfect sense when he said it.” From Tour Release:  Selling millions of albums worldwide, TAKING BACK SUNDAY continue to deliver successful […]

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Bert McCracken of The Used

Bert McCracken of The Used

“…we’re an honest rock band and we’re fans of music, we’re fans first, so you see a band who really knows how to play live songs and very energetic, and I think that the music has a real kind of intimate sense of personal freedom and it’s really exciting and something to stand behind. There’s a lot of different vibes […]

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New Empire – In a Breath

New Empire – In a Breath

New Empire are a band that are very easy to listen to, their songs are full of great musical grooves, killer harmonies and at times just big over the top production. These are things that I like. ‘In a Breath’ is the newest release from this Aussie band and it’s a great return from their last album ‘Symmetry’ which produced […]

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Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive

Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive

“…so our kind of mission was to make fans out of the rest of the audience and the general response every time I’d go to merch to meet people was ‘I’ve never heard of your band before’, and ‘I’m buying your album’, and ‘I really like what I heard tonight’ and that’s all you can ask for really.” From press […]

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Declan Melia of British India

Declan Melia of British India

“I think they’ll be cool shows, we’re going to be playing songs that we don’t usually play, like some of the fan favourites from the first two records and I think by then we’ll probably have road tested some more of the new material as well. So they are for the fans of refined taste, if such a thing exists…” […]

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My Echo

My Echo

“The band wanted to capture our live sound and energy as best we could. So we piled in to the neve’ room at Sing Sing Studios and went for it. It was one hell of an experience for us all. Definitely the most challenging thing we have ever done as a band yet we are so happy with the outcome.” […]

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ANTI-MORTEM

ANTI-MORTEM

“There’s a lot of shitty music out there and “New Southern” has a lot of work behind it. We have spent our whole career up until this point writing it and getting it captured on CD. If you’re a fan of blues/rock/metal you should check us out because it’s a perfect blend. “ From Bio: What the American hard rock and […]

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Skid Row / Ugly Kid Joe – The Hi Fi, Sydney – April 27, 2014

Skid Row / Ugly Kid Joe – The Hi Fi, Sydney – April 27, 2014

Sunday night in Sydney and it’s time to rock! Two of the ‘oh wow I remember them’ bands from the late 80’s / early 90’s in Skid Row and Ugly Kid Joe are in Australia and judging by not only the crowd here tonight but from what I’ve seen at the other cities, people are still interested and that makes […]

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Devin Shidaker of The Acacia Strain

Devin Shidaker of The Acacia Strain

“We take the songs that we have played in the past that do really well, we usually put those in there and then we just take depending on what type of crowd we’re playing for, with more metal shows we try to get some of our most faster paced stuff in there and then if we’re playing more of a […]

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Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe

Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe

“…we survived the first tier of it in our early twenties when we blew the fuck up around that world and that was a lot to survive and to negotiate from a lot of different angles, so now for me personally I know what to celebrate and I know what to let go of…” From tour release: UGLY KID JOE’s […]

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Taking Back Sunday – Happiness Is

Taking Back Sunday – Happiness Is

Taking Back Sunday are back with their newest album and I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, as their self-titled album in 2011 was a monster, so will this be in the same category? Let’s see… as ‘Preface’ string us in to lead single ‘Flicker, Fade’ my answer is YES! If the rest of the album is […]

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Rex Brown of Kill Devil Hill

Rex Brown of Kill Devil Hill

“…It even brings back the hunger days of when Pantera started for me, so that being said, it’s all about you’re only as good as your last gig and you’ve got to get out there and kick some fuckin’ ass man, that’s what I’m known for and I’m not going to fuckin’ let you down now… no way.” From Bio: […]

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The Spirit

The Spirit

“It’ll be a rocker. It’ll be a mover. It’ll have people playing instruments. It will have lots of beautiful singing. It will sound great. It’ll make you look better and feel smarter.” From Bio: 2014 signals the birth of Melbourne’s newest band, THE SPIRIT. A four piece with an addiction to classic sounds and the human elements of hand crafted music. […]

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The Pretty Reckless – Going To Hell

The Pretty Reckless – Going To Hell

Instantly rockin’ and instantly sleazy, ‘Going To Hell’ opens with the ballsy rocker ‘Follow Me Down’ and to open the bands second album with anything less than this would’ve been a disaster, but if you need to set the scene for an album, consider it set. Its bluesy parts and soulful breakdown show a side to the band that is […]

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Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet

Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet

“It just felt good to me, and not only the style of music that I was going for but I’m good at making that music by myself without too much help from engineers and I didn’t want to rush it, I wanted a homemade sounding record that was true to the roots of the band, which is not hard for […]

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Thirty Seconds to Mars – Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney – March 29, 2014

Thirty Seconds to Mars – Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney – March 29, 2014

After postponing this tour from last August, Thirty Seconds To Mars are now back to give Australia the shows they have been waiting for and tonight is Sydney’s turn and it seems the pent up excitement is well and truly there. White Lies from London are here to open up the show tonight and after what felt like a tiny […]

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Ten Thousand

Ten Thousand

“I think we’re just doing our thing and lyrically there’s a lot of messages in the lyrics, and for me I think the most important thing is that to just live your life to the absolute fullest and have fun and enjoy everything and not take life too seriously, and I think our music covers a lot of different things, […]

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Andre Anderson & D.C. Cooper of Royal Hunt

Andre Anderson & D.C. Cooper of Royal Hunt

AMENDMENT – CANCELLATION NOTICE At the 11th hour a critical impasse culminated between the parties involved with the Royal Hunt tour. This irreconcilable impasse made the tour and the shows itself untenable, as such, the tour is cancelled. We are disappointed in light of these events all the while remaining steadfast in the fact that we did everything to try and […]

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Michael Starr of Steel Panther

Michael Starr of Steel Panther

“Well we always stay true to our core which is sex, drugs, rock and roll and heavy metal, that’s just what we do, but this record we decided that you know what, people are moshing to ‘Community Property’ we need something fuckin’ heavy, a little bit darker, a little edgier…” If you’re not aware of Steel Panther, then this interview […]

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Steel Panther – All You Can Eat

Steel Panther – All You Can Eat

“Steel Panther have this shit down, and I’m glad that this band exists as without this kind of fun in heavy metal what the fuck would we do? All You Can Eat has me more than satisfied, although I’m greedy and going back for another helping… *presses play*…” To quote The Simpsons – “Hens love roosters, geese love ganders, everyone […]

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Luca Brasi

Luca Brasi

“We spent a lot of time writing and demoing this album, trying to craft the guitar parts while keeping some big chorus hooks in there at the same time. We hope that people are into what we’ve tried to pull off.” From Bio: Luca Brasi have toured Australia relentlessly, with a sense of youthful abandon, infectious enthusiasm and undeniable dedication […]

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Joel Stroetzel of Killswitch Engage

Joel Stroetzel of Killswitch Engage

“The vibe is really good in the whole camp and the band and crew are all getting along great and I think just having Jesse so excited to be back and touring and doing it for a living, his positive vibes are rubbing off on everybody, so it’s good. The morale is high. *laughs*” From tour release: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE’S ‘Alive Or […]

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Dead In A Second

Dead In A Second

“I was straight onto this one and I went through a period of time around that Christmas break where I just thought a lot of how things work and how life works and I thought things are over just really quickly, from relationships to all sorts of things, and to me Dead In A Second was that, it can be […]

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Dead In A Second – The Double Treblio

Dead In A Second – The Double Treblio

I must start by saying that I always dig it when I’m introduced to a band that has had an originals release before yet I’ve not heard it, although I had been introduced to Dead In A Second via their cover of The Divinyls track ‘Boys In Town’ although renamed ‘Girls In Town’ for DIAS to release. But with no […]

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USA! USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA!

“We are beyond trying to write great songs for ourselves. We feel sometimes when you gift something unselfishly to someone else, there is magic attached to it. If you can make one person happy it’s infectious.” Bio: Girls and rock n roll go together like sugar and cream. USA!X3 is a living, breathing celebration of girls. USA!X3 started when Ken […]

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Brett Anderson of Buried In Verona

Brett Anderson of Buried In Verona

“Do what you want no matter what anyone says or does to sabotage you. Take action as just thinking positive does not cut it in this life, you want to achieve life goals etc. you have to work for it and a lot of the time sacrifice many things. But the end result is always worth it.” From release: Since […]

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CROSSON

CROSSON

“The future of our planet is dominated by ‘Boy Bands’ and ‘Hip Hop Artists” and CROSSON has been sent back in time from Earth’s decadent future to save the future of Rock and Metal. Our goal – to Spread The Rock N Roll Disease.” From Bio: Transported back in time from our decedent future, post apocalyptic rock warriors CROSSON, have […]

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Chris Carrabba of Twin Forks

Chris Carrabba of Twin Forks

“My reservation was always that that was a pretty fulfilled musical genre and what could I add new to that, and the answer was I guess, my own perspective. I was excited to work within the parameters of the music that I love so much and still try to excel.” From release: Having spent more than a decade baring his […]

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Living Colour / Alter Bridge – The Hi Fi, Sydney – February 25, 2014

Living Colour / Alter Bridge – The Hi Fi, Sydney – February 25, 2014

A sold out crowd in Sydney tonight pretty much says it all, this is going to be one amazing musical laden evening. A subdued opening to the Living Colour set tonight with Corey Glover looking more like he’s up for a round of golf than here to rock out, even with this slower opener, a cover of the Robert Johnson […]

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