With a strong focus on the Australian music scene, Australian Guitar is a rich source of information on playing techniques, styles, the wide range of instruments available and all the technology that guitarists have to consider in the 21st Century.
HOLE'S COURTNEY LOVE AND BASSIST MELISSA AUF DER MAUR HAVE REUNITED IN THE STUDIO Hole's Courtney Love and Melissa Auf Der Maur have posted a cryptic photo of themselves together at the studio. The June photo marks the first time in over two decades that the two members of Hole have reunited, potentially hinting at new music. “Having a blast – first time in studio together in 24 years!” posted Love on Instagram. Love and Auf der Maur briefly shared the stage in October 2018, performing several Hole classics at an event in Hudson, New York, celebrating Love's career. Later In 2020, Hole revealed to NME that she “had a good session” at a rehearsal with ex-bandmates Auf der Maur and Patty Schemel, leaving the door open for a possible…
INTERVIEW Having re-emerged onto our national scene feeling “sadder, meaner and totally dangerous”, as described by their cofounding violin virtuoso Warren Ellis, Melbourne's Dirty Three made a triumphant return to playing last month. On an eleven-date tour from June 14-29, they landed four sold out Melbourne and Sydney shows while backing their latest album, Love Changes Everything. The Dirty Three's latest tour marked the end of a five-year hiatus. While providing a continuation of the fragile instrumental beauty and ragged depth heard on some of their classic ‘90s albums, such as 1998͇s Ocean Songs, (produced by the late Steve Albini) and 1996͇s Horse Stories, Love Changes Everything is the first release from the group to not feature individually titled songs. Instead it's a six-part suite, inspired by jazz records like…
INTERVIEW Following a DIY approach that has informed his music since its origins in suburban Perth, Peter Bibby's second album Drama King dropped on May 31. It follows his 2018 solo album Grand Champion, and marks his first official collaboration with a producer Dan Luscombe (The Drones, Amyl & The Sniffers). Drama King also represents a stylistic change from the direct live feel of 2020͇s Marge, due to the disbandment of his touring electric group Peter Bibby's Dog Act, who also played on that album. Drama King was recorded with Melbourne-based session musicians recruited by Luscombe, but it still runs the gamut between heaviness and tenderness thanks to Bibby's trademark, lyrical matter-offactness. Recent single ‘Fun Guy͇ is reminiscent of Suicide's ‘Ghost Rider͇ in its hypnotic post-punk pounding. “The drugs I…
INTERVIEW One could say that Holly Ross and David Blackwell live double lives. Based in Lancaster, they may appear to be middle-aged, married parents at their local Sainsbury's, but they hold the secret ability to morph into The Lovely Eggs. Their power lies in viewing their relentless creative pursuits as their way of life, instead of their career. Since 2006, they've performed hundreds of gigs around the UK, USA and Europe, sharing stages with the likes of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Shonen Knife, while co-producing six albums, releasing numerous singles and working with members of bands such as Half Japanese. Their seventh album, Eggsistentialism, was released on May 17. Ross describes its eleven songs as detailing a ‘splurge͇ of emotion, following a five-year battle with their local council in…
INTERVIEW In October 1994, four months after the death of Kurt Cobain, four musicians convened at a storage facility/rehearsal space in Florida. Little did they know that their actions here would lead to a unique continuance of American alt-rock spirit. Partially raised on hardcore punk, the quartet chose their name from a collection of short stories by Charles Bukowski about women, drinking and gambling. As Hot Water Music, vocalist-guitarist Chuck Ragan, bassist Jason Black and drummer George Rebelo joined forces with guitarist-vocalist Chris Wollard to first record 1995͇s Push For Coin. The cassette demo caused the group's first ripples in their local scene, which formed into a tidal wave spreading from Gainesville, Florida to the rest of America's punk and alt-rock scenes with their 1997 debut album, Fuel For The…
INTERVIEW With hook-laden choruses complemented by lead lines that soar and speak with the emotional range of a second singer, Hana & Jessie-Lee's Bad Habits are back to take a bite from Australia's alt-country scene. Quite literally, it seems: the video for ‘The Tallest Of Tales͇ sees lead singer-songwriter and rhythm-guitarist Hana Brenecki with vampiric fangs, poised to take a chunk out of an unsuspecting bar patron's neck. Lead guitarist Jessie-Lee Zubkevych serves drinks in a cowboy hat while Brenecki's morbid one-liner lyrics lend a grim, foreboding atmosphere to the video. Elsewhere on the 12-track album, Brenecki's voice powers through heartfelt shades of catchy RnB-tinged pop, mellow ballads and raunchy barroom rock ‘n͇ roll in ‘Arrowhead͇, ‘Louisa͇ and ‘Say What You Mean͇, respectively, while ‘Under The Vines͇ bears a dramatic…
