Author: Troy Culpan

Eric Martin of Mr. Big / Avantasia

Eric Martin of Mr. Big / Avantasia

“…it’s epic tunes about fantasy and heaven and hell and all points in between, it’s probably like ten concerts in one, you’re gonna go away and you’re gonna be stunned at the end of it and you’ll be like what the hell just happened?” As the AVANTASIA dates, inch closer and closer to Australia, set for impact this May, the cast of […]

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Jack Jones – Sydney Opera House Studio Theatre, Sydney – May 3, 2019

Jack Jones – Sydney Opera House Studio Theatre, Sydney – May 3, 2019

In the ‘never thought this would happen’ files, tonight here we are to see Jack Jones perform the songs of his former band, Southern Sons. I know right? So teenage Troy is ready to relive the songs of my youth and listen to arguably one of the best voices in the country deliver them. ‘More Than Enough’ opens the show […]

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Ted Lundström of Amon Amarth

Ted Lundström of Amon Amarth

“…we always fight to get to the next level, this kind of fire burning all the time, I think this is what you need as a band to reach somewhere, you really need to have this spirit to work hard and always look to what can we do next time…” From Release: Comprising 12 monstrous heavy metal anthems that bulge […]

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Dave Gleeson of The Screaming Jets

Dave Gleeson of The Screaming Jets

“…we just wanted to get out there and sweat and rock and play music to people and get them pumping, So that’s kind of where we’ve kind of hung our hat.” From Release: Celebrating 30 years The Screaming Jets are taking a step back in time and revisiting their musical history. Not much has changed since 1989 when nobody knew […]

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Ella Hooper of Killing Heidi

Ella Hooper of Killing Heidi

“I think that we are a band that really enjoys it and we’re a band that really loves giving the crowd a good time, I don’t think we take ourselves too seriously and I think that’s something I’m really proud of…” From Release: It’s been twenty years since Hooper Siblings Killing Heidi released their disarming folk pop song, ‘Kettle’ on triple j […]

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Sevendust – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – April 26, 2019

Sevendust – The Metro Theatre, Sydney – April 26, 2019

Gotta love a bit of Sevendust. They’re back in Australia as a part of their ‘All I See Is War’ tour and tonight Sydney gets to witness one of the best live bands out there today.  Reliqa playing to a pretty big crowd which was awesome and delivering some songs that with some work and some more touring experience they […]

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Noel Hogan of The Cranberries

Noel Hogan of The Cranberries

“I realised that that day that this was it, this was the last time we’d do this and it has been our entire lives really, it’s defined our lives in many ways, it’s been amazing but it’s kind of sad to let it go as well but I think it’s the best thing to do for now.” From Release: The […]

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Rob Thomas – ‘Chip Tooth Smile’

Rob Thomas – ‘Chip Tooth Smile’

I first heard Rob Thomas’ voice in 1996 when I heard a song called ‘Long Day’ on the radio by a band I’d never heard of. From that day I was hooked. Saw Matchbox Twenty play in Australia on their first promo tour the following year with around 200 people just before they blew up to become one of the […]

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Minoru Niihara of Loudness

Minoru Niihara of Loudness

“Live is everything, well how can I describe this, it’s kind of hard to describe in English, we love playing music, we want to share happy times with our audience. Live is everything for us.” From Release: Formed in 1981; LOUDNESS released their first album The Birthday Eve and it created a huge stir on the Japanese Metal scene. In 1983 LOUDNESS hit the west and […]

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Danko Jones

Danko Jones

“…we’re not rewriting anything, we’re not reinventing anything, but we’re just trying to make the best hard rock music we can and I think we’re doing it.” From Release: Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t no luxury item. It’s essential. It’s the blood in our veins and the fire in our hearts. And nobody does it better than DANKO JONES. Danko Jones […]

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Clint Lowery of Sevendust

Clint Lowery of Sevendust

“This last tour we really just felt very comfortable and we found a niche, there’s a really good thing going on right now and we want to keep going with it.” From Release: Sevendust first forged a familial tie amongst each other in 1994 that translated into one of the most die-hard audiences in the game. To this day, the connection […]

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Keri Kelli of A New Revenge

Keri Kelli of A New Revenge

“We have a record out and we’re very proud of it and we hope the rock and roll people and community are digging it as well.” From Release: Supergroup is a term that has been diluted over time. Throwing a bunch of people from other bands into a new project doesn’t automatically make them Super, but their bio’s will tell […]

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Dave Bickler

Dave Bickler

“…because of the ridiculous visibility of my past work with Survivor and ‘Eye of The Tiger’ and all that I don’t have to start from scratch. It does give me a platform to have people listen to new music and give it a shot.” From Release: The voice on one of the most instantly recognizable and celebrated rock anthems of […]

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Bring Me The Horizon – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney – April 12, 2019

Bring Me The Horizon – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney – April 12, 2019

Australia loves Bring Me The Horizon, and tonight off the back of their new album ‘amo’ they’re back in Sydney and they’ve brought some friends along for the ride. It’s a bit of a UK invasion tonight and it’s gonna be a damn good time! Trophy Eyes are bang on time and with a bevy of huge vocal backing tracks […]

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Pop Evil – The Metro, Sydney – April 6, 2019

Pop Evil – The Metro, Sydney – April 6, 2019

What I love about Pop Evil is that they’ve been releasing music for over fifteen years, we’ve followed them from the start, and are stoked they have finally made their way out of the trenches and are in Australia thanks to Silverback Touring who continue to impress with the bands they’re willing to bring to us. So tonight, it may […]

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Motor Ace – The Factory Theatre, Sydney – April 5, 2019

Motor Ace – The Factory Theatre, Sydney – April 5, 2019

I’m a big fan of a reformation show and especially when it’s a band I never got to see when they were in their heyday. So here we are tonight twenty years on since Motor Ace released their amazing debut album ‘Five Star Laundry’ then going on to release two more albums before calling it a day. Tonight they are […]

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Matt Halpern of Periphery

Matt Halpern of Periphery

“…the name itself hopefully let’s people know that despite the seriousness of the level of hard work we put into the record and I guess in some ways how serious the music sounds, we as people in the band we do not take ourselves seriously whatsoever, we’re a bunch of goofballs and we definitely want that to come through despite […]

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Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

“We were tired, tired of the road, tired of our jobs, tired of our lives, and tired of each other, again there wasn’t any animosity but it definitely took about a year for people to start talking to each other again.” From Release: Australia holds a special place in the hearts of ANBERLIN and fans similarly embrace the band with […]

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John Mayer – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney – March 29, 2019

John Mayer – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney – March 29, 2019

Surprisingly I’ve never seen John Mayer before. I feel like he’s someone I thought I had, but regardless of that I’m ready and set to enjoy an evening with John tonight. He’s going to be entertaining us with two sets this evening so it’s gonna be a whole lotta Mayer going on. Running a little late but the lights finally […]

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John Corabi – Crowbar, Sydney – March 28, 2019

John Corabi – Crowbar, Sydney – March 28, 2019

I was 18 when MC94 was released and it’s an album that instantly resonated with me. The sheer force, the magnitude and the fact that it was just so heavy that it made me truly take note of a band I liked but didn’t love. This album made me LOVE Motley Crue. So tonight, 25 years on here we are […]

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Bryan Adams – ICC, Sydney – March 24, 2019

Bryan Adams – ICC, Sydney – March 24, 2019

Bryan Adams is back in Sydney, this time in the Autumn of 19. Doesn’t really have the same ring to it, but here in support of his newest album ‘Shine A Light’ I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with tonight. Mahalia Barnes opens the show tonight and her funky / soulful voice is off the charts along with […]

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John Corabi

John Corabi

“…you know I have this weird knack of doing records that like The Scream even the Union stuff when it was out people paid attention to it but not much, same with the Motley record but then literally twenty or twenty five years later everybody’s like ‘oh god it’s like a cult classic’ *laughs* where were you guys twenty years […]

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Bonnie Tyler. Copyright: earMUSIC, credit: Tina Korhonen, www.tina-k.com

Bonnie Tyler

“I didn’t realise I’d been in the business for fifty years until I saw the sticker on the front of my album saying ‘Celebrating fifty years in the business’ I’m thinking bloody hell I don’t even feel fifty let alone being in the business for fifty years.” From Release: Marking no less than the complete reinvention of a wonderful and […]

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Leigh Kakaty of Pop Evil

Leigh Kakaty of Pop Evil

“It really felt like it was a rebirth for us so we really spent a lot of time both in and out of the studio making sure that we wanted to lay some solid groundwork for Pop Evil moving forward in the future…” From Release: Simply put, POP EVIL is a larger-than-life true rock n’ roll band blending the earnestness […]

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Kram of Spiderbait / ARC

Kram of Spiderbait / ARC

“It’s funny, a lot of the times with these sorts of supergroups, they’re good on paper but they might not necessarily work on stage as well as you would hope, but this one has got a really special energy to it. So it was a nice accident that came together and here we are.” From Release: In celebration of Abbey […]

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Patrick Robertson of Motor Ace

Patrick Robertson of Motor Ace

“Thirteen years since we’ve been on stage I think if it’s not gonna happen now it’s never gonna happen you know?” From Release:  It’s 2001, you’re driving home from work, flicking through the radio stations, and Five Star Laundry by Motor Ace is being played on triple j, Triple M and a bunch of other stations in between.  Then, as […]

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Laurie Vincent & Isaac Holman of Slaves (Video Interview)

Laurie Vincent & Isaac Holman of Slaves (Video Interview)

“We’ve kind of spent a lot of our career trying to make our record as good as our live show because we’ve been known as a live band.” From Release: Slaves Since first bursting out of the UK pub scene in 2012, Slaves have gone onto become of the UK’s most ferocious live bands, and their brand of high-energy punk rock […]

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Josh Todd of Buckcherry

Josh Todd of Buckcherry

“…change is really good for Buckcherry as painful as it is sometimes but you know the old line-up it just wasn’t a united front for like three years before it actually happened, so it was a long time coming, people are much happier, the people who left and the people who are here now and Buckcherry is thriving again…” From […]

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Rob Halford of Judas Priest (Video Interview)

Rob Halford of Judas Priest (Video Interview)

“I call ourselves a working metal band, and what I mean by that is it’s all relevant to making yourself relevant, and for as long as this band has been together we’ve always gone out on these big worldwide treks supporting our latest music. So this is like doing again what we’ve done since Rocka Rolla in nineteen seventy blah […]

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Hanson – String Theory – Sydney Opera House – March 4, 2019

Hanson – String Theory – Sydney Opera House – March 4, 2019

I couldn’t think of a more iconic venue for Hanson to bring their ‘String Theory’ show to Australia, tonight we are in the Sydney Opera House. Hanson have always delivered live so in not looking at track listings or any footage from this String Theory tour tonight I am ready to immerse myself in a journey. Looks like the sold […]

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