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.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS FROM THE VAULT: A VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH MIKE WEILEY OF SPY VS SPY Spy vs Spy, also known as v. Spy v. Spy, The Drug Grannies and The Spies, are an Australian ska/pub-rock band from Sydney, formed in 1981. They became known for tackling political issues through their music including racism, homelessness and contemporary drug culture. Aside from Midnight Oil, Spy vs Spy are arguably one of Australia’s most politically charged rock bands. While Midnight Oil’s politics were those of conscience, Spy vs Spy were outspoken representatives of the street. Primarily, they started out as the voice of the homeless squatters of early ‘80s Sydney, but their songs spoke for everyone who felt under the thumb of ‘The System’. They told stories polite Australia didn’t necessarily want told,…
Look, this shouldn’t have worked. Midnight Oil’s reputation is based on the live energy of young, angry men with the power of decades of seven-nights-a-week gigging under their belts, mixing righteous passion with endless road miles and a sincere belief in the power of music to change the world. In 2017, however, all of the members are nearing retirement age. They haven’t played together in years and last toured almost two decades ago. Their music, as it turns out, has yet to have a transformative effect on Australia, much less the planet. Frontman Peter Garrett was the great towering hope of principled progress before becoming the much-compromised Environment Minister in the disappointing government of Kevin Rudd. And as the Australian leg of the Great Circle tour wound to a close,…
Two years on from their last Australian tour, celebrated Mexican instrumental virtuosos Rodrigo Y Gabriela return to Australia in March. They’ll be hitting out shores to play theatre shows in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane, and to make their debut appearance at WOMADelaide. The duo has performed in Australia a number of times in the past, but these will be among their biggest headline shows yet. Four years on from their last album, 9 Dead Alive, we’re likely to be among the first to hear music from its follow-up. We caught up with Rodrigo to talk about it. So you’re playing WOMADelaide! Yeah! This is our first time playing the festival, and it’s always good as a musician to play something new. You begin to feel like you’ve played everywhere…
Not only is Dumb Days a fantastic slab of rock tunes in its own right, but the debut album from Perth quartet Tired Lion is also one of those paradoxical gems that feel delightfully familiar – it’s slathered in the kind of ‘90s grunge vibes we’d spend our childhoods foaming at the mouth over – whilst remaining stupendously fresh and exciting. It’s the huge, chantable choruses that find themselves stuck in your head for weeks on end; the ripping guitar lines and that tiiiiiny bit of Violent Soho-ish edge that comes courtesy of the album being produced by their frontman, Luke Boerdam. The band are currently gearing up to take Dumb Days on its second full run across the country: a regional stint taking them from Bunbury to Launceston and…
It’s September 2016, somewhere in a dim-lit Brisbane dive bar where an eight-piece iteration of West Thebarton Brothel Party are absolutely tearing the place to shreds. They’re spilling off a stage built to house acoustic acts, and while as tight as they can be with four guitarists in the mix, they breeze through their BIGSOUND showcase with a youthful, notably carefree stroke of looseness. Flash forward a year and some, and the Adelaidian garage-punks have made some considerable changes. The default septet have ushered in a new drummer (the unethically talented Caitlin Thomas), lopped the bottom half of their name and found a home in Domestic La La, the upstart record label from Violent Soho axeman and acclaimed tin-sinker James Tidswell. “There’s something really humbling about seeing a guy you…
You’re smack bang in the middle your first European tour – what are your current touring rigs over there? Have you had to make any compromises from your usual Aussie gear? RICK: Fortunately, we were able to bring both of our rack case heads over here, so we didn’t have to make any changes to how our rigs usually operate in Australia, aside from packing a few travel adapters for the power plugs. With that said, we’ve both been using Axe-Fx IIs with Matrix GT1000FX power amps on this tour, and we’re controlling it all with the Fractal Audio MFC-101 pedalboard. RYAN: For the past few tours now, we’ve been running our tones direct to the front-of-house systems (FOH) using some custom IRs that a friend made and sent to…
