Don't Look Back Podcast

Millie Jackson's classic 1974 track ‘(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right’ blew a young Kylie Auldist's mind. But she won't be following in the footsteps of the legendary soul singer when it comes to subject matter of her songs.

It’s not entirely surprising that Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson would have a broad and rich range of musical influences. He recounts loving each of the hundreds of 7” singles his parents owned and allowed him to play to ruination on his little record player. Songs by Frank Sinatra, the swinging jazz of Louis Prima, for instance. What is a little surprising is that he chose a country pop tune, made famous by Kenny Rogers, for Don't Look Back.

Dave Graney’s creative longevity has been sustained by his need for re-invention but also by knowing when to borrow ideas, phrases or melodic licks from others to fashion into something of his own. Caz Tran sat down with Dave Graney to hear about the influence of blues and groove, hip hop acts like Public Enemy and Schoolly D, Radio Birdman and The Pop Group and many more. However, his song choice by New York’s Television, is almost too perfect to touch.

Katy Steele admits, with some embarrassment, that she’d never even heard about Joni Mitchell’s 1971 masterpiece Blue until fairly recently. Now, one song in particular continues to stop her in her tracks; the vividly depicted, melancholic seasonal song ‘River.’ Hear more about the song that changed it all for Katy Steele on Don't Look Back.

Inspiration has also come to her from two sprawling pieces of intricate, minimalist and ambient music, Steve Reich’s ‘Music for 18 Musicians’, and Laraaji’s ‘Essence / Universe’.

Ash Grunwald recounts a time in his life when there was only room for one type of music. He’d picked up the guitar at 10 years old, discovered blues music, and never looked back. That was, until he finally came around to the music of Jimi Hendrix.

Writer, musician and newly appointed co-curator of Women of Letters, Angie Hart shares tales of struggle with her personal demons, her habit of snubbing her musical heroes and the song that changed everything for her.

“Winemaking is the long game,” Tool, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan says. “You have to pay attention and understand that there's a big picture attached to it.

Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual or a roadmap. Sometimes you just bumble through, faking it til you make it. Some of us are lucky enough to find that role model, mentor or guardian angel who shows us a possible way forward. Missy Higgins was one of those lucky ones. At a time in her life when she needed it most, she discovered the music of Canadian songwriter Sarah McLachlan who helped kickstart her musical life and later on changed her perspective on what it is to be a musician.

Ben Lee is back with a new album Freedom, Love and the Recuperation of the Human Mind. It’s possibly the most stripped back that we’ve heard him, and his approach to sharing his stories has shifted. There’s an openness that invites your ears inwards. Ben says it’s something that’s come with getting a little older and becoming a parent. He talks about the influence of really good art, the Dalai Lama and a Gillian Welch song that literally was a revelation.