In between rehearsals MusicFeedsTV met with Sticky Fingers at the Annadale hotel. Their gig at the Annadale hotel this Friday 6th of July will show off a number of new compositions and is set to go off in the usual chaos that the band has becoming renowned for. The title single from their highly anticipated début album "Caress your soul" is due for release this Friday. With a smooth production treatment on the track the band is still work shopping the song for live performance. Despite being ranked number 8 on the Unearthed radio charts the band gives little credence to the song's position instead seeing the channel as a good platform for listeners to get a free download of their music. They would much prefer people enjoy their music live and get down and party. Sometimes described in genre as Reggae surf music, the eclectic nationalities of the band include Kiwi, British, Maldy, Brazilian and first fleet, leading them to describe themselves quite harshly as mongrels. Struggling to find a platform for the music the band took matters into their own hands and during the Newtown festival setup their own music stage at a nearby house Guerrilla style to spark interest in nearby attendees. The stunt pulled dividends with Sticky Fingers being added to the bill the following year. "Growing up and partying in Newtown we always wanted to play the festivals. We submitted an application for the first 2 years but got knocked back. Then on the 3rd year we decided that, well we have a mate Jacob who has a backyard which is virtually inside the festival. So we just got a bunch of milk crates and plywood and setup a stage in the backyard, hired out a sound system and unofficially headlined the festival from the back yard..... The following year they invited us back for a prime spot on the main stage" http://youtu.be/WoLseHyIqJ8Producer Dan Hulme happened to see the specticle and enjoying the band's raw energy offered to produce their new album. Asking for multiple parts for each instrument Sticky Fingers feel that Hulme has really put his stamp on the bands music although these ideas reflected what the band were going for as well. Check out Sticky Finger's party this Friday at the Annandale Hotel with support slots from : The Medics, Underlights, Rapids and Beef Jerk.
I catch up with 2009's Triple J Unearthed High winners Hunting Grounds (formerly HOWL) for MusicFeedsTV as they announce details of recently released single Flaws, soon to be released album In Hindsight and upcoming album tour.
The band’s new single Flaws has been released and represents a ‘maturing’ in their sound as they incorporate more synthesised layers of sound in their music. Accordingly, a lot of songs to be released on their new album will mirror this trend. While unplanned, the band feel this development made a lot of sense while in the recording process. It will be interesting to see how this translates into a live performance environment. The Flaws music video makes a bold statement representing members of the band as leaders of what could be described as a cult-run community. The concept was proposed by band member Michael Belsar and was heavily influenced by an episode of the Simpsons titled ‘The Joy of Sect’. The band saw the idea as a great opportunity to produce a more creepy video that would engage their fans. You can check out the matching film clip for Flaws below: While running the risk of alienating long-time fans, the band feel their new experimental approach to songwriting will ultimately produce better music. Thankfully for now, their heavy punkish roots will remain as a driving force in their music. The full debut album In Hindsight will be released on July 6, 2012. There will be an official album launch party on 12th July to be held at a secret location in Melbourne. Guests will need to compete via the band’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hgnoiseInterview by Andrew Nock
Video filmed/produced/edited by Daniel Taylor
Production coordinated by Tim Poulton
Gus from UK rock band Young Guns sits down with me for Music Feeds before the bands support of Sydney pop-punk juggernauts Tonight Alive at Manning Bar. Gus explains the journey the band underwent in the recording process, being inspired and empowered by their trip to Thailand, and recording with Dan Weller of Djent (sub genre of Prog-metal) pioneers Sikth. We also explore the band’s involvement in the London Olympic Games torch relay, what it was like play to 22 000 people supporting Bon Jovi and their first attempt at a love song.
Young Guns third single off new record Bones, called Dearly Departed. Solid first attempt at a love song, dontcha think? Interview for Music Feeds TV. Filmed, edited and produced by Dan Taylor
Devin oozes oodles of casual cool. The Julian Casablancas of rockabilly revival. He has the rock frontman image, and the nonchalant "I don't give a fuck" attitude to match. Talking to him however, exposes a softer side, a shy introverted character whose music flowed from a deeply personal process. Following the huge hype off the back of a Triple J feature album for his rocking debut 'Romancing', Devin sits down with me for Music Feeds TV to talk about his two day Australian tour, why the NY music scene "isn't fun" and the dark place from which his sound emerged. For your listening pleasure is Masochist. The track which Devin himself said was the absolute epitome of 'Romancing'.
Aggressive Pop partiers Sweet Teeth sat down with Music Feeds recently to chat about their Debut EP. Currently on tour, the band chats about their influences, the consequences of the Gallon Challenge and the unlikely circumstances in which they all met. The band will also be adding a new video clip to their arsenal of viral material.
Here's a slice of rainbow coloured pop-punk rock for you to chew
 Approaching this album with an open mind and disregarding their discography is a hard task, considering their complete back catalogue is utterly flawless. Just try and find an average song on any of their 6 previous albums! I haven’t! The album begins with a slow tempo tracks If Not Now, When? Promises, Promises and Friends And Lovers. Each song is lacking intensity in the music, and just roll gently, driven solely by Brandon Boyd’s incredible voice, which scales brilliantly on If Not Now, When and turning to intimacy on heartfelt track Friends and Lovers; acting as the sole precursor for building mood with his brilliant vocal range. Thieves opens with a trademark Incubus guitar riff, melodies and hard guitar driven chorus moments. Isadore just comes off as another love song dedication, there are a lot on this album, too many perhaps, I can’t begin to imagine how many girls he went through in the making of this album.
 Switchblade is one of the standouts on the album, where there is constant guitar driven energy, supported by a meandering bass line, but once again it seems like Boyd has avoided hard hitting choruses and break downs in his tracks, to give a more flowing feeling. It takes until track 10 in the form of first single Adolescents, to hear their trademark sound, using delicate guitar melodies, building into big choruses powered by Boyd’s repetition “out of sight, out of mind”. This album was always intended to be different, being six years since their last release of Light Grenades in 2006, on EnjoyIncubus.com Incubus stated: “True to the Incubus legacy, this album is nothing like its predecessor, but still maintains that quintessential Incubus vibe.” However, If Not Now, When? comes off as a Brandon Boyd solo album, the music is lacking the intensity that is ever-present in previous albums, and the songs are solely driven by Brandon Boyd’s incredible voice. Take that away and your left with an album that lacks intensity, energy, any depth and quality in the music, and has very few standouts. Having stated in NME “This new record is different to anything we’ve done. We’re gonna kind of challenge our fans with this one”, I think many fans are, as I have, going to struggle to connect with this one.
Rating: 2/10
In an extremely unorthodox approach for a hard rock act, opening support band Wolves appeared with a female violinist supporting the traditional guitar, drums and bass arrangement. She seemed to act as a rhythm section, however her impact was limited by a wall of bass and guitar; her violin only being audible in the intros. Solid performance, but all eyes were on the hugely anticipated acts to come.
 Melbourne prog-rockers Closure In Moscow took to the stage with huge confidence, mostly in the form of overly-zealous lead singer Chris de Cinque, draped in his trademark gold cape, starting plenty of risqué banter for the warm up. Closure came off as quite shaky for the first few songs, which I could very easily put down to their recent band member shuffle, having evicted their prolific drummer Beau McKee who mastered the insanely complex beats on their killer debut First Temple and former bassist Brad Kimber. Vibing off the huge hype of First Temple, they stuck to the classics, and pumped out absolutely huge, heaving, technical tracks like Kissing Cousins, Vanguard, Afterbirth and Acrecibo Message to the delight of a select few audience members. Once they are in stride, Closure In Moscow are a wall of energy and with the technicality of their music, sometimes it’s hard to keep up, in particular the constant shredding, screaming guitars and complex and ever-changing drum beats. Having seen them off the back of their album release with the former line-up, I am extremely objective, particularly of the new drummer, but they played a massive set and warmed up the crowd to a tee, closing with Sweetheart. Hopefully new material is in the pipeline soon!
 Exuberating confidence being fresh off the back of a month long US tour, a headline UK tour, and a massive record deal in the US; Dead Letter Circus brought their unique breed of progressive rock to the packed Manning Bar stage. Opening with hugely energetic track The Mile off their debut self-titled EP, they had the mosh pit bouncing and moving from the very beginning. A very noticeable trait of DLC is their stage presence. Each member exudes a huge amount of energy, but they each have their own personas and style. Bassist Stewart Hill is an absolute monster on his equally monstrous bass (which looks identical to Karnivool bassist Jon Stockman's 6 string beast, only 1 string less, and emits an equally heavy sound) thrashing head and torso. Singer Kim Benzie is the soothing centre of emotional control of the band, standing tall and projecting his incredible voice over the crowd, changing the mood with his incredible vocal range. Drummer Luke Williams was an absolute animal on his kit, bringing a huge energy, with the beats he constructed on debut LP This Is The Warning.
 DLC had the entire mosh pit heaving by the 3rd song; Benzie encouraged the mayhem throughout, with circle pits breaking out in the claustrophobic Manning enclosure, and plenty of violent moshing going down. Benzie had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and the crowd were completely immersed in the music screaming lyrics of every song to the sheer delight of the band. It was one of those rare performances where the band and the audience are in complete harmony and vibe off each other’s pulsating energy. DLC came off as heavily experienced rockers (having a 6 year history), performing every song with painstaking accuracy, and adding a huge live presence to their songs. Veteran DLC supporters were treated to Alien, Disconnect And Apply, Lines and The Mile off their debut self-titled EP, which gained a huge reception. The more recent tracks to gain huge attention on Triple J; One Step and Cage, were played with flawless edge, showing off the vocal prowess of Benzie, hitting incredible highs which were both intimate and brooding which turned to pure aggression in the choruses. Heavier songs Here We Divide and Next In Line were separated by an encore, thank Thor, since the mosh went completely insane for the wall of guitar and bass backed by a double kick and monstrous breakdowns.
 Kim Benzie In a special appearance, MM9 front man Daniel Sutherland joined the band onstage to add a second layer of drums to the finale This Is The Warning, which proved to be a political backdrop for the band's NO FRACKING WAY environmental fight against unsafe mining of coal seam gas in suburban areas. The finale This Is The Warning progressed into a 4-way tribal drum which had a huge energy and proved to be the icing on one of the most epic live shows I've witnessed. DLC have proved they are now in the presence of Australian prog-rock greats alongside Karnivool, Cog and Butterfly Effect. To Give you an idea of their intensity and energy in a live arena, check out the amazing clip for One Step below, filmed completely backwards. Like their not already talented enough! In DLC related news; according to the band's website, the US release of DLC's latest record This Is The Warning will push the release of their new album back about a year, so expect a July 2012 drop for new material. As for the direction, lead singer Benzie stated "I think we’re kind of in a cyborg half-human, half-robot stage at the moment. Yeah, I definitely think we could (be going in an electronic direction). We’re leaning toward a bigger, fatter sound, rather than just the guitars" in an interview with Scott Sugarman for RockEdition.com
 Coming off the back of a mixture of disappointment and anger at a rogue blogger claiming an Australian Blink-182 tour late 2011, Blink have made amends with the release of their first single off their forthcoming album. In an interview with US radio station WiLD 95.5, Tom Delonge hinted the release date, and name, of their new record: "We'll release a bunch of music before the tour and we'll be dropping the album smack bang in the middle of the tour, sometime in September. The name I want really bad I saw on a adult film list at a hotel. Not that I watch them, or have the audacity to read the titles. But I did. " The excitement for Blink's first album in 7 years is astronomical! After 4 years in hiatus, fans worldwide are thrilled at the prospect of new material and tours, as well as the release of the Blinkumentary film set to drop about the same time as the album in 2011. The new single, Up All Night, still has the blink signature guitar riffs, aggressive drumming from Travis Barker and stadium rock sound. However a creeping underlay of this track is this techno-like backing which is similar to those Rammstein/Linkin Park use in their music, which can be heard in between the chorus. The build ups and harmonies are still as strong as ever, it feels like Blink are back to their usual fine form, and my fingers and toes are crossed that it translates into the new album! In cancelling their Europe and UK tours for 2011 for undisclosed reasons, Blink have stated they will be back touring globally in 2012, so we can only hope for a 2012 tour. Big Day Out/Soundwave GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER! Check out the new track below:
 Following a killer Australian tour with Big Day Out 2010 and a solo run of dates mid 2010 to back it up, Kasabian follow up their Ozzie onslaught with a new single as a teaser for their new album, Switchblade Smiles. The title track of the record, Switchblade Smiles opens with pulsating synths and echoing vocals building up to a more familiar Kasabian drum beat and heavily distorted vocals. Is this a new direction for Kasabian? The synths are cool, and combined with the echoing vocals gives the feeling of being lost in some strange cult facilitated by a trenchcoat sporting, long haired rockers. Excellent. Listen below.
 Parades have been at the forefront of the music scene in Sydney for the past year, following their debut LP Foreign Tapes which was a perfect mix of soft, atmospheric synths, hammering drum beats, and weightless overlapping harmonies. Their music has drawn similarities to Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Postal Service among others with their sweet harmonies, double timed beats, and atmospheric sounds. To limit Parades to a mere comparison is an insult to what they represent, they have created a sound that is completely unique and unheard of in the spectrum of Australian music. They have suffered a huge loss in recent times with the girls from Kyu: Freya and Alex, who lay down their angelic vocals on tracks from the Hunters EP and the Foreign Tapes LP, parting ways for good to focus on their duo.
Having seen them in a live setting with and without the female backing vocalists, it takes away a certain element from their performance, however new track Water Stories proves that Parades can still create beautifully intimate indie pop without a female backing, for the voices they do posess, although male, reach such delicate highs, they compliment the harsh double-time drum beat and the atmospheric guitars perfectly. Jonathan Boulet is still a revelation, throwing down driving rhythmic drum beats, and abstract outros, he shows talent which belies his age, at 22 he has two highly successful and sort out acts in Parades and his solo act Jonathan Boulet, and a hardcore band Snake Face. In all, Water Stories is an excellent follow up to Foreign Tapes and gives a good idea of the future. They will be playing FBI's Choose Your Own Adventure with the likes of Faker, Deep Sea Arcade, Andy Bull and Matt Corby on July 2.
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