Listen Up with Ash McGregor

Vanessa Amorosi had one of the most explosive starts to a career in Australian music history.
Within a year of releasing her debut music, she was performing on one of the biggest stages in the world - opening and closing the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. But the story started long before that, years of dedication and grinding.
In this episode, Vanessa takes us back to growing up in a very musical household, to being discovered singing in a Russian restaurant, and navigating the industry as a young female artist in the early 2000s. We talk about the whirlwind of early fame, the expectations that came with it, and her decision to move to the US and exploring new sounds in gospel and blues.
Throughout this chat, two things really strike home: her strong sense of self from such a young age, and the quest to always be growing and challenging yourself.
This is a bit of a longer one, but lets indulge - she's an Aussie icon!

Canadian rock band The Beaches have spent years building their story from teenage bandmates to one of the most exciting names in modern rock.
In this episode, sisters Jordan and Kylie join the podcast to take it all the way back to their first band Done with Dolls, and the early years of growing up making music together.
We talk about navigating the music industry as a female rock band, the moment they walked away from a team that didn’t understand their vision, and the viral success of their breakout track Blame Brett.
The conversation also dives into the balance between writing deeply personal songs and sharing those stories with the world, and how that changed their perspective during the making of their album No Hard Feelings.

Sydney psych-rock project Velvet Trip might feel like a new name on the scene, but the journey behind it is anything but conventional.
In this episode, Zeppelin Hamilton takes us back to the beginning, growing up surrounded by some of the world’s best blues musicians in his family home, and nearly taking a completely different path as a professional skateboarder.
From hitchhiking from Sydney to Darwin, to early internet fame as part of the viral Facebook creators Urmumsyadad, Zeppelin’s creative life has taken plenty of unexpected turns.
We also dive into the musical chapters that came before Velvet Tri, including a metal band with Jules from Parcels, time in a seven-piece psych rock group, and the moment he realised he needed to start something of his own.
Velvet Trip is quickly becoming a well known name in the Australian scene, and with the release of his new album Glimmers Continued, Zeppelin is on the path to "world domination".

Meg Mac has been one of Australia’s most distinctive voices for over a decade. From her breakout track Known Better, which exploded on triple j Unearthed, to fan favourites like Grandma’s Hands and Roll Up Your Sleeves, she’s built a career defined by powerful vocals and deeply personal songwriting.
Her 2019 album Matter of Time even debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts cementing her as a staple of the Australian music landscape.
In this episode, Meg takes us back to the beginning: growing up in Sydney, studying music at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), and the moment Known Better changed the course of her life.
We talk about the challenge of being known for the songs that introduced you to the world, how her songwriting has evolved over 15 years, and the creative process behind her new album It’s My Party.

Wisp's breakout single Your Face exploded online and pulled her straight onto the global stage, almost overnight.
But behind the viral moment is an artist who grew up immersed in discipline and craft. Raised in San Francisco, Wisp trained as a ballerina and violinist before stepping into shoegaze - a genre known for both devotion and scrutiny.
In this episode, we talk about what it really means to have a song take off before you’ve fully found your footing. The pressure of being labelled the next generation of shoegaze, and how she navigated it all in such a short amount of time.
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This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.