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 / Arts
Why There Are More Laughs On The Hard Path
"In a way it's the whole thing the book's about — it's not a stupid decision, but it's a decision that makes life more complicated for myself."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: Plague Vendor - Bloodsweat
"The songs are extensions on the previous two-minute blasts, with more ambitious structures and a production that is visceral and affronting."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: White Denim - Stiff
"Such seismic internal changes could have floored a lesser band but White Denim keep the choogle flowin."
Reviews / Arts
Sam Simmons: Not A People Person
"He claims that the show is somehow about "bird ethics and sadness", but when you're constantly crying with laughter you don't really need much cohesion."
Reviews / Arts
Wil Anderson: Fire At Wil
"Anderson really cares about our nation's future as well as our collective funnybone."
Features / Arts
Sammy J Has A "Shocking Realisation"
"...suddenly you wake up at 32 years-of-age and you're part of a man-puppet musical comedy duo, and you can't change that."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Steve Earle & The Dukes, The Mastersons
"Conversations left unfinished and drinks momentarily ignored as all attention focuses on this bearded troubadour's unparalleled knack for storytelling."
Features / Arts
On Laughing In The Face Of Mental Health
"The primary purpose is to make people laugh and for people who have it — who live with mental illness — to let them be able to laugh at what they have."
Features / Music
Why Bluesfest Is Music Geek Heaven
"Whether the youngest music fan on the grounds or the most experienced music lover, there really is something there for everyone."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Built To Spill, Ben Salter, The Bear Hunt
"How does a band this good stay so criminally unheralded?"
Features / Arts
On Going To A Cunnilingus Class And Not Being Afraid Of Sex Anymore
"Apart from the nudity the [most awkward moment] was when I first took a cunnilingus class."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: A Day On The Green - Sirromet Winery
"The band sounds killer from the outset as they start with all guns blazing, opening with Bittersweet and Tojo to really set the bar high."
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