Features / Music

“The tired that I have is one of joyful exhaustion because the shows have been going so well, and we did some festivals in Europe and played for hundreds of thousands of people and yeah, I’m just happy that I’m still worth someone’s attention.”

“I love Australia!... I’ve very much loved seeing the transition in the culture from when we very first went down in the mid-‘70s, when it was like stepping into a time warp to the ‘30s or something, to now where it’s like going into the future – everything is so bohemian.”

“Neil Young said something brilliant, among all the brilliant things he said, something like he’s only written three songs and the rest of his career has just been kind of bad imitations of those songs – and I couldn’t agree more.”

“I have a theory that I ran away from school, I ran away from home straight onto the road and making albums and music and never really stopped – I’m still on that adventure. I like escapism, I like escaping – I’ll see as much of the world as possible.”

Getting some tips from the Sophisticated Lover himself, Izzy Tolhurst chats to Donny Benét ahead of the release of his sophomore album.

“Our newer material is much more involved when it comes to the guitar parts, so me switching to bass was a lot easier considering I’m singing at the same time. Also, it means the guitarists can just go nuts live and that’s given the band a much heavier punch on stage, if I can put it like that.”

“Technically me and Ian are useless... I can barely turn my TV on without assistance! But I’ve got an iPhone, a laptop and a guitar plugged into a practice amp – I’m the low-tech dude. My job is to supply the riffs and the melodies.”

“It’s definitely different to what we’ve put out in the past. The album’s more diverse again, so there are a few more songs softer than that and there’s even an acoustic one.”

"We’d never done a full covers album before,” Beckley admits, on the line from Dayton, Ohio, a few weeks out from their next Australian tour. “We’d, on occasion, done a cover song, so it was interesting to approach it from scratch."

Benét of his humble beginnings before pondering how best to describe his sound. “I guess it’s Miami Vice meets Prince meets Rick James meets ‘80s Australiana…” he laughs.

It’s perhaps a gross understatement and equally redundant phrasing, but Australia’s The Amity Affliction are one the hottest bands at the moment. A national headline tour kicking off this month and a spot on Soundwave 2013 announced, the group is well positioned. With their new album ‘Chasing Ghosts’ hitting stores this week, Killyourstereo caught up with guitarist Troy Brady to get the lowdown on all things Amity.

DIG! is the story of The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM) and The Dandy Warhols - two acts which are in Rock ‘n Roll music history forever.