Tag: music

An Interview with Brook Chivell

Splitting from his band and relocating interstate has helped define Brook Chivell as an up-and-coming solo artist to watch. After making the finals of Toyota Starmaker in 2017, he toured nationally with fellow country artist Natalie Pearson, as well as releasing his first solo single and its follow up Outta My Song last month. I spoke with Brook about upcoming music, getting dirty and being a fan boy in his own industry.

You were formally the frontman and driving force behind The Brook Chivell Band, releasing singles Drive On, Thrills N Spills and Let’s Stay In around six years ago. What was the reason behind parting as a band and how has that impacted on you as a solo artist? Because even being in the industry for ten years or so now, it must feel a little like starting over?

The main reason for the split was that I moved to Queensland. The distance made it really hard. The band all live in Melbourne and they’ve all got families. For a while we kept it together but it was getting difficult to get everyone together to play gigs. It’s easier for me to do a support gig as a solo artist, purely because I can get up there with a guitar. There’s a great, vibrant country music scene up here. Whereas in Melbourne every time you say ‘country’ it was a dirty word; up here, people love it.

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The Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede Files – An Interview with Jasmine Rae

Jasmine Rae is a three-time ARIA nominated and multi-award winning vocalist, songwriter, actor and entertainer. Described by the Sydney Morning Herald as a ‘pocket-sized powerhouse’, she’s the only female solo artist to win the CMC Australian Artist of the Year Award and has ten #1 Australian country singles under her belt.

Let’s talk about the Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede – a festival only its second year. Held at the K Ranch Arena, just 50 minutes from Sydney airport, will feature a line up of evens such as traditional cowboy skills, equestrian events, jumping castles, food vendors, as well as showcasing new and established country music artists. You’re representing for the females on Friday’s girl power night alongside Christie Lamb and Teleisha Eade, who won the Maton Rising Star last year. What can we expect from your performance?

Friday night is the first night and people usually party the hardest on the first night, because they’ve just gotten there. I usually party the hardest on the first night of a festival, so it’s going to be fun. It’s got to be an energetic show for sure. Playing one new song makes the whole set feel fresh and shiny. It does add some extra excitement.

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The Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede Files – An Interview with Drew McAlister

Drew McAlister has long been recognised as one of the nation’s premier songwriters and performers. He recently lent his voice in support of the drought crisis facing our local farmers and, to coincide with the release of his third single off his current album, he’s been hard at work co-organising the forthcoming three-day Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede.

You released Kissing a Girl Goodnight recently off your album Coming Your Way. In the past we’ve spoken about how important you feel it is to perform songs you’ve written yourself – however, this is a song you found through a demo – and the sound as well is quite different to things you’ve recorded in the past. Does this song resonate with your life and is that what you connected with lyrically?

It’s exactly my life. I connected to it and I think other people will too, that’s why I recorded it. I think a lot of people will be living or will have lived some similar the version of that. It’s quite a difficult song to sing because it’s so low and then so high in the chorus, so I was a bit trepidatious, to be honest, when we were going to record this vocal. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but I had to work on it for a while and sing it quite a few times to make sure it sat right and I had the right key.

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An Interview with Brodie Rainbird from The Wolfe Brothers

It’s been a busy year for the Tasmanian country-rock band, The Wolfe Brothers – with the release of their highly-anticipated fourth studio album Country Heart in March, its two chart-topping singles ‘Ain’t Seen It Yet’ and ‘No Sad Song’, as well as an accompanying national tour. The album debuted on the ARIA Country Chart at #2 and the ARIA Charts at #9, beating their last album, This Crazy Life, which came in at #10 on release in June 2016.

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An Interview with Hayley Marsten

Country music artist Hayley Marsten hails from Gladstone, Queensland. Her previous singles, off her latest EP Lonestar, are a tongue-and-cheek representation of her fun, flirty and quirky sides. The newly-released Coming Home, however, is an emotional punch-to-the-gut depiction of her parent’s divorce when she was just 13-years-old.

We were lucky enough to exclusively premiere the music video for you this morning, and now we share our interview with Hayley discussing emotional song-writing, new music and fun on the road.

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River by Josh Groban

Sometimes working here at TaTS has its perks, like being able to stream or download an album before it’s officially released. Josh Groban’s Bridges is one of those albums I’ve been lucky enough to hear. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played it to the point I now know all the lyrics. I’ve been a fan of Josh’s since Closer (2003) and have bought every album since. And honestly, this is by far his best and my favourite to date.

Bridges by Josh Groban is out September 21st via Warner Music.

 

The Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede Files – An Interview with Adam Brand

On July 13th, 1998, Adam Brand released his debut album. Fast forward to 2018, and he’s done what a lot of artists have failed to do before him – and that’s last 20 years in the competitive music industry. Celebrating his two-CD release Milestones…20 years, after a nation-wide call out for unique venues, he’s taking his current tour to big cities, small towns and places he’s never been.

Your latest release Milestones…20 years was released twenty years to the day (on July 13th, 2018) featuring all your greatest hits, like The Anzac, Good Friends, Get Loud, Hell of a Ride and many more. Do you ever get sick of performing these songs?

You hear artists talking about their first songs and singles, and, then, later in a career, they don’t want to play them anymore. They want to play their newer stuff, because they’re sick of playing the old songs. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve played ‘Dirt Track Cowboys’,  ‘Good Friends’ or ‘Last Man Standing’, I could buy a bigger house! [laughs] but those songs are the reason why I’m sitting here today, so, I’m quite the opposite. I don’t get sick of singing those songs; I’m thankful. I count my blessings.

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