Trusty Chords

When it comes to the ‘Australian alternative rock scene’, it’s pretty hard to look past the likes of Screamfeeder. After all, they’ve been around for over 30 years now, and whenever anyone imagines an Australian alternative band, it’s a band like Screamfeeder they’re thinking of. Loud, melodic, critically-acclaimed, and commercially-overlooked, Screamfeeder commands an intense fanbase, and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone with a bad word to say about them. While records like 1996’s ‘Kitten Licks’ are a brilliant example of the sort of music that both Screamfeedr and Australia were putting out, albums like ‘Flour’, ‘Burn Out Your Name’, ‘Fill Yourself With Music’, and ‘Rocks On The Soul’ are firm favourites as well. In the 2000s however, Screamfeeder remained a little bit quiet, and though the band never broke up, Tim, Kellie, Dean, and Darek, weren’t really doing a whole heap, with other musical projects filling that void. In 2017, they returned with a new album – their first in 14 years – and in 2022, they released their latest record, ‘Five Rooms’. More recently, however, they’ve been surprisingly busy. After all, there’s been loads of amazing shows, there’s been a book on ‘Kitten Licks’ by authors Ben Green and Ian Rogers, and Tim and Kellie even have ‘The Ending Goes On Forever’ podcast. But that’s not all, because now Screamfeeder are also readying the ‘Demolition’ compilation; 100 demo recordings from between 1992 and 2022. Don’t get too keen, however, because Tim warns you it’s “all filler, no killer” – even for diehard Screamfeeder fans. But you know what? I could talk about Screamfeeder for hours, or Tim could do that for me. Thankfully, he’s on hand to do so because he’s my guest on this week’s episode. Fortunate, eh? Anyway, I strongly urge you to check out Screamfeeder’s brilliant discography, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

If you were to ask me my opinion on the greatest Australian bands of all time, The Fauves would be found pretty close to the pointy end of things.  I’m sure I’m not alone in that assertion either, after all, they’ve been around for 36 years now, constantly and consistently performing as one of the country’s most underrated and underappreciated groups. You won’t be finding them performing headline dates in arenas, and you won’t often find their albums on the ARIA charts, but their songwriting is impeccable, their hooks unmatchable, their live shows astounding, and their self-aware humour is as self-deprecating as it comes. For casual fans, The Fauves are probably best known for songs like ‘Dogs Are The Best People’ and ‘Self Abuser’ from their 1996 album ‘Future Spa’, which was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album at the ARIA Awards in 1997. For fans, their back catalogue is a rich one full of 13 albums, EPs, singles, and B-sides that are better than most band’s hits.  For me, The Fauves are a band I could talk about for hours and never even begin to scratch the surface of what makes them one of the greatest Australian bands of all time. Luckily, this week I was able to talk to someone else who knows The Fauves quite well; guitarist and vocalist Andrew Cox.  Why was I talking to Coxy? Well, The Fauves are currently on the road with Custard in support of their latest album, ‘Tropical Strength’, which arrived earlier this month. It’s a stellar record full of the classic Fauves songwriting and musicianship which makes you evoke lyrics from one of their earlier tracks as you say, “crank it up, I really like this bit; fuck that riff sounds really sick”. Anyway, I strongly urge you to check out The Fauves’ ‘Tropical Strength’ while you’re reading through old copies of their ‘Shred’ magazine, grab a ticket to see them live, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

I don’t know about you, but when I try to describe Andy Bull, I have a hard time. After all, to simply call him a musician feels like it’s not going far enough.  Sure, he’s released a handful of EPs and albums over the years (including 2014’s ‘Sea Of Approval’) and he’s shared plenty of wonderful songs, such as 'Dog' (with Lisa Mitchell), 'Baby I Am Nobody Now', 'Talk Too Much', and much more, but it feels like he’s a little more accomplished than just a regular artist. Then again, he’s also won an Encouragement Award at the 2014 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition for ‘Baby I Am Nobody Now’, he’s been nominated for four ARIA Awards, and his work on Netflix children’s musical ‘Beatbugs’ has won seven US Daytime Emmy Awards. Still, it feels like he goes beyond that scope. He’s also a stellar performer, and he’s a relentless creative as well. In fact, that creativity has recently manifested a new record by way of ‘Collapse In Bliss’. It's full of that soulful, introspective pop sound he's known for, but it's a gorgeous release. Add in the fact he made it over the course of 40 nights this year, and that it's a wholly solo endeavour (save for a resurfaced demo penned by Andy and late Deep Sea Arcade musician Nick Weaver), and you’ve got a record you can’t go past. So maybe when I say that Andy Bull feels hard to describe, well you can probably see where I’m coming from. So I decided to put it to Andy, largely since he’s my guest on the podcast this week. As always, it was a wonderful chat, though by his own admission, he wasn’t being ironic when he penned that song ‘Talk Too Much’. Anyway, I strongly urge you to check out Andy Bull’s ‘Collapse In Bliss’ album, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

For lovers of Australian music, the name Jamie Hutchings would be a familiar one.  Most notably, he’s known as the frontman of Sydney rock outfit Bluebottle Kiss, who lasted for 14 years and issued a raft of amazing records before their split in 2007. They’ve been called “Arguably Australia's most idiosyncratic guitar band,” and their music is arguably not as marketable as critics would like it to be, but Jamie isn’t exactly someone who puts that high on his list of priorities. Since Bluebottle Kiss split, he’s continued with a number of projects, including a solo career, work with Infinity Broke, The Tall Grass, and more. When you put it to Jamie, he’s relatively humble, but prolific doesn’t begin to cut it. Just a couple of years ago, the local music world welcomed Bluebottle Kiss back into the world with open arms, with a series of reunion shows taking place around the country. As someone who was at their Melbourne show, I can tell you now that it was a wonderful experience I’d recommend to anyone. This week, Bluebottle Kiss hit the road to launch a brief tour with Brisbane’s own Screamfeeder, playing shows in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. If I were you, I’d head along, but that’s just me talking out loud. Anyway, Jamie Hutchings is my guest this week, so I strongly urge you to check out the band’s impressive back catalogue, buy a ticket to their shows, and once you’re done doing that, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.