Alexander 23's path to this point has been anything but a straight line. He was studying mechanical engineering at university before he quit to pursue music full time with the band The Heydaze, which signed a deal with Island Records. When they split he decided to focus on songwriting and producing, but when he found that unfulfilling he returned to playing music and building his solo career. It's all worked out well – not only is his solo career flying off the back of songs likes "IDK You Yet" ...
Oct 05, 2022•56 min•Ep. 103
Dropkick Murphys' 11th studio album is called This Machine Still Kills Fascists . The record features a collection of Woody Guthrie's unpublished lyrics set to music. The seeds of the project were sown some years ago when the band befriended Woody's daughter, Nora. Her son was a fan of the Dropkick Murphys and saw in the band a group of kindred spirits who embodied Woody's everyman working class ethic. We talk about that whole journey in this interview, as well as going deep into Ken's life and ...
Sep 28, 2022•55 min•Ep. 102
There aren't many artists touring the world right now who can say they were once part of the Obama administration. Bartees Strange can, thanks to his time as the Deputy Press Secretary for the Federal Communications Commission. He also worked in the labour and climate movements, but before that he was an active member of the music scene in and around Oklahoma, where he was raised. He admits he strayed from music for a few years after he moved to DC to pursue politics, but playing and performing ...
Sep 21, 2022•50 min•Ep. 101
My guest for this 100th episode is bona fide musical legend Don Was. Don was a founding member of Was (Not Was), and he's a GRAMMY-winning producer who's worked with artists such as Bob Dylan, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and John Mayer, to name a few. He's currently playing bass with Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir in Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros, and he's also the president of one of the world's most famous record labels, Blue Note Records. We talk...
Sep 14, 2022•59 min•Ep. 100
Marlon Williams' voice has been turning heads since he was a teen singing in the church choir – it was enough to convince Bradley Cooper to cast him in A Star Is Born , in which his character performed a beautiful version of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" alongside Brandi Carlile. He continues to act to this day, but it's music for which Marlon is perhaps best known. He was raised in the small New Zealand town of Lyttelton, and cut his teeth in New Zealand before relocating to Australia, after whi...
Sep 07, 2022•54 min•Ep. 99
When Orlando Higginbottom – AKA Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – releases his new album When The Lights Go on September 9, it will be 10 years since his previous LP, Trouble . Orlando wasn't completely quiet over that period, having toured the world and released a series of EPs and singles. But after the success of Trouble he went through something of a personal and creative crisis as he struggled to figure out how to operate in the music industry, which was one of the things that contribute...
Aug 31, 2022•50 min•Ep. 98
In 2016, Moonchild Sanelly wrote down a list of goals she wanted to achieve in the next 10 years, and they included collaborating with Beyoncé, Diplo and Damon Albarn. She achieved those goals in half the time, singing on Gorillaz' 2020 album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez , collaborating with Beyoncé on the song "My Power" from The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack, and singing with Diplo on DJ Raybel's song "Whole Night". Driven by an unshakable self belief, an image that turns heads, an...
Aug 24, 2022•49 min•Ep. 97
Alex Lynn – AKA Sydney singer-songwriter Alex The Astronaut – is one of those people who can seemingly do whatever she puts her mind to. She might be one of Australia's most popular singer-songwriters, but after she left school she won a soccer scholarship to Long Island University, where she graduated with a degree in maths and physics. While she was still studying her music had started to get airplay in Australia, and luckily for us she decided to dedicate herself to that career rather than sp...
Aug 17, 2022•47 min•Ep. 96
British singer-songwriter James Bay recently released his third album, Leap . He finished recording it early in 2020, but – in an all too familiar scenario – the pandemic hit and put all of James's release and touring plans on hold. The silver lining was that it gave him time to write more songs, and re-evaluate what he wanted to say with the record. We talk about that whole journey in this interview, as well as his upbringing in the UK, surviving the explosion of success that came with his debu...
Aug 10, 2022•51 min•Ep. 95
mxmtoon is the definition of a modern pop star. She grew up in Oakland making music in her bedroom and posting covers of pop songs she'd perform on her ukulele to YouTube. Eventually she started uploading original songs to SoundCloud, and by the time she left school she had more than 10,000 followers on the platform. That trajectory hasn't really slowed since, and part of the reason for that – besides the fact she makes incredibly captivating indie pop – is the deep bond she's formed with her au...
Aug 03, 2022•54 min•Ep. 94
Alfie Templeman is the very definition of a prolific artist. He may have just released his debut album, Mellow Moon , but over the past few years he's put out four EPs and one mini-album; he also has a side project called Aerial Days, with which he's released two full-length albums and one EP. All this by the age of 19. Music has been the driving force in Alfie's life since he saw a Rush DVD at the age of seven. He started uploading his songs to the internet at 14 and quit school at 16 to tour a...
Jul 27, 2022•55 min•Ep. 93
Spacey Jane have had a breakout few years. The Perth outfit's 2020 debut album Sunlight hit Number 2 on the Australian charts, and their just-released follow up Here Comes Everybody landed at Number 1. Go back to 2016 when the band formed, though, and it's unlikely singer-guitarist Caleb Harper was thinking about this kind of success – at that point, as he was crashing out of university and unsure of what to do with his life, being in a band was simply one of the few things that kept him going. ...
Jul 20, 2022•47 min•Ep. 92
Given that he'll celebrate his 44th birthday in 2022, it's crazy to think that Ben Lee has been part of the musical landscape for three decades. As a 14 year old his band Noise Addict were plucked from a Sydney garage and championed by acts like Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys, introducing Ben to a worldwide audience and setting the platform for him to launch his solo career at the age of 16 Since then Ben has forged a career that can best be described as eclectic. He's released a children's al...
Jul 13, 2022•49 min•Ep. 91
Conor Maynard was one of the earliest artists to embrace the power of YouTube. While he was in his teens he started uploading covers to the platform, and his version of Ne-Yo's "Beautiful Monster" quickly racked up more than 1 million views. Before long managers, record labels and Ne-Yo himself came calling, all looking to work with Conor. By the time he was 19 he released his 2012 debut album Contrast , which hit Number One in the UK and yielded five Top 10 singles. The road since hasn't been q...
Jul 06, 2022•51 min•Ep. 90
Songwriting has been a part of Sasha Alex Sloan's life for a long time. As a kid she struggled at school, but she would come home and dedicate hours to playing and writing music. Through a series of hilarious events she got a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music and moved from Boston to LA at the age of 19. It took years but the songwriting credits started to mount up. At this point Sasha has written songs with artists like Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, Juice WRLD, LANY, Steve Aoki and many ...
Jun 29, 2022•47 min•Ep. 89
Chris Messina is a GRAMMY-nominated producer, mixer, engineer and songwriter, and one of Bon Iver's main creative partners. They struck up a friendship when Chris was working on Bon Iver's world tour in support of his 2011 self-titled album. After that run Mr Bon Iver himself, Justin Vernon, asked Chris to quit working on the touring circuit and move to Wisconsin to manage his studio, as well as collaborate on creating music. Chris did just that and played a key role in the making of Bon Iver's ...
Jun 22, 2022•52 min•Ep. 88
The Living End frontman Chris Cheney releases his debut solo album, The Storm Before The Calm , on June 17. Worlds away from the bombast of The Living End, the record took years to make, during which Chris's life veered dangerously out of control, as he talks about in this interview. He also talks about discovering music and learning to play guitar as a kid, breaking big with The Living End, and loads more.
Jun 15, 2022•59 min•Ep. 87
Pete Murray has been a mainstay of the Australian music scene since he released his major label debut album, Feeler, in 2003. One of the interesting things about Pete's story is that he didn't even pick up a guitar until 22, and he was 30 when he released his first independent album, The Game . By today's standards he is very much a late starter, having spent his youth focusing on sport, to the point where he almost represented Australia in rugby union 7s. Pete walks us through his story here, a...
Jun 08, 2022•48 min•Ep. 86
The debut album by Jaguar Jonze – AKA Brisbane artist Deena Lynch – is called Bunny Mode . The record's title may sound upbeat and playful, but the story behind it is heartbreaking, as it describes the behaviour Deena used as a coping mechanism when she was abused as a child. She is a survivor in the very real sense of the word, having not only made it through her childhood, but as an adult she was sexually assaulted by two music producers. She responded by bravely speaking out, and in doing so ...
Jun 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 85
Stephan Jenkins was cast into the spotlight when Third Eye Blind's 1997 self-titled debut album exploded around the world. On the back of hits like "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Jumper", the frontman achieved success beyond his wildest dreams – all the while learning the hard way about the compromises the music industry often demands of its artists. Fast forward to 2022 and Third Eye Blind have not only weathered the storms of those early years, but as Stephan explains in this interview, being in con...
May 25, 2022•46 min•Ep. 84
Matt Sorum joined Guns N'Roses in time to play on their 1991 Use Your Illusion albums. At that point they were the biggest rock band in the world, and though Matt had experienced fame before with The Cult, stepping into Guns N'Roses was another level altogether. Combine the unresolved issues from his childhood with the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll that went hand in hand with being in the world's most dangerous rock band, and you had a fiery cocktail that took Matt down a very extreme path of exces...
May 11, 2022•53 min•Ep. 83
Keli Holiday is a fictious character created by Peking Duk's Adam Hyde to channel a different side of his musical personality. While Peking Duk deal in high energy, partystarting electronic music that regularly goes platinum and tops the charts in Australia, Keli Holiday is informed more by emotional introspection and the music of Joy Division and New Order. The idea for the project came to Adam at the end of a two-month US tour with Peking Duk, and once he committed to it the music just poured ...
May 04, 2022•50 min•Ep. 82
The name Skylar Grey might not be instantly recognisable, but you'll definitely know the songs she's co-written: "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem, "Clarity" by Zedd, "I Need A Doctor" by Dr. Dre and "Last One Standing" from the Venom: Let There Be Carnage soundtrack are just some of her hits. Skylar sung the chorus hook on "Glorious" by Macklemore and "Coming Home" by Diddy; she's a long-time collaborator with Eminem, as a performer, songwriter and producer; and she is also a solo artist in her ...
Apr 27, 2022•57 min•Ep. 81
Tex Perkins is one of the finest and fiercest frontmen ever to stalk a stage, and the very definition of an artist who follows his instincts wherever they take him. He first made his name in Sydney in the '80s when he formed the primal rock band The Beasts Of Bourbon, but he had his greatest commercial success with The Cruel Sea, who for a while in the early to mid-'90s were one of Australia's biggest bands. Since then he's released many great albums with multiple projects, the latest being The ...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 80
Midlake recently released their fifth studio album, For the Sake of Bethel Woods . It's their first album since 2013's Antiphon , and the second to feature guitarist Eric Pulido on vocals after founding frontman Tim Smith left the band in 2012. Having gone on hiatus at the end of the Antiphon touring cycle, the idea of making new music was first floated in 2019. The deal was sealed when keyboardist/flautist Jesse Chandler had a dream in which he was visited by his father, who'd recently passed a...
Apr 13, 2022•52 min•Ep. 79
Shamir's new album Heterosexuality is an intensely personal record. While in the past Shamir has sung about his identity as a queer, non-binary person, he says this is the first time he's really tackled his relationship as a queer person with the binary, heterosexual world. (I should point out that I spoke with Shamir about which pronouns he's comfortable with me using, and he replied that he/his/him is fine.) Heterosexuality is Shamir's eighth full-length record, but the path to this point has ...
Apr 06, 2022•50 min•Ep. 78
As the daughter of two visual artists, art has always played a central role in Nilüfer Yanya's life. Discovered at 20 after uploading demos to SoundCloud, she quickly released a series of EPs for which she was long-listed for the BBC Sound of 2018, followed by her 2019 debut album, Miss Universe . As well as playing music, Nilüfer co-founded an organisation called Artists In Transit, which delivers art workshops to communities in times of hardship. We talk about Artists In Transit in this interv...
Mar 30, 2022•49 min•Ep. 77
New Zealand indie-pop superstar BENEE recently released her latest EP, Lychee . It's the follow-up to her 2020 debut album Hey u x , which exploded around the world on the back of the hit single 'Supalonely'. BENEE, though, had to watch all that unfold from Auckland due to COVID restrictions. That finally changed late in 2021 when she travelled to the US to work with songwriters and producers like Greg Kurstin and Rostam. Alongside collaborations with her longtime producer Josh Fountain, her wor...
Mar 23, 2022•49 min•Ep. 76
Midnight Oil recently released their 13th studio album, Resist . It's the Oils' first full-length since 2002's Capricornia , after which they disbanded and singer Peter Garrett pursued a career in politics. They reunited for 2017's Great Circle comeback tour, which saw the band play 77 shows around the globe – although sadly, Midnight Oil gigs are soon going to be a thing of the past, with the group announcing that the tour in support of Resist will be their last. In this interview Peter Garrett...
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 75
Foxes – AKA British singer-songwriter Louisa Rose Allen – recently released her third album, The Kick . It's her first full-length in six years, and follows a period out of the spotlight during which she took stock of her career and found a new team and label. The period leading up to that hiatus had been a non-stop whirlwind of activity that kicked off when Foxes' featured on Zedd's gigantic 2012 hit, "Clarity". From there she released two well received albums and collaborated with artists like...
Mar 09, 2022•50 min•Ep. 74
