redback rock

MILLY D'ALTON AND ADAM BRZOZOWSKI
Owners of Outtaspace Records
Co-owners of Link and Pinlive venue
Central Coast, NSW Australia

Hiss & Crackle Records, Wallsend
Old-school record shop with an owner who knows what you wanna hear before you’ve heard it; limited-edition local releases, live in stores and shitloads of support for non-mainstream artists.

Celia Curtis’s (White Knuckle Fever, Stone Cold Fox) highly entertaining live stream and Facebook performances
They kept us Covid-sane.

Tequila-based beer.
For when you’re torn between a frothy and and a marg, and Umina BWS shuts at 8pm on a Sunday.

Thee Cha Cha Chas and Fuzztoon Studios
They released a spookily prophetic 7” (‘It’s Coming After You’), always smiling despite hardcore Melbourne lockdown. And Lluis’s prolific art kicked 2020’s arse.

 Ten musical things I dug in 2024.

• The Hard-Ons got to celebrate 40 years of ravaging the stage. Still as high-energy and still as true-to-form, brutally honest as ever. And a brand new doco to boot. Go see it. It’s great. Oh, and next year marks 40 years since the release of their debut EP, “Surfin’ On My Face” (ED: On Mark’s label Vi-Nil Records). Just sayin’!

• Middle Kids released an album that was completely hitsville from go to woah. Their previous releases all had a couple of great standout tracks, but “Faith Crisis Part 1” is their ultimate opus. Infectious indie pop that sits on the edge of mainstream and subsequently shits all over half of the commercial shit that has been released this year. 

• Elestial are a band that hails from Newcastle in Australia, and their nicely structured dream-pop is a beautiful shot of razored honey.  I was lucky enough to have them do a chunk of the INDIE SOUNDS launch tour throughout July, and they nailed every show. A nicer bunch you couldn’t meet. 

• Chamberlane are an indie pop punk band out of the Sunshine Coast. They jumped onto a last minute slot on the INDIE SOUNDS tour to help us out, and despite being hungover to the max from a festival the day before, they kicked the shit out of it. They’ve just finished a bit of an east coast tour and I was lucky to have them on board as part of the recent Vi-Nil Records showcase at The Recky Pacific Palms. Fun at a furious rate!