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
St Albans Sharps, photo courtesy of Chap
Why The Sharpies Chose Style And Loud Music Over Rules And Authority
"We could just see that hypocrisy of things."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, HITS
"It's an unrelenting and powerful barrage of precision groove-based rock with some cool effects thrown in for good measure."
Features / Music
Dave Graney And Dennis Cometti Teach You To Baffle The World
"I fell in love with music at about the same age that I fell in love with footy and they've been with me as constant companions."
Features / Music
The Jungle Giants Were Sick Of People Calling Them Soft
"Someone would see us for the first time and they'd be, like, 'I had no idea you guys played so hard, or didn't just play soft'."
Features / Music
Why Marc Ribot Is Afraid Of Freedom
"I'm still trying to pick things up, but also at this point I spend a lot of time preventing the things I have from running away."
News / Music
From left: Vince Neil, David Coverdale, Sebastian Bach, Dee Snider
Wish You Were Hair: A Tribute To Glam Metal
YEEEEOOOOWWWWWWW
Features / Music
How Stuart Coupe Got To Write The Gudinski Book That The Mogul Never Wanted
The tome paints the picture of a passionate and driven man who loves his music.
Features / Music
Room40's Open Frame Show Features Surround Sound And Hypnosis Display
"Because it's an anniversary I've invited some people who aren't necessarily part of the label strictly speaking, but for me are really influential."
Features / Music
Music Is "Taking A Little Journey Together For A Couple Of Hours"
News / Music
This Is What A Festival Filled With Bands Named After 'The Simpsons' Would Look & Sound Like
A perfectly cromulent day out
Features / Music
Deliberately Making Non-Commercial Music
"I would never have compromised the music that we make in order to get some superficial success."
Features / Music
Lisa Kekaula of The BellRays Says Punk Goes Way Deeper Than Green Day
"Everybody says, 'Well this is rock because this is a white guy playing the same licks as black guys are playing, and we call that R&B'. Because that's what bullshit is to me."