Artist to Fan

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Stuart Coupe, acclaimed author, radio presenter, publicist, and former band manager, record label founder and concert promoter, who recently released the brilliant memoir, Shake Some Action: My Life in Music (and other stuff).

It’s hard to know where to start when trying to neatly sum up Stuart’s life and career to date in a few pars but I’ll give it a crack. Stuart was born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania, before relocating to Adelaide to enrol in an Arts degree at Flinders University, which he later dropped out of partway through to move to Sydney to further his then-fledgling writing career (for want of a better term).

He became Hoodoo Gurus’ first manager and also managed Paul Kelly early in his career; he was a long-time columnist for The Sun-Herald and staff writer for RAM (Rock Australia Magazine) and Dolly, and his yarns have appeared everywhere from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times to Rolling Stone Australia, The Nation Review and Playboy.

In addition to interviewing thousands of artists, including particularly memorable encounters with Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Sting and Bob Dylan, he’s worked as a publicist on tours for everyone from The Clash and The Dead Kennedys to Jonathan Richman and Teardrop Explodes. 

He’s written or co-written at least 15 books, including 'Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock’n’roll', The Promoters: Inside Stories from the Australian Rock Industry, Gudinski: The Godfather of Australian Rock, Paul Kelly: The Man, The Music And The Life In Between and Tex (with Tex Perkins).

He also co-founded Green Records, which had a roster that included Beasts of Bourbon, The Lime Spiders, New Christs and Do-Re-Mi, and later, Laughing Outlaw, which released somewhere in the vicinity of 200 albums from a diverse range of artists including Ronnie Spector, Emma Swift, Bluebottle Kiss, Dave McCormack and the Polaroids, Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows and Halfway.

As a concert promoter - an enterprise he says he “screwed up magnificently - Stuart has been responsible for bringing the likes of Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Tom Russell, Dave Alvin, Ted Hawkins, Guy Clark, Chris Whitley, Harry Dean Stanton, Dick Dale, and Link Wray to Australia. 

He’s also a radio presenter and currently hosts programs on Sydney stations FBI and 2SER, including long-running “roots” - think blues, rock ‘n’ roll, alt-country, soul, R&B, reggae and everything in between - show Dirt Music.

It’s worth pointing out he didn’t necessarily undertake all of the above-mentioned endeavours chronologically. In fact, he did - and continues to do - many of these things concurrently. 

To get a vague idea of the broad impact he’s had on the Australian music industry and its participants, one need look no further than the clover of Shake Some Action, which includes endorsements from Tim Rogers, Kasey Chambers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who says, “Stuart’s passion and love for music is infectious”.  

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Scott Radinsky, lead singer of Southern California punk band Pulley, who are about to tour Australia for the first time in almost two decades.  The band formed in 1994 following Radinsky's departure from Ten Foot Pole (previously known as Scared Straight). Pulley rose to prominence with the release of the 1996 album Esteem Driven Engine, on Epitaph Records, which was followed by 60 Cycle Hum, @#!*, Together Again for the First Time, Matters, No Change in the Weather and last year's The Golden Life.
Fans of Epitaph’s Punk-O-Rama compilation albums from the 1990s and early 2000s will no doubt be familiar with the band — they featured on almost every edition with songs including Cashed In, If, Second Best, Gone, Runaway and Away From Me.
In addition to singing for Pulley and Ten Foot Pole, Radinsky has also had a successful baseball career, including stints as a pitcher for Major League teams such as the Chicago White Sox, St Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians.
Pulley’s Australian tour kicks off in Newcastle on November 3 and includes dates in Sydney, Hobart (with Lagwagon), Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Brisbane. Visit Pulley’s Facebook page or Chopdog Entertainment’s website for more details. 

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Phil Jamieson. Phil is best known as the frontman of the band Grinspoon, who were Unearthed by triple j in Lismore in 1995. 
Grinspoon  have released seven studio albums — Guide to Better Living; Easy; New Detention; Thrills, Kills and Sunday Pills; Alibis and Other Lies; Six to Midnight and Black Rabbits — and singles including Just Ace, Pedestrian, Chemical Heart, Lost Control, Secrets, Hard Act to Follow, Ready One, Chemical Heart, Black Tattoo, Comeback, Passerby and Branded.

Phil has just released his debut solo album Somebody Else, which features the singles Lights On, Trouble, Somebody Else and Rubberband, and you can find it on all the usual streaming services. For more info on the album, merch and tour, visit Phil’s linktree. 

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Greater Manchester-born, Brisbane-based bassist and singer-songwriter Adele Pickvance. In addition to fronting her current post-punk/indie-rock three-piece Adele and the Chandeliers, who have released a fantastic record called First Date, she also played in The Go-Betweens from 2000-2006.

Adele has also performed live and on record with both Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, Dave Graney, Clare Moore, Glenn Thompson and as a member of the Far Out Corporation.

You can purchase or stream Adele and the Chandeliers’ First Date on Bandcamp, and it’s also available on all the usual streaming sites.

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Kram (Mark Maher) from iconic Australian alternative rock band Spiderbait.

Over the course of the band’s more than three-decade career, Spiderbait – which also includes bassist and co-vocalist Janet English and guitarist Damien “Whit” Whitty – have released seven studio albums, including Ivy and the Big Apples, The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finely Lake, Grand Slam, The Flight of Wally Funk, Tonight Alright and Spiderbait.

Some of their best-known songs include Buy Me a Pony, which was the first Australian song to come in at  No.1 on the triple j Hottest 100 in 1996, Sam Gribbles, Monty, Calypso, Fucken Awesome, Glockenpop, Hot Water and Milk, and their cover of Black Betty, which reached No.1 on the ARIA singles chart.

Spiderbait have just released a new compilation called Sounds in the Key of J, a 33-track collection of Janet’s songs, and they are about to kick off their Tour in the Key of J run of shows in Launceston, Tasmania. 

This setlist for this run of shows will be composed entirely of songs by Janet, including new single My Car is a UFO, and also includes dates in Hobart, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle, Adelaide and Camden.

In addition to playing in Spiderbait, Kram is also part of Australian Rock Collective, alongside Darren Middleton from Powderfinger, Davey Lane from You Am I and Mark Wilson from Jet.

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by far north Queensland singer-songwriter LT.  If the name LT doesn't ring any bells there‘s probably a very good reason for that - until recently, she was known as Leanne Tennant and she’s a multi-award-winning artist whose music defies easy categorisation. 

That said, her musical output includes everything from folk and blues to rock, indie-pop and dream pop. 

LT released her debut album Pull Up Your Britches in 2014 and she’s since released another couple of full-length albums - 2016’s Red Wine, Late Nights and last year’s Happiness is..., which features the singles ‘Cherry Cola’, ‘Till The Sun Dies’, ‘Bring It All Back’ and ‘Record Stores’.

Over the past decade, LT has garnered critical acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, Rolling Stone Australia and Clash Magazine. She’s also a three-time Queensland Music Award winner and picked up the prestigious Carol Lloyd Award in 2018. 

 After releasing the track ‘Hold Ya’ earlier this year, LT has just released her latest single ‘How Would It Feel’, a collaboration with producer Konstantin Kersting (Tones And I, Mallrat, The Jungle Giants).

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Brisbane-based singer-songwriter Sahara Beck. Sahara's musical output defies easy categorisation, deftly jumping from acoustic folk and indie-pop to cabaret and piano balladry. Sahara has been a fixture on the Australian music scene for more than a decade and has received numerous accolades for her work, including the prestigious Carol Lloyd Award in 2019 and several Queensland Music Awards. Sahara has just released a new single 'Crave Me', which follows her acclaimed  EP Queen of Hearts and earlier releases including Panacea (2016) and Bloom (2014). In this interview, Sahara discusses everything from some of her formative musical influences, to the writing and recording of her latest single, her recent collaboration with burlesque collective Briefs Factory and her plans for the rest of 2021 and beyond.

Brisbane singer-songwriter Tyrone Noonan is probably still best known for his time in George, the ARIA-award-winning band he fronted alongside his sister Katie.  

George’s debut album Polyserena debuted at No.1 on the ARIA charts and earned george six ARIA nominations - ‘Album Of The Year’, ‘Best Group’, Best Cover Art’, ‘Producer of the Year’,  ‘Best Pop Release’ and ‘Breakthrough Artist – Album’ (the latter of which the band won). 

Polyserena has since attained double-platinum status in Australia, and the band are currently playing a string of shows at Brisbane Powerhouse to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the album’s recording.

Tyrone also released Utopia, his first solo studio album in almost a decade, late last year, which includes the final vocal recording of the late Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens.

You can read an interview about Utopia here:  bit.ly/3xJn0s6

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by Melbourne singer-songwriter Paul Dempsey from the band Something for Kate. Conducted in late November, 2020, it was ostensibly an interview to discuss Something For Kate’s latest album The Modern Medieval but covered a lot of ground, with Dempsey discussing everything from his songwriting process, to the band’s 2004 tour with David Bowie and getting to know the man behind the myth.

On this episode of Artist to Fan, Daniel Johnson is joined by singer-songwriter Blake Scott. Blake is best known as the singer and guitarist of Melbourne band The Peep Tempel and has just released his debut solo album Niscitam on Wing Sing Records. Blake is one of Australia's most singularly talented lyricists and songwriters and in this interview, he discusses everything from how impending fatherhood helped inform the creative process of Niscitam, to the recurring dreams that inspired one of the album's central tracks - The Plainsman - and why The Peep Tempel went on hiatus.