Fresh Finds: Class Of 2025 – Aussie Acts To Add To Your Playlist

Steve Bell, Journalist

Steve Bell

Many, many moons ago Steve Bell was unassumingly writing a small fanzine for the inner-city Brisbane record store where he worked when on one otherwise normal day he was poached into the cutthroat world of street press, embarking on an eye-opening journey interviewing bands and banging on about music for the street press publication Time Off. It's an association that's now existed for well over 20 years - including a decade full-time as the print editor for Time Off/The Music - and one which still provides him with immense enjoyment and satisfaction, even though in recent times it's nestled alongside other music-related vocations such as co-owning a record store and indie label, radio broadcasting and navigating the podcast world.

Features / Music
Bernard Fanning's Going To Make You Tap Your Toes To Some Heavy Shit
"They're quite melodic as well, really whistle-able melodies."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Robert Forster
"The besotted crowd are transfixed from the get-go."
Features / Music
Black Mountain On Gravitating Towards The Past
"There's odd combinations of things that say mix something like Blue Oyster Cult with some kinda krautrock thing - for us that keeps it interesting."
Features / Music
It's Never Too Late To Teach An Old Rev New Tricks
"I learned a lot - there's some stuff that I might have changed, but most of that was technical BS rather than music."
News / Music
What We Learnt From Kim Gordon's BIGSOUND Keynote
A " fascinating verbal offering".
Features / Arts
Why The UK's Master Funnyman Is Still Aiming For World Domination
"I thought, 'I've got to go to Australia if I'm this big in Norway!' But it turned out that I'm not very big at all in Australia..."
Reviews / Arts
Comedy Bang! Bang!
"The live experience introduces even more nuance and silliness into the format (if that's even possible)."
Features / Music
Why There's Nothing Wrong With Being A Little Misunderstood
"It's one of the overlooked legacies of the grunge era, how many women were playing and how for a brief moment it kind of killed misogyny..."
Features / Music
The Hunt For Purity, Rawness, Realness & Way-Out-Ness
"The good thing this time was that we weren't afraid to try old things, because a lot of the time you don't want to repeat yourself."
Features / Music
Living It Up, From Newcastle To LA
"If you'd told me at 12 years old that this is where I'd be now, I would have said, 'No way. There's no way!'"
Features / Arts
A Fairytale For Adults Only
"I think it probably relates more to the original Grimm version of the tale rather than the Disney version, that's for sure."
Features / Music
The Godfathers Of Grunge Aren't Going To Be Your Sepia-Toned Sideshow
"I didn't want to be an oldies but goodies band - I didn't want to be a retro band."
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