Tag Archives: singer songwriter

Grander Things Debut EP MASH

October 16, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Having played together in various bands since the late eighties, Brent Williams (Pop Mechanix, The Moon), Rhys Lewis-Smith (The Moon, Mr Blonde) and Bruce Thomas (The Moon, Greg Brady Overdrive, Ancient Marinators) reconnected and their weekly jam night recordings were sometimes joined by friend and guitarist Iain Martin.

The collection of tracks quickly grew and they all agreed that some were too good to leave in the vault. Whilst still just a collection of cool ideas, that felt good to play and the thought that this could turn out to be something more than a weekly jam session slowly took hold. The lads agreed it was time to search for a singer/songwriter.
They didn’t have to look far. Longtime friend Liz Clear (The Amazing Woolloomooloosers, Yeah Yeah Yeah, Clear) had vocals with attitude that perfectly matched their brand of epic indie rock.

Checkout the Video for NO Disco

Liz picked up the challenge and was inspired to lay some tracks up with words and melodies. Before they knew it, they had a crackerjack bag of hits.

They formed the band, Grander Things, fine-tuned their set and picked four of their favourites to record with Dave Trumpmanis at his studio in St Peters.

Grander Things wear their influences on their sleeves, but their sound is equally hard to pin down. A combination of all that has lit their fuse; rock, punk, new wave and pop.

Mixed and mastered by Russell Pilling from Damien Gerard Studios, the result is their four-track debut EP, MASH. Short and sharp. It delivers.

Born from the last four decades of rock, punk, new wave and pop all mashed up, these songs are filled with big guitars and soaring melodies that hook you right from the start.

No Disco:

An assault on the senses. This song captures the pain of romance when communication breaks down.

Cold War:
Haunting depiction of a friendship turned sour.

Running:
Classic rock breakup song. You can’t come running to me tells it like it is.

Carry Me:
Not for the faint hearted. This song is all about empowerment.

Streaming:

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News and Touring

LA Band Cody & The Blackouts new single Time Stood Still

October 6, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Cody and The Blackouts (USA)
Time Stood Still

We’ve all had those moments.

That instant when realisation hits. The sudden knowledge destiny is unfolding right before our eyes. It could be meeting a potential soulmate, achieving a lifelong goal, watching your team salvage victory from almost certain defeat.

Moments when time stood still.

The new single from Los Angeles five-piece Cody & The Blackouts captures that lightning in a bottle – not just once, even twice, but thrice. Time Stood Still, penned by the band’s lead singer and songwriter Cody Hudock, references three momentous events in history: the birth of Gutenberg’s printing press, Freud’s breakthrough theories of psychoanalysis, and how the Beatles and their producer George Martin changed the game forever when it comes to writing and recording popular music. Hit, hit, hit.

If anyone could weave these wildly disparate subjects together in the context of a single pop song, it’s Cody Hudock. Born into a family of songwriters, Hudock learned the trade from his father and older brother. “I picked it up quite naturally, in much the same way the son of a baker might understand intrinsically how to make a good loaf of bread from their first go at it,” Hudock says.

After acquiring early performance experience playing keys in older brother Jordan’s popular LA indie bands, Coalinga and Marvelous Toy, Hudock launched his own songwriting vehicle, Cody The Band. The group released three EPs before Hudock embarked on his solo debut, 2016’s ambitiously titled The Great American Album. Released under his own name, it garnered some delirious word of mouth: “If there were an award for ‘greatest living songwriter you’ve never heard of’, then Cody Hudock’s sterling solo effort would place him firmly in the running,” gushed LA blog The 704.

What would become the core of The Blackouts played together on The Great American Album: Cody, his wife and vocalist Joanna Hudock, and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Bennett. Drummer Brent Stranathan and bassist Will Weissman were soon added to the fold, as the band began playing shows across Los Angeles. When Bennett moved to Atlanta a year later, guitarist Jimmy Holman proved a worthy replacement.

Recorded at Hollywood studio Elephant In The Room, produced by Ethan Kaufmann (Avril Lavigne, Wild Party) and Brent Stranathan, and mixed by longstanding Capitol Records engineer Chandler Harrod (John Mayer, Neil Young), Time Stood Still captures the unique studio chemistry of Cody & The Blackouts. That chemistry translates to the song’s accompanying performance video, shot in crisp black and white at The Room Downtown, LA, with Matt Soson as Director of Photography and edited in Australia by Emmy award-winning Jason “JJ” Jamieson. Time Stood Still, from the album Gold, released on Chance MUSIC. Hit, hit, hit.

Video

Connect with Cody and The Blackouts

Released In Australia by Chance Music

For further information, Files, CD and Interview Requests please contact:
Marshall Cullen at Foghorn Media
0416 143 030
marshall@foghornrecords.net
Or
Nick Chance at Chance Music
promotions@chancemusic.com

Videos

Stuart Dwyer – Wait Another Day(official)

Video September 16, 2020 Marshall Cullen

News and Touring

Steve Kilbey New Solo Album – Eleven Women

September 4, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Steve Kilbey New Solo Album- Eleven Women

Update

Steve’s Next Live Venue show

‘STEVE KILBEY (THE CHURCH), AND HIS WINGED HEELS- GARETH KOCH (SAFFIRE) & ROGER MASON (ICEHOUSE) PERFORM
“SONGS FROM ANOTHER LIFE”
LIVE AT BRASS MONKEY CRONULLA
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Get tickets for the early session at 530pm DINNER AND SHOW
or the late session at 8:30pm DINNER AND SHOW

Steve Kilbey has created a fine new album for 2020. His first solo release for an astoundingly creative year reveals a dazzling array of songs brimming with ideas, personality & effervescence. The collection is at once whimsical yet personal, and in a masterful sleight of hand Kilbey’s Eleven Women are not quite as one might expect.

Eleven Women is full of melodic invention & lyrical surprises. Singling out tracks for special mention is frankly impossible since this album consists entirely of highlights. Amongst these bijous however the timelessly beautiful Think of You shines brightly. This song has the unmistakeable stamp of eternity & evokes a sense of having existed since music began.

September 4 Foghorn/MGM

Hear it now

Read the Rolling Stone Review

Plus the RS Interview

Watch the Zoom Interview with WhatsMyScene

and for some insights into #thechurch as well read this great interview from backseat mafia

Wanna see Steve play Sheba Chiba Live Acoustic- just click here

Connect with Steve

News and Touring

Margaret Anne and The Rock It Man Don’t Look Back

August 28, 2020 Marshall Cullen

After releasing the inspiring and amazing Americana song and video clip ‘Soul Laid Bare’ at the end of last year, Margaret Anne and The Rock It Man have released two exciting new songs. ‘Don’t Look Back’ co-written with Shane Nicholson and ‘My Mumma’ written while watching the passing of her mother 2 years ago.

Just 2 months after leaving a 20-year marriage, ‘Don’t Look Back’ was written with country artist Shane Nicholson at The Dag Sheep Station in Nundle, near Tamworth. While sitting on the porch of a farmhouse, Shane helped Margaret Anne peel back the layers to look deep within. Doug Weaver (aka the Rock It Man) produced and played not one but all of instruments on the song.
The result is a song that examines the essence of her marriage, the struggle to get it right, the decision to move on from the wreckage and not look back.

‘My Mumma’ was written on the back of a bereavement envelope in about 10 minutes. When faced with the death of her mother, Margaret fell back into childhood, writing this emotional ballad of grief while waiting and watching her pass away. Played by her brother, the accompanying guitar forms the song into both a collection of vulnerable memories and a haunting goodbye.

Connect with Margaret Anne:

News and Touring

A chat with Adam Blacksmith

August 19, 2020 Marshall Cullen

On the eve of the first single ‘I Hope I’m Wrong’ from his forthcoming album ‘Blind to the Sea’ we sat down (via zoom) to chat with Adam about all things musical -

Tell us about the moment you decided to become a song writer? What did your family/friends have to say about it?

I was driving in my car In 1999 when I heard”Asleep in Perfection” by Augie March on JJJ. I had to stop the car to take it all in. I had loved folk music for years but had lost faith in the radio to play bands with the lyrical substance of Dylan, Joni and The Tea Party until that moment. Hearing it renewed my faith in radio and music at the same time and it gave me the hope that I could transform my poetry into music.

All my friends at the time were in metal bands and were very supportive of my direction and my family felt the same, however, If I am honest, I don’t think they believed I’d stick with it.

Who are your early influences?

I tend to have an “all or nothing” approach to most things, not excluding music. I grew up listening to heavy metal (and still do). I was always drawn to death metal bands such as Carcass and Morbid Angel because they combined lyricism with aggression and technical mastery. I harbored a dream to either sing or play guitar in a grindcore band however didn’t really have the dexterity or disposition. I was simulaltaneously drawn to folk artists, such as Dylan, Joni Mitchel, George Harrison, Nick Drake and later Augie March as they sang about philosophy and expressed emotions through their music that I had trouble expressing myself.

Tell us a little about your writing process, how does a song come along? What gets you going creatively?

I always have a guitar with me in my loungeroom. Mostly I just muck around with chords and sounds and record anything that I like on my phone, about one in fifty ideas stick. When I’m stretched for ideas I attempt to learn a cover song and usually get some ideas from there.

Lyrically, I am inspired by my work in the jail system, from borrowed words I have jotted from Dickens novels or Audio books and from documentaries. I have a phone full of ideas and musings that may or may not find their way into a song. My latest album features two songs inspired from the plight of Aboriginal Austrlians which have a particular significance to me after learning of my own Aboriginality in more recent years.

What is the first record you bought and why?

Dr. Feelgood by Motley Crew. I had just started earning money with my first casual job at Target while I was still in high-school. I couldn’t afford the $26 for the CD so I convinced my sister to go halves. Given she was listening to U2 at the time, I always knew it was going to be mine. Technically I still owe my sister $13

What current/new Artists/Bands inspire you and why?

Augie March, The Drones, Marlon Williams, Julia Jacklin, CW Stoneking, Ben Howard and High Tension.

I absolutely love the lyrics of Glen Richards and Augie March and the Raw unapologetic energy replete with Australiana that the Drones bring to the table. I guess the commonality of all these artists is their brilliant lyricism. High Tension on the other hand are just phenominal live and a must see…

Stream the new single here – out Friday August 21 via MGM

Connect with Adam

News and Touring

Andrew Barnum New Single – Dear Ancestor

July 30, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Andrew Barnum’s Single Dear Ancestor

Andrew Barnum is a singer-songwriter, whose musical style is a combination of folk-based Aus alt-folk and home-pop-tronic-rock. Welcome to a visually transporting road-trip of the Australian experience today.The song-writing-performance duo of Andrew & Lissa Barnum, aka Vitabeats, had a national hit with ‘Boom Box’ (Hot/EMI) in 1985. This was followed by singles ‘Audrey’ and ‘Build it Right’ from the album ‘Spot the Spanner.’ The band stopped recording and touring in 1988. Andrew never stopped writing, recording and performing his own songs.Andrew’s current sound is a blend of the acoustic and electronic arcane – forgotten analogue technologies, merging with digital interfaces and an array of musicians, including vocals from Lissa and Cayenne Barnum, all coming together in accomplished composer-producer Boris Hunt’s Black Rabbit Studio in Hartley, NSW.

Dear Ancestor is a personal letter to our past about the future.
It’s a lament to someone trusted and wise, asking for a way to awaken with purpose.
Like the Zen master, it’s not with a gentle nudge, but with a crack from their stick.
The track was recorded live with Boris Hunt, Lucius Culliton, and Andy Gordon,
at Black Rabbit Big Room, Kanimbla NSW Australia. Mastered by Nat Love.

The overall sound has a a dark, smoky, haunting lyrical quality. Musically, it speaks volumes with a sense of longing, lingering, and meandering, that is full of romance.

Video click image below – (recently premiered on Scenestr magazine)

The video clip was a collaboration with students from Billy Blue College (Andy Marsh, Christine Kemeny, Bailey Sii, and Tony Taulaga) with Lissa Barnum’s inventive creative direction and videography of Andrew. All the footage was shot in 2 isolated locations, Sydney and the South Coast (Lissa), then edited with additional animated effects. The creative direction was based on the silhouette style of Indonesian shadow puppetry. The team set out to create the smoky, burnt atmosphere of the recent bushfires, the spirit of the Ancestor is represented by Australian birds. Special thanks to Christine Kemeny for the final production.

Stream the new single here:

Social media links
www.facebook.com/andrewbarnumsongs
www.twitter.com/andrew_barnum

Official site

https://www.andrewbarnum.com

News and Touring

The Insufferable Paul Scott New EP Radio Station

June 19, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Paul Scott unleashes his ‘Insufferable’ Persona on the airwaves once again this time with the most friendly of Radio Tunes – titled “Radio Station”

The Insufferable Paul Scott (The Likes of You, Montana, John Kennedy’s 68 Comeback Special, The Bad Machines and on into the dim recesses of the Indie hive-mind’s faltering memory…) has plied bass and guitar for various Australian acts, playing everywhere from community halls and malls in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the Sydney Opera House. Most recently Scott released last year’s lovingly reviewed and widely supported by community radio, indiepop album ‘Surrender to Robots’.

Radio Station is the next instalment.

Says Scott: “When I was coming up (pre-internet!) the only way you could hear alternative music was on independent and community radio stations: Joy Division, HuskerDu,The Boys Next Door, The Replacements, The Waterboys… I’d hear an amazing song on the radio and have fun hunting for it at the local record emporium. Unfortunately when it came to remembering the details of the track I’d just heard I was less reliable than Shazam: I once spent a week trying to find a Lou Reed song called ‘Velvet Underground’ only to be set straight by the record store clerk “it’s a band not a song, you idiot”.”

Radio Station – What’s it about?

It’s about 3 minutes and 8 seconds.

Radio Station Extended Play Credits

Radio Station (Scott) Mixed by Craig Porteils at Eargasim

Chasing Shadows (Scott) Arranged and mixed by timEbandit Powles at Space Junk V

The Collapse (Scott) Mixed by David Trumpmanis at Nonlinear

A Golden Calf (Scott) Arranged and mixed by Steve Melville at Burning Boat

The Insufferable Paul Scott – Radio Station (EP) is out NOW through Foghorn/MGM

Stream or Download from your preferred service

Connect with Paul Scott:

For further information, and Interview requests please contact:
Marshall@foghornrecords.net
0416 143 030

News and Touring

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

Connect with Lily

News and Touring

Steve Kilbey And Gareth Koch New Album Songs From Another Life: Music Of Antiquity

May 29, 2020 Marshall Cullen

Songs from Another Life (Music of Antiquity) is the second collaborative album by Steve Kilbey and Gareth Koch. It follows their successful debut Chryse Planitia earlier this year.

These two artisans have produced a unique musical creation – an esoteric masterpiece which is difficult to define. It is an entirely new body of work, evoking a living connection to the past which resonates with us all.

It is tantalising to reflect on how music of the ‘ancients’ might have sounded. Our clues lie in the iconography and artistic representations of the pre-Christian era, and within specific types of folk music which have a living tradition. This continuum provides a valuable framework for the attempt at reconstructing ancient music. Indian folk music and flamenco for example create an interesting template, since both these traditions merged and are further coloured by the Moorish invasions of Andalucia.

It is significant therefore that the earliest form of notation was created in Babylonia, probably in about 1400BC. The instructions are fragmentary, but the cuneiform tablets suggest that the music was composed using scales, harmonies and gestures not altogether unfamiliar to today’s listener.

In Steve’s words on the liner notes to the LP he says:

“Working with language scholars and local musicians, we have attempted to bring these ancient songs alive. They have rendered the songs in a manner that is comprehensible to the modern listener. The songs and recordings represent the thoughts and sounds of a distant antiquity. Here then is the past – and now the past is here.”

Out Now

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Connect with Gareth Koch:

For further information, and Interview requests please contact:
Marshall@foghornrecords.net
0416 143 030