Author: Troy Culpan

Stavros Yiannoukas (Stav) of Bluejuice

Stavros Yiannoukas (Stav) of Bluejuice

“…the first time we played Big Day Out was insane and this was before we did a tour, the show just went completely to pieces, the PA broke down, we couldn’t hear each other on stage, our bass player busted his bass, he had to borrow a bass from this Japanese band playing after us.” From Bio: Consisting of Jake […]

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Paramore - photo by Annette Geneva

Paramore – Allphones Arena, Sydney – January 11, 2014

Well, here it is, my first show of the year, so there are expectations on this one to start the year with a bang, thankfully from all accounts this tour has been a monster and now my hopes are set high… Twenty One Pilots are up first to get the crowd warmed up with their interesting mix of pop rock […]

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Brant Bjork of Vista Chino

Brant Bjork of Vista Chino

“…even being in this age of information it’s very difficult to change the name, to rebrand as they would say I guess, it’s very difficult to do that. As much as we sometimes would not like to believe there’s not a lot of weight in a name, for a lot of people there is.” When Kyuss Lives! were forced to […]

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Chris Dangerous of The Hives

Chris Dangerous of The Hives

“A Hives show is always different from any other Hives show, it’s always worth checking out as if you’ve seen us before, you haven’t seen this one, so we’re coming back, in full speed and very ready to convince even more Australians that they should love The Hives forever and ever…” Back in 2002 The Hives told us all that […]

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Muse – Allphones Arena, Sydney – December 13, 2013

Muse – Allphones Arena, Sydney – December 13, 2013

Muse are back in Australia, tonight Sydney, and I’ve only seen Muse once before and it was at the Big Day Out back in 2007. I was so far back that all I saw were little dots on stage and lasers, even then I was hooked, they sounded tight and some six now close to seven years on since then […]

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Steel Panther – The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – December 7, 2013

Steel Panther – The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – December 7, 2013

Tonight is going to be fun, plain and simple… Fozzy who take the award for the creepiest intro music ever with a version of ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ that would give anyone nightmares but those nightmares turn into a dream as the always energetic band make their way to the stage and instantly make out like they’re playing in front of […]

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Jamey Jasta and Frank Novinec of Hatebreed

Jamey Jasta and Frank Novinec of Hatebreed

“I don’t know… the record industry is really fucked up right now, and luckily we don’t have to do a record, I mean we could feasibly tour forever and never have to do another record but the creative bug will bite you and that’s when you’ve got to give in. For me there’s no succumbing to it…” From Bio: Relentless […]

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Sébastien Lefebvre and Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan

Sébastien Lefebvre and Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan

“…we’re going to challenge ourselves, there’s a lot of songs already there, but we don’t have a record yet, so it could go in to a lot of different directions. I think the intention is to just push the boundaries of what we think Simple Plan is and what our fans want, and still at the same time keep our […]

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Vans Warped Tour – Barangaroo, Sydney – December 1, 2013

Vans Warped Tour – Barangaroo, Sydney – December 1, 2013

Vans Warped Tour has returned to Australia after twelve years away and those here have come in droves, some for the first time and some who are revisiting the brand once again, yet my plan of arriving early was thwarted by the thousands of punters who had the same idea as me on this balmy summer morning. The line to […]

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Oderus Urungus of GWAR

Oderus Urungus of GWAR

“All I want to say is great job keeping the pressure on Australia, one run through your country was not enough, we’ve only begun to infect your minds, and Gwar is returning for the next Soundwave festival, get ready for the biggest show in rock and roll history, get ready for GWAR!” From Bio: 2013 is a packed year for […]

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Kevin Skaff of A Day To Remember

Kevin Skaff of A Day To Remember

“The album as a whole, I don’t know, we all just get in the studio and do our own thing, and whatever comes naturally comes out and we don’t really go in to change anything when it comes to albums, we do what we do best and that’s just work off each other for every song, and it’s what we […]

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High Tension

High Tension

“I guess we’re all coming from different places and now people checking in and starting to be more aware of what we do sound like, I guess I don’t know how to describe what our sound is, it’s a bit rock, it’s a bit noisy, it’s a little bit metal in places, it’s bloody confusing.” From Bio: In early 2013 […]

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JF Dagenais of Kataklysm

JF Dagenais of Kataklysm

“We’re all really excited to play these new songs for the first time as Australia is actually the first stop on our tour, so we cannot wait to stop and see how this album will reflect live and I know we’ve already been practising and it sounds awesome, and I cannot wait to come to Australia and kick your ass […]

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Daughtry – Baptized

Daughtry – Baptized

I’ve liked Daughtry since their first release and with each album they have grown and showed that they can make a great rock album each time and in the two years since Daughtry released ‘Break The Spell’ a revelation must have taken place and it’s ‘No Surprise’ sorry, pun intended… ‘Baptized’ opens with the title track and a distinct different […]

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City and Colour – The State Theatre, Sydney – November 24, 2013

City and Colour – The State Theatre, Sydney – November 24, 2013

After wowing Australian audiences in July with a couple of acoustic solo shows, Dallas Green is back with his band City and Colour to showcase what this sold out crowd obviously has been waiting for. So, this being my first time seeing City and Colour I’m looking forward to what the fuss is all about, I mean of course love their […]

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Darren Middleton

Darren Middleton

“I’d left a twenty year relationship where my identity was I’m Darren the guitarist in Powderfinger and that’s finished so I needed to work out who I was and what I wanted to do again, essentially start again.” From press release: Darren Middleton is best known from his previous life as guitarist and songwriter for Powderfinger.  The much loved Powderfinger […]

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Adam “Nolly” Getgood of Periphery

Adam “Nolly” Getgood of Periphery

“… we’ll be getting to play the songs we’ve never played in Australia before, in fact there’s a few songs on the current tour we’re on that we’ve never played before and it will only be the second time we’ve ever played these songs on a set list, so we’re really looking forward to that.” From tour release: Periphery has […]

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Kram of Spiderbait

Kram of Spiderbait

“Don’t take things too personally as well, but just try and do the best you can, it really is about the work and that’s all we intended to do with this record is to make a truly great album, and anything beyond that is a bonus and that’s really always been our main motivation.” From Bio: Spiderbait are considered Australia’s […]

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Chris Jericho of Fozzy

Chris Jericho of Fozzy

“…it’s all about connecting with the crowd, if you’re going to do anything in front of an audience you need to connect with them, and if you can connect with them then people will enjoy what you’re doing, if you can’t then they don’t give a shit, doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re doing.” From Bio: “No matter […]

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Baby Animals – The Metro, Sydney – November 9, 2013

Baby Animals – The Metro, Sydney – November 9, 2013

Australian rock legends The Baby Animals are back in Sydney tonight in support of their newest album ‘This Is Not The End’ and on the first leg of their ‘Feed The Birds’ tour… and now seeing Baby Animals before, numerous times actually, I’m looking forward to hearing the new material tonight at The Metro and also, being a part of […]

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James Reyne – ‘A Crawl To Now’ – The Basement, Sydney – November 1, 2013

James Reyne – ‘A Crawl To Now’ – The Basement, Sydney – November 1, 2013

In what is somewhat of a special evening and a test, Australian music legend James Reyne is here to perform the first of his two ‘A Crawl to Now’ shows which will see James split his show into two sets, a set of his solo material and a set of Australian Crawl songs, some of which haven’t seen the light […]

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Erik Ohlsson of Millencolin

Erik Ohlsson of Millencolin

“I’m really proud of everything we’ve done over all these years, it’s really hard as we just want to keep this momentum going, and of course write our best album ever, an even better album, that must be the goal, as long as you’ve got that goal, that’s when you keep evolving and become a better band I guess.” After […]

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Like Thieves – The Wolves at Winter’s Edge

Like Thieves – The Wolves at Winter’s Edge

It’s always hard when you have a front man that you are well aware of his previous works… so what I need to not do is use this review as a comparison between what vocalist Clint has done before and purely base it on this new band, this new project, truly as anyone should anyway, so nothing to worry about […]

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The Kin

The Kin

“…we’ve got this fantasy to be the first band to play the Moon… or the space station. We think Muse is onto it and obviously they’re quite a distance ahead *laughs*, so somehow we need to derail their plan and get enough relevance and funding to get there first. *laughs*” From Bio: One night a little over a year ago, […]

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Ronnie Winter of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Ronnie Winter of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

“…if you’re a listener and everything hasn’t really worked out perfectly for you then give some of our songs a listen because I think that there’s still a lot of hope in the world and a lot of good things and you just have to look for them as they’re out there.” From tour release: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (TRJA) […]

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Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand

Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand

“…it’s an ongoing thing, I think having a break freshened things up, and then being able to go back out on tour and playing songs kind of gives you a hunger and wanting more, really.” From tour release: Following the release of the bands fourth studio album, ‘Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action’ in August, and the daring, defiant and […]

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Photo by Annette Geneva

Wednesday 13 – The Metro, Sydney – October 31, 2013

Could it be any more of a perfect night for this show? The answer is no. Wednesday 13 on Halloween in the year of his name… You almost get the feeling that tonight will be something a little different and hopefully something special. Judging by the number of people already here, this is going to be a pretty cool night. […]

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Shane Wakker of Bodyjar

Shane Wakker of Bodyjar

“…I suppose we’ve just gone out to our little niche I suppose that it is that we do and yeah, we’ve gone for a fun record, something that people can maybe relate to a little bit and just chuck it on and enjoy it and there’s not too much thinking involved, you can just chuck it on and have a […]

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Scott Kelly and Jarboe

Scott Kelly and Jarboe

“It’s a whole other experience for the listener from what I did last time through. Playing with these guys brings in layers and dynamic possibilities that just aren’t possible with me and an acoustic guitar, and these guys are great players we have killer chemistry. I’m excited to bring this.” From tour press release: Scott Kelly is a man that […]

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Chuck Billy of Testament

Chuck Billy of Testament

“… it was time to capture that and just showing where Testament is today in our career. I see a new fan base of new metal heads out there and I thought it would be more appropriate to where we are today, more of the style we’re writing today. So it just made sense that it was time to do […]

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