Trusty Chords

For as long as I’ve loved music, I’ve loved that sort of music that connects with people for so many different reasons. When I was in my teenage years, I discovered a Sydney band called Tonight Alive, who managed to find themselves as one of the more prominent purveyors of pop-punk out of Australia.

Across four amazing albums over the span of seven years, Tonight Alive found themselves dishing out songs that were heavy yet sweet, and fun yet serious, offering fans the world over (including a strong following in the famously hard-to-crack American market) something special with which they could resonate.

Following the release of 2018’s ‘Underworld’, Tonight Alive decided to pull back a little bit, announcing something of a hiatus while they worked on their mental and physical health. After a brief return in 2020, the world was treated to one of its members doing something new and unique.

Yes, in 2022, vocalist Jenna McDougall announced the launch of her Hevenshe project. Not quite a side project and more of a new way in which she could focus her musical efforts, Hevenshe has since boasted a full EP by way of 2023’s ‘Wild Wild Heart’, and now – amidst new shows from Tonight Alive – has seen a new single by way of ‘Essential’.

As you may have guessed, the wonderful Jenna McDougall is my guest this week, and she was an absolute dream to speak to.

So, I strongly urge you to check out Hevenshe’s ‘Essential’, bump some classic Tonight Alive, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

Fans of the Melbourne music scene were this year excited to hear about the return of Ceres. For those playing along at home, it’s a pretty exciting prospect to have them back in our lives, especially given that they effectively disappeared at the end of 2019, leaving fans to wonder what the future held.

After making their debut with ‘I Don't Want To Be Anywhere But Here’ in 2014, Ceres followed it up in 2016 with ‘Drag It Down On You’, and again making magic happen with 2019’s ‘We Are A Team’. Blending emo, indie rock, and alternative vibes with honest, emotional songwriting, it’s easy to see why Ceres curated such a dedicated fanbase. As I like to say; no one just likes Ceres. They either love them, or they’ve never heard of them.

This year, however, Ceres returned with new music. Singles like ‘Want/Need’ and ‘Humming’ soon gave way to news of their first album in five years, ‘Magic Mountain (1996—2022)’.

I’ll be honest, as someone who loved what Ceres had been doing, I was apprehensive that the anticipation created by such a long wait would see the album ruined by high expectations. The truth, however, is that it’s one of the best albums you’re going to hear this year. Equally heartfelt and powerful, it’s a look inside the heart and mind of vocalist and guitarist Tom Lanyon as he reckons with personal tragedy, long-held trauma, and the thread of love and nostalgia that ties it all together.

This week, Tom Lanyon was my guest on the podcast, and I couldn’t be happier. We hit it off right away and it became one of the loosest and most honest chats I’ve had on this podcast to date. Though I do explain it a little further into the episode, Tom and I had a chat off-mic where we discussed our love of Jebediah, inspired by fondness for my early episode with the band’s frontman, Kevin Mitchell.

Anyway, Ceres are getting ready to release ‘Magic Mountain (1996—2022)’ next week, so I strongly urge you to check out the record once it’s out, but in the meantime, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

In the world of post-hardcore bands, it’s often easy to find groups which feel as though they follow the paths and trends crafted by the trailblazers before them. Then, of course, there’s groups like La Dispute.

Formed in 2004 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the US group have been hard at it for two decades now, garnering critical acclaim with almost every move they make. 

Following a series of EPs and singles, La Dispute released their debut album back in 2008, with their first Australian show following the next year. 

Since then, well, it's been pretty hard to keep them away from local audiences. Likewise, new music would follow rather regularly, with what is arguably their most successful album, 'Rooms Of The House', arriving in 2014.

In 2019, they released their fourth album, 'Panorama', and after a local tour soon after, La Dispute returned to Australia only last year for another run of shows. Now, they're coming back for a special one-off show in November.

Already in the process of writing their upcoming fifth album, La Dispute kicked off a special series of shows back in June. As part of their 'Five Nights Only Tour', the group embarked on a global series of one-off shows around the world which sees them playing 'Rooms Of The House' in full for its tenth anniversary, along with a handful of other classics.

Already, they’ve played London, Amsterdam, and Berlin, and after a hometown show in Grand Rapids next week, they’ll be heading to Sydney on November 28th to wrap up these exclusive dates before they hole up in the studio for a while.

To celebrate this tour and their visit to Australia, I was lucky enough to chat with La Dispute vocalist Jordan Dreyer for this week’s podcast. I had actually planned to record this as a bonus episode due to our limited time, so I don’t get to go deep into the history of his musical journey, but we’ll save that for next time.

Anyway, check out La Dispute’s ‘Rooms Of The House’ as a reminder of their efforts ten years ago, grab a ticket to their Sydney show, and once you’re done, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

When it comes to prolific, diverse, and unafraid musicians, it’s a little hard to look past the unstoppable Darren Cross.

If that name doesn’t sound familiar right off the bat, then you might remember him as one third of the enigmatic Sydney outfit Gerling. Formed back in the early ‘90s, Gerling were hard to pin down. Beginning with a blending of alternative rock and noise, they soon incorporated more electronic elements into their work and – as Darren puts it – started doing full-on house music.

I’ll tell anyone that ‘Children Of Telepathic Experiences’ is a must-listen record, and tracks like 'Death To The Apple Gerls' or 'Enter, Space Capsule' are great examples of why. Chuck in later tracks like 'Dust Me Selecta', 'Turning The Screws', or even the Kylie Minogue-featuring 'G-House Project', and you’ve got a group unafraid of trying new things.

Sadly, Gerling broke up after their aptly-titled ‘4’ album, but Darren wasn’t keen to stop there. In fact, it’s clear that nothing will stop him. Soon, he launched his project The E.L.F., which gave rise to the likes of Betty Airs, and eventually saw the launch of the more heartfelt Jep And Dep with his partner Jessica.

Just over a decade ago, he started releasing music under his own name, with a few EPs giving way to his albums ‘_Xantastic’ and ‘Peacer’ in 2016 and 2018, respectively. In 2019, however, he launched his D.C Cross project, which is effectively a separate entity from the records under his birth name in that they’re explorations into acoustic instrumental guitar. 

Taking influence from the likes of John Fahey and his innovative work with American primitive guitar, it’s a unique project which blends ambient soundscapes with Darren’s Australian take on solo acoustic guitar.

D.C Cross has released quite a few albums over the past five years, including the most recent, ‘Glookies Guit’, back in May. As per usual, he’s also getting ready to take his transcendent blend of music on the road. 

Currently, there’s a bunch of shows planned for the likes of Wodonga, Kyneton, St Kilda, Melbourne, Brisbane, Lismore, Eltham, and Sydney across the next few months. There’s also more set to be announced, so I’ll pop the current ones in the online blog, and you can check out Darren’s socials for full details.

In case you haven’t guessed yet, Darren Cross is my guest on this week’s podcast. We’ve met and chatted numerous times before, and he’s always a wealth of knowledge when it comes to music, and it’s always a pleasure to chat to someone who is so passionate about the music they make.

Anyway, I’m beginning to ramble as I always do. So in the meantime, I strongly urge you to check out D.C Cross’ new album, ‘Glookies Guit’. and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

There’s no denying that the Adelaide music scene is one which is equally small and large. Small in the sense of its physical size, but large in just how far and wide its influence reaches thanks to the talented, welcoming people who comprise it.

One of those people is Jason Katsaras, a musician whose influence over the last decade is still felt despite his current absence from his hometown.

If you’ve been a regular of the classic SA venues, then you very well might have seen him as a member of bands like Burnside Mums, Dead Roo, or Big Town. Needless to say, he’s been around the place, and he’s a familiar face throughout the City of Churches.

For the last couple of years, he’s been working on a new project, one called Hard Rubbish. I’d be lying if I said it was anything less than the stellar quality we’re used to receiving from Jason, and it’s yet another project in a long list of Adelaide artists I wholly recommend.

This week, Jason is releasing a new single called ‘16 Walls, and it’s the sort of thing you need to be adding to your current playlist wherever you are. Fittingly, Jason is also my guest on this week’s podcast, which serves as a perfect opportunity for me to ask all the typical Adelaide questions. (No, not exactly “Which school did you go to?” but pretty close!)

Anyway, I strongly urge you to check out Hard Rubbish’s new single, ‘16 Walls’, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

If you’ve spent a bit of time in Melbourne venues over the years, then there’s a good chance you might have come across the wonderful Felicity Cripps.

For most people, Felicity would have landed on your radar as a member of Houlette back in the day, which soon evolved into the three-piece band Hoy. As time went on though, Felicity kept evolving, with music under her own name arriving before too long.

In fact, it was in 2016 we were introduced to the Felicity Cripps Band, a nascent vehicle for its namesakes own musical ideas. Once again, the music didn’t take too long to arrive, with the fittingly-titled ‘Introducing The FCB’ album landing in 2017.

But that’s where the story stopped for a while. If you were a fan of Felicity, you wouldn’t have been hearing much music at all. In fact, while she wasn’t too focused on writing and releasing music, she was still championing the cause, having found herself the co-owner of Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal.

But you can’t keep a good musician down, and this year, the Felicity Cripps Band re-emerged with new music in a big way. That re-emergence culminated in the release of the new album, ‘Chasing Volcanoes’, just over a week ago. I’d be remiss not to tell you how good it is, by the way. For me, it’s a “listen once, and press repeat” sort of album.

This week, Felicity Cripps joins me as a guest on the podcast, and truly, I couldn’t be more thrilled.

So, I strongly urge you to check out the Felicity Cripps Band’s ‘Chasing Volcanoes’, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

I’m going to be completely transparent right from the start and tell you that I am entirely biassed when it comes to today’s artist. This week, I am talking about Echo Social Club, a Melbourne rock duo who I have been completely enraptured by since I first saw them live in early 2023.

Featuring former Pseudo Mind Hive and The Hum Drums member Jake Bicchieri on guitar and vocals, and former Heavy Amber member Neve Tullberg on drums and occasional vocals, the pair are a ferocious mix of blistering rock that have left me speechless on numerous occasions.

I first met Jake when he was in Pseudo, and full transparency, he contacted me when Echo Social Club first came together, telling me about his new band. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when I saw them play their second show last year, their live show blew me to the back of the wall. Since then, I have made it my mission to catch them live as often as I can, while telling everyone in earshot about how good they are.

On paper, they’re an unassuming duo, but when they hit the live stage, they’ve got more energy than a service station amphetamine, and they’re thrice as potent. Honestly, I can’t even begin to tell you how immense their live show is. Put it this way, The White Stripes’ Jack White is playing Melbourne this December, and if Echo Social Club were the opener, Jack himself would complain about the order of bands.

But along the way, they found time from their busy live schedule to hit the studio with Michael Badger and record an amazing EP. Titled ‘White Heat – White Noise’, it’s a five-track collection of songs that have been refined over the past couple of years through their live sets.

To celebrate, the pair are marking its release with not only a hometown launch show, but a run of shows throughout Adelaide, Sydney, Geelong, and an additional hometown show to cap it off. I know I’m supposed to remain somewhat impartial, but I truly think you should go ensure you see them at these shows.

To celebrate, the pair are marking its release with not only a hometown launch show, but a run of shows throughout Adelaide, Sydney, Geelong, and an additional hometown show to cap it off. I know I’m supposed to remain somewhat impartial, but I truly think you should go ensure you see them at these shows.

I strongly urge you to check out Echo Social Club’s, ‘White Heat – White Noise’ and once you’re done giving that a spin, buy some tickets to their tour, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

Some of my favourite artists are those who do so much amazing work yet often find themselves flying under the radar. While I’m a huge proponent of the fact that they should all be household names due to their exceptional output, they continue to operate as well-kept secrets, beloved by their diehard fans.

A great example of this is the wonderful Caiti Baker. For years now, Caiti has been crafting some truly amazing music. For example, she was one half of Sietta with partner James Mangohig (otherwise known as Kuya James), and after a number of years in this format, she launched a solo career over a decade ago. 

Since then, she’s been sharing amazing records like clockwork. I’m talking records like ‘The Seventh Passenger’, ‘ZINC’, and 2022’s ‘Under Our Galaxy’. But Caiti doesn’t stop there, however.

She's produced an ARIA-nominated multi-artist lullaby album, won at the NT Music Song of the Year Awards, opened for American music legend George Benson, worked with Emily Wurramara on her new album, and even mentored young artists and established a girl group called CLINK. 

This year, however, she released 'Stay Down' in anticipation of her next album, ‘So You Know’. It’s on the way, but we’ve had to wait a little bit since Caiti is also in the process of expanding her family with the upcoming addition of a little one.

Somehow though, amidst all of this, she found the time to have a chat with me about her musical journey, her past records, and her myriad influences.

One thing you should know before listening is that this was actually recorded a few months ago, in the earliest, formative days of this podcast. As a result, there’s a few audio issues from my end (and a couple from Caiti’s end), but issues largely dealing with my laptop struggling with processing audio. So a few times, you’ll hear a bit more background noise than I’d like. Caiti sounds amazing though, and she was a trooper for dealing with it.

I strongly urge you to check out Caiti Baker’s ‘Stay Down’ ahead of the eventual release of ‘So You Know’, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

If you’ve been paying attention to artists coming out of the Gold Coast over the last six years, then you might have come across Chavez Cartel. 

A five-piece alternative rock band, Chavez Cartel wasted almost no time in making a name for themselves on a local scale. Releasing a handful of singles in their debut year, the band shared both the ‘Lucky, Lucky’ and ‘Confidence Is All I’m Taking Home’ EPs in 2019. 

Alongside a long list of live shows and festival slots, their profile continued to rise, with a COVID-inspired silence being ended by the ‘Man’s Best Friend’ EP in 2023, and their ‘Red Flag Blues’ EP this year.

But along the way, they kept on kicking goals, with a UK record label signing them in 2022, massive support from big names on the local touring circuit, and even support from the BBC since 2018. Put simply, while they’ve been flying under the radar on a mainstream level, Chavez Cartel have been putting in the hard yards behind the scenes.

Fresh off the back of some shows in the US and the UK, and the release of their ‘Unfamiliar Boy’ single, the wonderful Ben Simpson was kind enough to join the podcast this week. If you’ve never listened to Chavez Cartel before, I reckon the magnetic Ben Simpson will be enough to convince you.

Anyway, I implore you to check out Chavez Cartel’s ‘Red Flag Blues’ EP and their ‘Unfamiliar Boy’ single, and once you’re done giving that a spin, have a listen to my chat with Ben, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.

I feel it’s rather customary for me to say that if you’re a fan of bands who blend genres like garage rock, punk rock, and hardcore punk, then I know exactly a band you should be listening to. That band, my friends, is California’s Destroy Boys.

Formed in late 2015 by Violet Mayugba and Alexia Roditis, Destroy Boys took influence from all manner of classic punk and rock bands to craft something that is entirely unique. It’s a little hard to categorise too. While they’ve been compared to countless other bands out there – including the likes of riot grrrl names such as Bikini Kill – it’s far easier to listen to them for yourself and see just how refreshingly singular their sound really is.

In 2016, Destroy Boys released their debut album, ‘Sorry, Mom’, before following it up with ‘Make Room’ in 2018, and ‘Open Mouth, Open Heart’ in 2021. Alongside a number of EPs and award wins over the years, they’ve managed to amass a huge following thanks to their intense live shows and relentless attitude toward making music and connecting with fans.

In fact, that relentless attitude has again resulted in another record, with ‘Funeral Soundtrack #4’ arriving this week on August 9th. It’s a brilliant record, and one which takes the band’s already-existing sonic sensibilities and continues to expand upon them.

It’s everything we’ve loved about what’s come before, but sees them infuse it with various genres you might not expect, including the likes of salsa and bossa nova. Throw in some features from names like Mannequin Pussy and Scowl, and you’ve got an album you need to hear. 

This week, I was lucky enough to be joined by Violet and Alexia for another bonus episode of Trusty Chords, and it resulted in some of my favourite musical picks to date. 

Anyway, check out Destroy Boys’ ‘Funeral Soundtrack #4’ when it releases this week, and once you’re done, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.