The Hollerin’ Sluggers Radio Interviews and Charts!

March 23, 2016 Marshall Cullen

Tuesday June 14th The Hollerin’ Sluggers on Alive 90.5 with Ross Fear!

Listen to the interview anywhere in the world with the online link: www.alive905.com.au/ross-fear-australian-spectrum-show

Show starts at 9pm!

The Hollerin’ Sluggers’ album ‘The Promised Land’ is OUT NOW and has debuted at number 7 on the AMRAP Airplay charts.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/the-promised-land/id1037212987

Upcoming Shows:

March 24, Thursday — The Sands Hotel — Narrabeen, NSW

April 8, Friday — The Record Crate — Glebe, NSW

April 16, Saturday — Housefox Fest — Narrabeen, NSW

July 10, Sunday — Avalon Bowling Club — Avalon, NSW

August 27, Saturday — Nomad Brewery — Brookvale, NSW

Check out our Q&A with the band below!

Foghorn Media: What inspired you to become a singer/writer and form a band?

Hollerin’ Sluggers: Love of music. The need to entertain and make people feel good for a few hours.

FM: Who are your early influences?

HS: Artists that improvise and explore different realms of rootsy music, like Hendrix, Zeppelin, Cream, The Doors, Aussie rock from early 70s onwards.

FM: Tell us a little about how you write, how do the songs come? What gets you going creatively?

HS: We come up with a riff or a groove and jam it out first up, then we mould it into a song and whatever it needs to make it work. We enjoy exploring different structures. The band has evolved from the first album, our new material explores new realms.

FM: What is the first record you bought and why?

HS: AC/DC – like most people did in the day, they brought gritty powerhouse blues/rock to Australia.

FM: What current OZ acts inspire you?

HS: Anyone playing hard and touring their butts off on their own back and living the dream. Playing from the heart and not conforming to formulas.

FM: What about international bands?

HS: Joe Bonamassa and Gary Clark Jr, Clutch, Sea Sick Steve, Jack White

FM: Tell us a little about your music and what a crowd can expect at a live show.

HS: We aim to get everyone up and dancing and going crazy by the end of the show. If there is a rafter to hang off or a speaker to jump off, Owen will find it. If you come to our gig and your feet don’t start moving and your hips don’t start swaying you’re probably dead.

FM: Favorites: film, book, place, pet? Story?

HS: Favorite film – ‘Song Remains The Same,’ Favorite book – ‘Sex, Thugs, and Rock n Roll’ by Billy Thorpe. Favorite place – Narrabeen. Favorite pet – dog/galah/fish. Favorite story – Andy used to judge and breed German Shepherds and left it behind when the Sluggers was formed to pursue his musical dream of one day playing in a packed stadium.

FM: Favorite food or drink?

HS: Nomad Beer – they gave us some kegs, a shirt, and a hat. We’re easily pleased.

FM: You’re backstage with one of your influences mentioned earlier, what do you say?

HS: Can we jam with you guys?

FM: Where do you see Aussie music heading?

HS: There has always been pop music for the commercial market and cover bands in the pubs/clubs and will continue to be so. However, there is a real swing back to original bands playing modern venues not considered the traditional music houses, such as pizza/wine bars and retro records bars.

FM: What are your future plans for 2016/2017?

HS: Touring with some great artists and playing some kickass gigs, recording second album, and getting some national and international airplay would be nice.

News and Touring

Fiona Joy New Album “Signature – Synchronicity” Available NOW

March 18, 2016 Marshall Cullen

UPDATE: Fiona’s previous album “Signature – Solo” has won the ZMR Award for Best Solo Piano Album! To get a copy of the album click the link below: https://itunes.apple.com/signature-solo

Fiona Joy’s much anticipated new album “Signature – Synchronicity” is now available!

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/signature-synchronicity/id1074110022

Bandcamp: https://fionajoy.bandcamp.com

Signature – Synchronicity is the perfect bookend to Fiona Joy’s 2015 project ‘Signature-Solo’, which spent several months in the coveted #1 spot on the ZMR Airplay Charts and released in numerous formats via Blue Coast Records, a pioneering audiophile label. Along with the new album, Fiona presents several high-quality videos, visual memes, and pre-order perks all accessible via her website at www.FionaJoy.com.

Fiona originally imagined the project as a personal expression of how the deteriorating “signature” bone in her left hand was affecting her ability to share her life’s work. This evolved into modern fairytales that feature magic, imagination and the world we escape into.

“It’s interesting to grow up through your own music,” Fiona Joy says. “The early albums are about my own life, drawing on the past. Mostly this album is looking outside myself and exploring other subjects – in this case, fairy tale themes – and yet somehow they all come back to my own experience. It’s a circular thing…truly Synchronicity.”

This album was recorded and produced with the team at Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont and many of Fiona’s favorite instrumentalists; some recording was also done at Crash Symphony Productions in Sydney. One of the many highlights of the recording process for Fiona was the opportunity to record on an Australian-made Stuart & Sons piano. A few people Fiona found herself lucky enough to work with include producer Will Ackerman (Founder Windham Hill), Tom Eaton, and James Englund. Additionally, the album features artists such as Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), Rebecca Daniel (Ex ACO), Marc Shulman (Suzanne Vega), Eugene Friesen (Paul Winter Consort), Jeff Haynes (Pat Metheny), Jeff Oster, Paul Jarmin, Premik Tubbs, Borbala Bodonyi, her son Nick Hawkins, and many others.

Looking forward to all the fresh possibilities, travels and creative adventures of the coming year, Fiona Joy – embodies the glorious cover art of Signature – Synchronicity – running wildly into the embrace of her second decade of recording and touring.

“One of the brightest lights in the contemporary instrumental genre,
Fiona Joy Hawkins is poised to move into stardom and we have only to watch to see it happen”
- Will Ackerman (Founder Windham Hill Records)

Check out the five NEW videos.

GRACE- Youtube Video

CEREMONY – Youtube Video

ONCE UPON IMPOSSIBLE – Youtube Video

GRACE (Chill Version) – Youtube Video

CALLING EARTH – Youtube Video

And upcoming Launches to include –
This April sees a unique concert and film viewing for the official album release of Signature – Synchronicity by Fiona Joy at Burwood Music Centre in Melbourne for both the public and media. BMC is a recording studio that also has a small state of the art film theatre. Meet members of the production team involved in the project, the film-makers, the piano maker, and the piano producer. Award winning Australian artist Fiona Joy will perform tracks from her new album Signature – Synchronicity.

Along with three performances across the action packed weekend, the album reveal also features videos of six of the songs made by four different filmmakers. Of the filmmakers is a retired NASA Senior Flight Engineer who used NASA footage to bring Fiona’s song ‘Calling Earth’ to life. The event also includes a meet and greet with Wayne Stuart of world renown Australian Stuart & Sons pianos – the inventors of a revolutionary new piano design used in classical concerts all over the world.

The Events:
1. Saturday April 30th - Early afternoon. Watch the video clips, chat with the piano maker (Wayne Stuart), the producer (James Englund), the film-makers (four companies) Including NASA and ISS Footage, and a private concert opportunity with Fiona Joy.

2. Saturday April 30th - Evening cocktail event. Watch the videos, meet the filmmakers, the piano maker, and the piano producer.
3. Sunday May 1st – Mid-afternoon Matinee concert and video viewing. Additionally, there will be a fundraiser for Motor Neuron Disease.
Media are invited to all of the above but specifically to the Saturday afternoon
Please contact below if you would like to attend as seating is limited.

Each event has only 32 seats available-tickets here

“Fiona Joy is a TRUE artist, constantly growing, Signature – Synchronicity is the latest expression of her prodigious talent, I urge you to check it out.”
- Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering

Videos

Violent Femmes – Memory Official

Video March 18, 2016 Marshall Cullen

News and Touring

Violent Femmes – Album and Tour from March 4

March 2, 2016 Marshall Cullen

Boom! – Violent Femmes Tour And Album Release this week.

The legendary band’s triumphant return to Australian Shores
for their brilliant new album ‘We Can Do Anything’- (March 4 Universal) and National Tour all begins this week.

The boys arrive from New Zealand on Thursday and wake up early on Friday for their Sunrise spot- then they head to Taronga Zoo and Days on the Green on the weekend – Truly Non Stop and that’s just week 1.
See below for some more of whats in store plus some quotes and fun facts –

‘We Can Do Anything’ is the ninth album from Violent Femmes featuring a wealth of brand new recently penned tunes and is OUT NOW! – via UMA in Au + NZ.
Their 14-date tour of Australia and NZ, from 1^st March – 19^th March is ALMOST Sold Out – tickets are still available for 3 shows – see www.feelpresents.com
Violent Femmes performed the first single from the album, ‘Memory’ on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert yesterday. See the performance here (note innovative use of Weber BBQ)…and a truly magical encore performance of Blister In The Sun, with Colbert (who is a big fan) taking over lead vocals.
Violent Femmes formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1981.
The band were ‘discovered’ by Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott in 1981, busking outside the Milwaukee venue the Pretenders were playing that night.
Violent Femmes self-titled debut album, released in 1983, is the definition of a cult-sleeper hit. It hit platinum in the US and reached its chart peak (#171), 8 years after its release.
Australia has always been Violent Femmes biggest per-capita territory; with six Top 50 albums here. (Highest overall US placing; #84 in 1986).
Violent Femmes perform on Australian TV for the very first time on Channel 7 ‘Sunrise’ on the morning of the global release date of their album, Friday week 4^th March.
Violent Femmes are Double J’s ‘Artist In Residence’ for March, curating station playlists over the month, with retrospective features and guest host spots across the month with associated online and socials support.
Most people will know Violent Femmes from their teen-angst anthems ‘Blister In The Sun’, ‘Add It Up’ and ‘I Held Her In My Arms’.
Founding member and bassist Brian Ritchie calls Hobart home. He has curated Mona Foma every year since 2009. He is a master of the Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute).
Their 1983 single ‘Done Daddy Gone’ (which featured two xylophone solos) was covered by Gnarls Barkley on their 2006 ‘St Elsewhere’ album – itself a Billboard #4 album.
Violent Femmes returned the favour by covering Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ in 2008. Gnarls Barkley’s review: “I might compare it to a calm pond. I caught my reflection in it. And I seemed to be momentarily at peace. This track sounds entirely different in the rain, and supports some intriguing lilypads.”
Violent Femmes headlined the very first Big Day Out in 1992 (at that time a Sydney-only event). Nirvana were also on the bill.
World exclusive t-shirt, art-card, album and vinyl bundles for the new album are available on the official Australian Violent Femmes store .
‘We Can Do Anything’ is available on transparent green vinyl (exclusive to Australia…see it unboxed and played on Gramovox®), alongside CD & digital formats.

FANS CAN PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM NOW http://umusi.cc/WCDA
Exclusive bundles available from the Official Violent Femmes Australian Store: http://umusi.cc/VFPO