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
Hoodoo Gurus
You Just Can't Beat Good Music and Good Wine With Good Friends
"It's a whole lot of people we like - besides all the music we actually like them as people so it's going to be really fun."
Features / Music
Why He Wanted His Record To Be Wild And Strange
"I've had this realisation over the last couple of years that our time is fleeting - we don't know how long we're going to be here."
Features / Music
Brisbane Progressive Rockers Caligula's Horse Prepare To Take On The World
"With that in mind we went crazy with colour and optimism, pretty much."
Features / Music
Socially Aware Rockers The Charge Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is
"We're not a political band per se, but we are very worried about where the world's heading."
Features / Music
The Phoenix Foundation Like Things Weird In The Live Realm
"That's the trick, getting stuff that's quite complicated and making it sound easy and making it sound groovy..."
Features / Music
Searching For Answers In All The Wrong Places
"The truth is always located at the crosssection of violent contradiction."
Features / Music
The Elder Statesmen Of Aussie Punk Are Still Learning New Tricks
"We went into it basically just wanting a bit of fun, and I was really surprised how much I liked it"
Features / Music
On Unintentionally Enlisting A Grammy-Nominated US Producer
"I was like, 'Sweet, he's going to fit us in between Babs and Barry!'"
Features / Music
Cold Chisel
We Are Legend: How Cold Chisel Became So Much Greater Than The Sum Of Their Parts
"We're all vastly different in what we do and what we listen to individually, so what we bring to the band is different"
Features / Music
Why The World Needs More Ska
"I think ska-punk's popularity was part of people wanting to have a bit of fun and lighten up a little bit"
Features / Arts
Why RockWiz Live! Is Bigger, Bolder & Rowdier Than Its TV Counterpart
"We've got a little bit more license to muck around."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: SixFtHick, HITS, DEAFCULT
"It's a fitting birthday celebration for this fine outfit, drunken and vaguely debaucherous but with everyone staggering home happy and only mildly damaged."
View More