Interview: Singer Reece Mastin

Let’s start with the new single Rebel and the Reason. It’s been described to have more of an edgier, rock-laden sound than your previous songs. Why did you decide to change you up sound?

It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to get the set that we do live into the studio and get it done properly. So yeah, I think it’s kind of a bit of touring and what I’ve always wanted to do.

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An Interview With Brooke McClymont

brookeBrooke McClymont is one third of the award-winning country trio, The McClymonts along with her two sisters Sam and Mollie. Currently on their Forever Begins Tonight tour and promoting their fourth studio album Here’s To You & I, I spoke to Brooke about song writing, keeping it in the family and being on the road.

How is the Forever Begins Tonight tour going?

Oh my gosh, it’s going amazing. We’ve been touring since July last year but at the beginning of this year we decided to name it the Forever Begins Tonight tour clearly this is because the song just came out – it’s our new single – and it just felt like we do do it forever and we haven’t stopped. We wrap up the tour around mid-May but with a few festivals still up our sleeve throughout the end of the year.

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Interview: Lachlan Martin from ‘Strictly Ballroom The Musical’

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So, tell the people a little bit about yourself to start with.

      I’m Adelaide born and bred. It was an amazing place to grow up. I was drawn to the Performing Arts from an early age. I went to an Arts-based high school and loved immersing myself in things like the music program, Rock Eisteddfod and Drama. I moved to Ballarat to study a Music Theatre degree at the University of Ballarat Arts Academy.
It was the perfect University for me – super creative and tucked away from the world, so we were forced to focus and work! I went hard my first year out and worked on nine shows, I think. Some were professional and others were for experience. I just wanted to keep driven and inspired. I played with different styles of theatre, dabbled with directing … I could go on forever but you probably don’t need my life story [laughs].

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An Interview with Musician Damien Leith

r0_0_2071_3102_w1200_h678_fmaxDamien Leith first came onto our radar taking out the title of Australian Idol back in 2006. It’s been almost a decade since – and this ARIA-winner sure has been busy recording a total of 7 studio albums and publishing 2 novels. This month saw Damien release his 8th studio album Songs From Ireland – which is just that.

Congrats on the new album, Songs From Ireland. Why did you decide to record this kind of album this time around?

I’ve been meaning to record an album like this for a very long time. A number of years ago I wrote a play called The Parting Glass for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and that show features a lot of these songs – seeing the reaction the music got was definitely the catalyst for recording this album.

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An Interview with musician Amber Lawrence

Amber-LawrenceFirstly, congratulations on your Female Artist of the Year win at the Golden Guitars. Is it true what they say that it’s an honour just to be nominated or are winners truly grinners?

It’s both actually. It’s really an honour to be nominated but winning is pretty cool as well.

Also, congrats for your CMC Female Oz Artist of The Year win the other day!

Thank you very much! That was amazing!

Is winning a fan-voted award are better than winning industry award?

To be honest, I wouldn’t want to hand back either. The Golden Guitars has a lot of prestige and history associated with it [so] it’s an honour to be part of history. And then, of course, fan-voted is crazy-exciting because what the fans say, that’s what matters – that’s what keeps our career going. I am extremely excited that enough fans wanted me to win that award.

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Interview: Grand Illusionist Cosentino

Cosentino_PBF1860hiHaving been awarded the prestigious honour of being named Magician of the Year in 2013 by the International Magicians Society, New York (the International Merlin award) and with 4 prime-time specials under his belt having aired in over 40 countries; Australia’s favourite performer Cosentino returns with his new live show Twisted Reality – which promises to deliver his signature blend of street magic, grand illusion and death-defying escapes with dance and humour.

How does your upcoming show Twisted Reality differ in relation to your previous shows?

Well, it builds on the pillars that exist – my show is made up of street magic, grand illusion and death-defying escapes. However, it’s all new material. The illusions have obviously got to become more baffling, street magic gets more tricky, and the escapes, they become more death-defying. In essence it’s Cosentino, but it’s all new. Which is great!

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An Interview with Leo Sayer

DSC08654Leo Sayer has a career that has spanned over four decades. He’s written for artists such as Roger Daltrey, Dolly Parton and Tina Turner, and had numerous classic hits such as the Grammy Award winning You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, When I Need You and More Than I Can Say. With the new tour and album Restless Years, I spoke to Leo about touring the country, competing with DJs and the importance of powerful songwriting.

Hi Leo. How’s touring going?

It’s all going really well. I’m on the Restless Years tour and this is Day 17 we’re here in Dubbo. I’m doing the New South Wales lot now then into Queensland and then finally Hobart.

This is your first solo tour in over four years; how does it feel to be back on the road?

It’s nice to do the continuity. Technically it’s really nice as well because we’ve got the same truck traveling all the way through with all of our gear everywhere we go – everywhere we go, we’ve got the same speakers, microphones, harmonicas, guitars and keyboards – so that makes it easier to perform and you can really sort of guarantee the quality of the show. It’s great and that’s very comfortable. But the trucks been everywhere! I mean, right across The Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain and then back again to do Western Australia.

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An Interview With Adam Brand

55-2747333-scn040814adam_fct682x511x224.0_t620Adam Brand is one of Australia’s most loved and recognizable country music artists. The 12-time Golden Guitar winner is heading to Thredbo to headline the Snowy Mountains Country Music Festival this month.

What can people expect from your show at Snowy Mountains Country Music Festival?

It’s actually my very first time playing at Thredbo at the Snowy Mountains. I know they’ve had a lot of festivals down there before, you know [the] CMC festival?, but for some reason or another, I was always away or on tour or something when those festivals were happening. So I’m really excited about going there. My shows are always high energy. [When] we walk off the stage, there’s nothing left in the gas tank – put it that way. We’re going to give it our everything! My show is, obviously, I’ve got the new album out My Side Of The Street so there’s a few of those new songs in there but I definitely play songs ranging from my very first album, which came out in 98, and songs off every each album through the years. So what can they can expect is a pretty broad cross section of songs spanning my ten albums.

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