Tag Archives: Foghorn

Lily Duval New Single Two Souls

June 15, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Lily Duval New Single Two Souls

For many years from the 70’s through to the early 2000s Sydney Artist Lily Duval worked as a studio session singer and performed live with acoustic and rock blues bands in venues throughout Australia. After a 10 year hiatus she returned to recording in 2015. “The music I love is from classic artists such as Joni Mitchell, Phoebe Snow, Janis Joplin, Harry Nilsson, Billy Thorpe, Brian Cadd, Joe Cocker and Leon Russell, all tend to have a bluesy undertone and once that style seemed to not be the new thing anymore I kinda felt my style didn’t fit.”

But since the Blues and Roots resurgence and then Americana coming along Lily finally felt the time was right and started writing again from 2015 onwards.

(Pic by Tony Mott)

“I got a tip about Damien Gerard Studios , who I was able to meet with and plan a bit of a ‘come back’. The studio vibe was just like the old days, lovely and warm and friendly with lots of analog gear and the ‘patient’ Russell Pilling. They organised for me to do a photoshoot with Rock Photographer legend, Tony Mott, which turned out to be a great idea. Tony didn’t treat me any different to all those famous huge acts he has shot and that really helped me get my confidence back.”

Since restarting Lily has released a steady body of work each year in the modern-day EP and singles format, mainly original acoustic folky bluesy tunes but with some classic cover B sides thrown into the mix. The new songs have been consistently well received at community radio across the country with comparisons ranging from Carol King to Joni Mitchell.

Lily Duval’s first outing for 2020 is what she considers her strongest to date: “These 2 songs, an original and a cover are both close to my heart. The A side“Two Souls” is all about the entanglement of love. How loving someone sometimes makes life complicated even as you get older. The cover I chose ‘Angel from Montgomery is a song I love from John Prine, who sadly fell victim to Covid 19 recently, this makes it even more poignant.

I was very lucky to have the talented Peter Holz & Scott Bird play on these new releases. Both guitarists have worked with me in the studio before and besides their wonderful musical abilities, they are both good men. Rory McKenzie, who has spent the last 20years living and working in Los Angeles and Nashville, played drums on both of these tracks. Rory is a talented musician and moved home just in time for this recording! It was also great to be back working with Engineer Andrew Beck, whose musical intellect is always appreciated–Andrew also played bass on “Angel from Montgomery”.

Two Souls/Angel from Montgomery is OUT NOW on Foghorn Records via MGM

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News and Touring

Kaijin Solo New EP Universal Love

May 15, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Kaijin Solo is a contemporary singer/songwriter based on the NSW Central Coast with a blues rock influence.

Universal Love is an experiment in letting other people find their way into his music.
The idea came about from jamming original songs live with a host of different people on the local open mike circuit. The result is an electric mix of ideas that provides a solid rocking sound-scope for the lyrics.

Mark Cashin and Jake Hunt from The Little Hussies were the collaborators this time round, with Russell Pilling at Damien Gerard Studios engineering. The combination of talent without prima donna egos made the sessions into a fun day with a fantastic output and every song grew in dimension.
The EP was Mastered by Andrew Beck.

Universal Love – “When we can think, speak and act the way we want to be treated ourselves, the power of love will exceed the love of power and the world will know peace.” Is what Universal Love is about, it was inspired by a quote from Jimi Hendrix “When the power of love exceeds the love of power the world will know peace.

Into the Dream was written the morning after a Ryan Adams concert, thinking about how much things has changed since the beginning of the century.

The Republic is a tribute to the people and their achievements, and a wake up to call to Canberra to get on with it.

Spirit on the Wind is an ode to the Spirit of Freedom.

Like Sunshine is a love song to music itself.

Stream from your favourite service:

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Videos

Gareth Koch-Code Blue(official)

Video May 8, 2020 Marshall Cullen

News and Touring

Gareth Koch Releases New EP Code Blue

May 8, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Following the critically acclaimed collaboration album with Steve Kilbey(The Church) and with a new album pending from the pair Gareth found time during lock down to complete and sneak out this EP with the title song very close to his heart-literally….

“How does an artwork or song come into being and take form where once nothing existed?

The answer has layers of complexity, and varies from artist to artist, but there are partial explanations. Usually there is some type of catalyst, a half-remembered whisper, idea or a musical phrase which forms a point of creative departure. Sometimes though, an actual event might spark inspiration.”

The song Code Blue is jaunty & upbeat with tongue-in-cheek lyrics, but these provide clues to an underlying seriousness:

‘code blue runnin outa time,…show a vital sign,… in emergency ICU…o honey i’d die for you….’

A ‘code blue’ is a hospital crisis situation in which the patient is in cardiopulmonary arrest, requiring a team to rush to the specific location and begin rescue efforts.
The narrative of the song draws on a sudden medical emergency in which Gareth was saved by the skill of medical staff.

Both the song Code Blue and EP are dedicated with love and gratitude to the wonderful medical professionals across the world.

The Video for the Song Premiered on Scentre below

The other tracks hold their own as well-

Come Heavy Sleep is a type of re-imagined Elizabethan ballad, while The Flame carries echos of the great Blue Oyster Cult. The surprise inclusion on this EP is the notorious rock song ‘Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again’ by Australian rock band The Angels. In this rendering Koch re-invents the song as a ballad of unimaginable sensitivity, laced with subtlety & classical guitars.

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Stream or Download The EP

News and Touring

The Mezcaltones Mexican Hillbilly Surf Music

March 4, 2020 Marshall Cullen

The Mezcaltones Mexican Hillbilly Surf Music
The band’s third album finds them at the top of their game with brilliantly written and played originals along with a tasteful selection of covers lifted from their live set. Recorded and mixed in just over a week at Damien Gerard’s new expanded studios on the Central Coast, the album stands as their most cohesively accessible and sonically pleasing to date.

Only released last Friday to coincide with the launch on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to their home crowd the Album is already garnering reviews such as
“The third album from the enigmatic Mezcaltones is cranking, feelgood drinking music that crawls into your boots and drags you to the dance floor of any number of dusty roadside Mexican Saloons.” Redback Rock
“The good, the bad, the groovy, playing all things cool with a Tarantino and strong Mexican flavour.Blog

The band have also been invited to co host Ross Fear’s influential Australian Spectrum show this Tuesday March 3 (tonight).

The band will be playing over the next few weeks to promote the record, see dates below.

And now to the band – Just what is it about the Mezcaltones-
Four guys dressed as cowboys and two women dressed like Spanish Mexican Senoritas that you might find in a Quentin Tarantino movie – two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer a Crazy front man and a beautiful dancer/percussionist. Whilst their original songs have an alt country flavour with rich Cowboy guitar sounds reminiscent of another century the guitar tones also reach into the realms of 60’s surf instrumentals.

See them live at