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.
GENE SIMMONS WANTS ACE FREHLEY FOR KISS’ END OF THE ROAD TOUR Gene Simmons has once again invited former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley to play with the band during their ongoing farewell End of the Road World Tour. In a tweet marking Frehley’s 71st birthday on April 27, Simmons wrote that the “invitations still stand”, inviting him to “jump up on stage with us for encores”. “The fans would love it, ” he added. Frehley co-founded Kiss in 1973 with current members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and former drummer Peter Criss. His initial tenure lasted almost 10 years, before he left the band in 1982. He rejoined in 1996, and left again in 2002, following the conclusion of what was originally planned to me the band’s farewell tour. Since…
GOOD THANKS THEY ARE A Novocastrian pop-punk quartet hellbent on getting fists raised and vocal cords wrung – a mission they never fail to accomplish with four-chord belters as honest as they are anthemic. YOU’LL DIG THEM IF YOU LIKE Alex Lahey, Tigers Jaw and Teenage Joans. YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT ‘Yes Sir’, a catchy and cathartic middle finger to crusty old dudes in the scene that try to rob young female artists of their agency. Dropped back in April, it marks some-what of comeback for Good Thanks; 2018 saw the band come out swinging with a four-track EP, Two Bottles In, and they followed it up a year later with the explosive single ‘Be Like Them’. But like most up-and-coming bands lacking the privilege to power on without shows,…
ADAM JOHNSTONE + FERGUS SINCLAIR HAILS FROM NAARM/MELBOURNE, VIC PLAYS IN ROMERO SOUNDS LIKEPOST-2AM PUNK BAR ANTHEMS LATEST DROP TURN IT ON! (LP OUT NOW VIA COOL DEATH / FEEL IT / EMI) What’s your current go-to guitar? Johnstone: My current go-to is my American Fender Jazzmaster AVRI ‘62. I’d played a couple of friends’ Jazzmasters in the studio and they always felt so smooth to me, plus I’d always loved that Jazzmaster tone. Previously I’d been playing a Fender Jaguar, which I also still love very much. When some friends pulled together to get me a new guitar for a birthday, I knew exactly what I was going for, and it’s been the guitar I pick up first ever since. How did you initially fall in love with the…
BOB VYLAN Price Of Life GHOST THEATRE Politics have been a staple of great punk since the genre’s very inception, but as the 2020s see the world descend into a flavour of chaos we couldn’t have imagined 30 years ago, bands need to do much more than just rage against the machine – they need to f***ing destroy it. Over a soundscape oscillating between belting, grit-laden punk guitars and punchy, bass-inflected hip-hop beats, Bob Vylan take a fierce first step on their incendiary second album. The London duo show no mercy in their lyrical attacks on capitalists, royalists, racists and the general scourge of right-wing regressivism, all while delivering sharp and moshable tunes that’ll keep stuck in your head for weeks on end. ELIZA & THE DELUSIONALS Now And Then…
BLOC PARTY Alpha Games INFECTIOUS / BMG Six years in the making, Bloc Party had a whole damn lot of ground to cover on their sixth full-length effort – personal, political and cultural – so it’s no surprise that Alpha Games is a record that, while very dense, feels strikingly human. It oscillates between warmness and chaos, with frontman Kele Okereke wearing his heart on his sleeve in each bewitching tale of love, sex, betrayal and enmity. It veers well into melodramatic territory, but that’s trademark Bloc Party – and here, moreso than ever, their theatricality never feels campy. As always, Okereke’s tenor is very character-driven: at times he’s snarky, quippy and edgy, at others smoky and swaggering, and in a few standout moments, heartfelt and raw. The band match…
WHERE PRINCE OF WALES SHOWGROUNDS BENDIGO, VICTORIA WHEN SATURDAY APRIL 30TH, 2022 There’s no other festival in Australia that feels like Groovin The Moo. While it’s undoubtedly one of the country’s biggest live music events, with lineups packed from top to bottom with acts that could easily headline festivals of their own, there’s always a distinct homeliness to it. Part of that comes courtesy of its regional setting: the air smells like real, genuine fresh air, the countryside sprawls on in the distance, and when the night rolls in, you can see actual stars glittering above the figurative ones onstage. Two years out of action, Groovin’s return to Bendigo came with an avalanche of good vibes. Walking through the gates, the excitement buzzed, the festival fashion was immaculate, and rarely did we…
