Silly Talks Music

The first full week of July marks NAIDOC Week in Australia—an annual celebration of the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Following last year's conversation with singer Jimmy Kyle from the punk band Chasing Ghosts, this year’s NAIDOC Week theme—"50 Years Deadly"—brings another vital, inspiring story that needs to be shared far and wide.

Aboriginal/Tongan hip-hop artist, professional dancer, dedicated educator, and devoted father of two, Crooked TP, talks to Silly McWiggles about overcoming systemic hurdles, personal challenges, and hitting rock bottom to resurface, becoming a prolific musician, a passionate community leader, and an inspiring Ambassador of His People.

It is a powerful story about identity, self-determination, the healing power of music, and the passing down of crucial knowledge to the next generation.

⁠Follow Crooked TP⁠’s music endeavours.

Check out ⁠AUM PR + MGMT⁠ artist roster.

Find more content like this on my other ⁠Silly McWiggles channels⁠.

🛑 Listener Note: This episode balances the inspiring highs with uncomfortable truths regarding racism, mental health struggles, and addiction. Please listen to it with compassion and care.

If the topics covered in this interview raise anything for you, free, confidential, 24/7 support is available in Australia (please check your local helplines if you’re overseas):

13YARN: Call 13 92 76 (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line, yarning with Mob in a culturally safe space)

Lifeline Australia: Call 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14

Tracks featured in this episode are used with the explicit permission of the artist.

Roskilde Festival

What is the secret formula behind curating the line-up for a sold-out music festival, one of the biggest music events in Europe? And which boxes does an act need to tick to bring them to Denmark all the way from Australia?

Established in 1971 and operating as a non-profit with the help of 27k volunteers, Roskilde Festival welcomes over 100k music fans annually. It’s known for programming game-changing acts, also from the Land Down Under, including Tame Impala, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and Stella Donnelly.

In the 2026 edition, among the 177 artists, four reps are waving the Australian flag: Ecca Vandal, Royel Otis, Folk Bitch Trio and - quite unexpectedly - Genesis Owusu.

In this special episode of Silly Talks Music, I chat with Roskilde Festival’s Head of Music, Thomas Sønderby Jepsen, just two weeks before the 2026 edition kicks off. We dive into prioritising the live experience when scouting acts, the perception of Australian music in Europe, and memorable performances by artists from the Antipodes.

🎪 Check out Roskilde Festival’s massive 2026 line-up.

🎵 Listen to the playlist with Aussie acts who have played the Festival over the years.

✍️ Read the bios of the acts repping the Land Down Under in 2026 on the Silly McWiggles blog.

✨ Find more content like this on more Silly McWiggles channels.

In 2022, organisers of an Aussie music festival were called out for a lack of diversity on their line-up and mainly booking cis white men. When confronted about it, they stated there was not enough talent among women and non-binary acts, which they considered “the best of the best” for their event. 

Music writer Ellie Robinson thought it was “absolute BS.” FVNERAL's vocalist and guitarist, Tay Blunt, shared her opinion. So they formed an allyship of solidarity. 

After discussing the need to change this regressive attitude, the pair took matters into their own hands. They turned the “shut up and do your own festival” response they’ve been hearing from promoters into a tangible result. That’s how TRANSGENRE festival was born, in a nutshell - but there’s much more to this story. 

During our chat, I also quiz Ellie about her music journalism/editor gig and her band’s name (if she were to start one, that is). She also walks me through some key aspects of running a DIY event. Plus, she shares her thoughts on mandatory quotas when programming artists from specific niche communities. 

Visit TRANSGENRE festival's channels.

Learn more about Euphoria Month.

Follow Ellie’s adventures on IG.

Listen to FVNERAL.

And browse more content like this on my Silly McWiggles channels.

Here are a few controversial statements:

- Music is still heavily male-dominated. 

- The perception of women over 40, in life or in music, is neither true nor fair. 

- Local, emerging artists are notoriously struggling to make their careers sustainable. 

All the above led, in some way, to establishing Feminista Vinyl (FV) - a record shop located in Melbourne’s suburb of Coburg. It celebrates female-led, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming inclusive bands and artists from all cultures. It is a non-profit run by 6 fabulous founders, who are musicians, social workers or teachers themselves. 

Two of them, Trish Hayes and Clare O’Rourke, chat to me about the night the idea was born, their most unusual piece of merch (spoiler alert, it’s not a rare vinyl), their version of a mini music festival and heaps of other things behind their DIY project. 

- Check out Feminista Vinyl’s page.

- Listen to FV playlists: 

1. NAIDOC @ Feminista Vinyl

2. 1800 Indie Punk Anthems

- Learn more about the Typical Girls programme.

- Get tix for the FV Fundraising Dance Party.

- Browse more content like this on my other Silly McWiggles channels.

Venice Qin⁠ lives on a musical planet built from contradictions — East meets West, Erhu meets hyper-pop, heartbreak meets turbo BPM. 

Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, she now lives in Sydney, but her parents come from Mainland China. So, she has always navigated the limbo between different cultures, in life and in her creative pursuits.  

The rising star is also classically trained, almost became an opera singer and was into musical theatre for a good while. But it's the pop scene that she's ultimately embraced. 

Venice Qin's debut album, 奔月 MOONLANDING, is an intriguing musical combination of her roots, stories about transformation and learning how to feel. 

Hear the artist talk about the Chinese mythology that inspired this record, her take on people's perception of pop music and some behind-the-scenes details related to shooting music videos. 

And then: 

- Listen to Venice Qin's new album, ⁠奔月 MOONLANDING⁠.

- Follow Venice Qin on ⁠her channels⁠. 

- Check out the intriguing ⁠video to "Angel"⁠ (landing on September 26, 2025). 

- Browse more content like this on my other ⁠Silly McWiggles channels⁠. 

A lot has happened for bella amor since she burst onto the Aussie music scene in 2022. Signing to Sony, working with Mushroom, performing at Groovin' The Moo and BIGSOUND, and supporting King Stingray, Lime Cordiale and Benson Boone (yep, that somersault -loving American singer) - it’s been quite a ride. 

But now, with the release of her debut EP, this is where i’m at, the Gold Coast-based indie singer feels like she’s “shedding her old self” and looking forward to the next chapter of her music industry career. 

Join me in chatting to bella amor about her fave (and least fave) aspects of being an artist, her take on lip-syncing videos and challenging the perception of Gen Z. I promise - it will be fun!

- Follow bella amor on her socials.

- Check out the artist’s vodcast on YT.

- Find out about bella's music heroes and inspirations from her "aussie legends" playlist.

- Browse more content like this on my other Silly McWiggles channels.

Jimmy Kyle grew up in the screamo era in Australia. So naturally, his first band was a new metal outfit. But with the Chasing Ghosts project, he's also made acoustic and punk troubadour-y records. And on the new, "shiny" album, as he dubs 'Therapy', he posed the question again, "Where to next, sonically?" 

In this chat, he walks me through that unusual journey, the complex themes threaded through the new album, and how he fulfils the responsibility he feels towards his Fist Nations community.

-> Listen to new album 'Therapy' wherever you get your music and visit ⁠⁠Chasing Ghosts website⁠⁠.

-> Read Jimmy's article from the Indigenous X platform: ⁠⁠"My white privilege comes at a price."⁠⁠

-> Learn more about ⁠⁠NAIDOC Week⁠⁠ in Australia.

-> Follow my ⁠⁠@SillyMcWiggles⁠⁠ channels.

The music in this episode is courtesy of Chasing Ghosts. 

The song snippets are (in the order they appear in the episode): 

1. Flowers (00:48)

2. IWPTEK (13:08)

3. Chamomile Tea (20:23)

4. My Bingayi (22:45)

5. Hurting Years (25:30)

6. Amnesia Everybody (30:08)

7. Ten Feet Tall (36: 09)

8. Trick or Treaty (42:38) 

Brisbane-based Suitcase Records has been pressing beautiful vinyl for around three years. And it's been quite a journey!

They're a family-run business with a down-to-earth yet inspiring origin story. Spoiler alert: neither owner had anything to do with music professionally. 

Kathy Wilson tells me about running the company day-to-day, the Suitcase Records' values, and how they're striving to support Australian music. 

To learn more about vinyl pressing, check out Suitcase Records' resources: 

⁠https://suitcaserecords.com.au/pages/pressing-records⁠

Watch Kathy explain the sustainable part of their business: 

⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/sustainable-vinyl-pressing⁠⁠

Watch my review of Phebe Starr's album "Dirt": 

⁠https://suitcaserecords.com.au/pages/i-just-heard-a-new-album⁠

Browse more Silly McWiggles content: 

⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/SillyMcWiggles⁠

Here's a mind-blowing fact: There are only three vinyl pressing plants in Australia.

Suitcase Records is one of them. 

And it turns out that manufacturing the legendary disc is a pretty complex process. Kathy Wilson, the co-owner of the Brisbane-based business, walks me through its different parts: 

- Why is vinyl back?

- Is pressing it completely automated?

- What is Suitcase Records' production capacity?

- And what do artists need to consider when commissioning a batch for their next release? 

Find out from this episode. 

Visit Suitcase records here: 

⁠https://suitcaserecords.com.au/⁠

Watch Kathy explain the sustainable part of their business: 

⁠https://tinyurl.com/sustainable-vinyl-pressing⁠

Browse more Silly McWiggles content: 

⁠https://linktr.ee/SillyMcWiggles⁠

Independent Aussie musos - rejoice!

COMMUNITY MUSIC is a new distribution alternative, a platform designed to help artists from the Land Down Under take their careers to the global stage. It's all about empowering artists by combining the music industry insights, tech expertise and artist management experience.

UNIFIED Music Group has thrown its support behind the project. Find out about its ins and outs from the platform's main developer, Will Cuming, aka electronic artist LANKS.

Visit COMMUNITY MUSIC: https://www.communitymusic.net/

Browse UNIFIED Music Group's website: https://unifiedmusicgroup.com/

Learn more about LANKS and his music projects:

https://www.lanksmusic.com/

More Silly McWiggles channels this way:

https://linktr.ee/SillyMcWiggles