Sonic Reducers. 1 topic. 2 music nerds. 5 minutes.
The effect Russia’s war on Ukraine has had on music, and what responsibility artists have in situations like this, and which classic rock song has become a rallying cry for Ukrainian freedom fighters.
With the release of Wet Leg’s self-titled debut album just over a month away (due April 8th), the Isle of Wight duo (Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers) are pleased to unveil their new single “Angelica”.
Named after Rhian’s oldest friend, “Angelica” was recorded in Hester’s living room, by bandmate Joshua Mobaraki. A mixture of the absurd (“She brought lasagne to the party”), the sardonic (“I don’t wanna listen to your band”) and social angst (“I look at my feet then I look for the door”), it’s a trippy, synth-kissed journey through parties and regrets. “It’s laced with disenchantment,” Rhian says. “Even though the chorus is ‘good times, all the time’. That’s just impossible, isn’t it?”
The video – self-directed by the band – was shot on the island and is an unbridled record of Rhian and Hester’s friendship complete with high-kicks, fisticuffs, kiss-and-make ups, vast amounts of hair and even more dancing.
Additionally, the sold out “Chaise Longue” 7” from last year is getting a repress and is available to buy here.
Several of the band’s US dates have been upgraded. Full details can be found below.
Upcoming live dates
2nd March – The Pabst Theater, Milwaukee, WI
3rd March – First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN – sold out
4th March – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL – sold out
5th March – A&R Music Bar, Columbus, OH – sold out
7th March – Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
10th March – Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY – sold out
11th March – DC9, Washington, DC – sold out
12th March – Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA – sold out
14th March – The Basement East, Nashville, TN – sold out
16th March – Domino showcase @ Half-Step, SXSW, Austin, TX
17th March – The British Music Embassy / BBC @ Cedar Street Courtyard, SXSW, Austin, TX
20th March – Secret Group, Houston, TX – sold out
22nd March – 191 Toole, Tucson, AZ
24th March – Music Box, San Diego, CA
25th March – Music Box, San Diego, CA – sold out
26th March – Crocodile, Seattle, WA – sold out
27th March – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR – sold out
29th March – Bimbo’s 365 Club, San Francisco, CA – sold out
30th March – The Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA – sold out
Thursday 7th April – Banquet @ PRYZM, Kingston (matinee & evening)
Friday 8th April – Rough Trade East, London (matinee & evening) – sold out
Saturday 9th April – Resident, Brighton – sold out
Sunday 10th April – Rough Trade, Bristol – sold out
Monday 11th April – Rough Trade, Nottingham – sold out
Tuesday 12th April – HMV, Birmingham – sold out
16th April – Newcastle University, Newcastle – sold out
17th April – The Mash House, Edinburgh – sold out
19th April – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds – sold out
20th April – Gorilla, Manchester – sold out
21st April – Trinity Centre, Bristol – sold out
23rd April – o2 Institute, Birmingham – sold out
24th April – Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich – sold out
26th April – Electric Ballroom, London – sold out
27th April – The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth – sold out
14th May – Point Ephemere, Paris – sold out
15th May – Le Nuits Botanique @ Botanique Rotonde, Brussels
16th May – Jaki, Cologne
19th May – Doornroosje, Nijmegen
20th May – Rotown, Rotterdam – sold out
21st May – London Calling @ Paradiso, Amsterdam
23rd May – Milla, Munich
24th May – Milla, Munich – sold out
25th May – Berghain/Kantine, Berlin – sold out
28th May – Neighbourhood Weekender @ Victoria Park, Warrington
16th June – Isle of Wight Festival, Newport
9th July – TRNSMT @ Glasgow Green, Glasgow
25th August – Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver – sold out
Today, Pandora and SoundCloud team up to announce the launch of “Digicore by SoundCloud” – a new station surfacing pop’s next genre-bending evolution from a community of underground DIY artists that started on SoundCloud. Originating from SoundCloud’s award-winning music discovery series, “SCENES”, “Digicore by SoundCloud” is the first from a series of stations set to launch on Pandora to amplify the hottest rising music communities and culture-shifting collectives bubbling up on SoundCloud. Listen to “Digicore by SoundCloud” on Pandora here.
Following the successful launch of “The Lookout by SoundCloud” on Pandora last year, the “SCENES”-inspired stations provide a place for fans on Pandora to discover the latest underground communities shaping the future of music. Additional “SCENES” stations to be announced throughout the year.
“Digicore by SoundCloud” will spotlight music from a young, diverse, internet-inspired generation of innovative artists embracing boundless genre influences. Powered by fans and hand-picked by SoundCloud’s team of music experts, the station will feature artists like aldn, angelus, dltzk, d0llywood1, ericdoa, juno, and midwxst, and more from SoundCloud’s original top 5 fan-favorite playlist “Pop’s Next Generation: Digicore” and “Digicore” short documentary.
midwxst says, “SoundCloud fostered a community that made me a lot of who I am today — both as an artist and a creative. It continues to be a breeding ground for experimentation and collaboration within niche communities of music makers as well as being the home for some of my most loyal fans. It’s a pivotal part of my music story and I am stoked to be part of its history.”
“I appreciate SoundCloud for supporting the scene and really pushing us as a genre to the max,” says angelus. “It’s also exciting to see Digicore amplified with the help of Pandora and SoundCloud. Hopefully, it will open more doors for other artists and have them be inspired to start their own journey.”
Check out “Digicore by SoundCloud” now, and stay tuned for more “SCENES” stations to launch on Pandora in 2022.
“Part 2” was released as a single, Pink Floyd’s first in the UK since “Point Me at the Sky” in 1968. It sold over four million copies worldwide, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Get a completely new look at guitar legend Eddie Van Halen with this groundbreaking oral history, composed of more than fifty hours of interviews with Eddie himself as well as his family, friends, and colleagues.
When rock legend Eddie Van Halen died of cancer on October 6, 2020, the entire world seemed to stop and grieve. Since his band Van Halen burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut album in 1978, Eddie had been hailed as an icon not only to fans of rock music and heavy metal, but to performers across all genres and around the world. Van Halen’s debut sounded unlike anything that listeners had heard before and remains a quintessential rock album of the era.
Over the course of more than four decades, Eddie gained renown for his innovative guitar playing, and particularly for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique. Unfortunately for Eddie and his legions of fans, he died before he was ever able to put his life down to paper in his own words, and much of his compelling backstory has remained elusive—until now.
In Eruption, music journalists Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill share with fans, new and old alike, a candid, compulsively readable, and definitive oral history of the most influential rock guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. It is based on more than 50+ hours of unreleased interviews they recorded with Eddie Van Halen over the years, most of them conducted at the legendary 5150 studios at Ed’s home in Los Angeles. The heart of Eruption is drawn from these intimate and wide-ranging talks, as well as conversations with family, friends, and colleagues.
In addition to discussing his greatest triumphs as a groundbreaking musician, including an unprecedented dive into Van Halen’s masterpiece 1984, the book also takes an unflinching look at Edward’s early struggles as young Dutch immigrant unable to speak the English language, which resulted in lifelong issues with social anxiety and substance abuse. Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen also examines his brilliance as an inventor who changed the face of guitar manufacturing.
As entertaining as it is revealing, Eruption is the closest readers will ever get to hearing Eddie’s side of the story when it comes to his extraordinary life.
Most kids would wilt under the competition, but Maral Vaanchig performed with her father, traditional Mongolian Throat singer Batzorig Vaanchig. He played the three-stringed shudraga lute, while Maral set a precedent for young drummers with her shaker instrument.
Chart-topping pop singer-songwriter GAYLE has unveiled details of her eagerly awaited debut EP- a study of the human experience volume one arrives via Atlantic Records/Arthouse Records on Friday, March 18.
a study of the human experience volume one sees GAYLE continuing to reveal a larger-than-life personality and willingness to expose her deepest insecurities and desires through her unfiltered yet beautifully nuanced brand of songwriting. The EP will include the 17-year-old, Nashville-based artist’s RIAA Gold certified worldwide #1 breakthrough hit, “abcdefu,” alongside its spirited follow-up, “ur just horny.” A full tracklist and official EP art will be revealed soon.
GAYLE will celebrate a study of the human experience volume one with a wide-ranging international live schedule that includes her sold out feeling it together headline tour, special guest runs alongside AJR and Tate McRae, and her first ever overseas performance. The dates – which follow a series of intimate headline dates that were met with such high demand they sold out within moments – get underway March 9 and 10 with a sold out two-night stand at the famed Exit/In in GAYLE’s hometown of Nashville, TN, and then continue through May. For limited ticket availability and more information, please visit www.gayleofficial.com.
“abcdefu” has fast proven a landmark debut for GAYLE, currently #2 across Top 40 radio outlets nationwide having already topped a range of worldwide charts including both the “Billboard Global Excl. U.S.” chart for seven consecutive weeks and counting, and the “Billboard Global 200” (four weeks). Recently declared “the breakout song of 2022” by NYLON, the track – which now sits at #4 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” – currently boasts over 925M worldwide streams and counting with over 1 million equivalents singles sold, driving the track to #1 on the Spotify Global chart hit as well as iTunes’ “Top Pop Songs” and overall charts. What’s more, “abcdefu” has proven a worldwide phenomenon, topping charts and earning gold and multi-platinum certifications around the globe. “abcdefu” is joined by official music video currently boasting over 90M individual views.
GAYLE quickly followed up with “ur just horny,” available now at all DSPs and streaming services HERE. Produced by Daylight (gnash, Shawn Mendes) and Pete Nappi (Thirty Seconds To Mars, Madison Beer, Shinedown), and written by GAYLE, Daniel Kyriakides (Sylvan Esso, K. Flay), and Sara Davis, the track was met by immediate popular success, amassing over 15M streams in just the first month of its release. “ur just horny” is joined by an official music video approaching 2M individual views via YouTube.
Fearlessly honest and undeniably magnetic, GAYLE has swiftly earned critical applause from high profile media outlets everywhere while also being named a YouTube “Artist On The Rise,” an Amazon “Artist to Watch 2022,” MTV’s “February Global Push Artist,” and one of Billboard’s “21 Under 21: The Ones To Watch,” to name just a few of her fast accruing accolades. Hailed by FLAUNT for “her own sound blending the genres of pop, alternative, rock, and R&B into one,” GAYLE made her late night network TV debut earlier this year with a captivating interview and electrifying performance of “abcdefu” on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
GAYLE WORLD TOUR 2022
MARCH
9 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In (SOLD OUT)
10 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
14 – West Hollywood, CA – The Roxy Theatre (SOLD OUT)
21 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge (SOLD OUT)
22 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge (SOLD OUT)
25 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West *
27 – Washington DC – 9:30 PM Club *
28 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts *
30 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza *
31 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza *
APRIL
1 – Boston, MA – Royale *
3 – Toronto, ON – Drake Underground (SOLD OUT)
5 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean (SOLD OUT)
6 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean
7 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
9 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
12 – Seattle, WA – Barboza (SOLD OUT)
13 – Portland, OR – Holocene (SOLD OUT)
15 – San Francisco, CA – Popscene/Rickshaw Stop (SOLD OUT)
28 – Dallas, TX – Toyota Music Factory †
29 – Austin, TX – Germania Amphitheater †
30 – Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Pavilion †
MAY
3 – Orlando, FL – Addition Financial Arena †
4 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre †
6 – Atlanta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre †
7 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater †
8 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion †
10 – Cincinnati, OH – ICON Music Center †
11 – Cleveland, OH – Wolstein Center @ CSU †
13 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein †
14 – Washington, DC – Merriweather Post Pavilion †
15 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann †
18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Peterson Events Center †
20 – Boston, MA – Xfinity Center †
21 – New York, NY – Forest Hills Stadium †
30 – London, UK – Omeara
* w/Tate McRae
Filled with moments of relentless energy throwing back to their punk and hardcore roots to visionary moments of modern heavy, Misery Made Me fastens Silverstein’s status as torchbearers of the scene on all fronts. It’s both intriguing and inspiring that a band – who could have merely rested on the impressive legacy they’ve already cemented – would continue to dig deep and find the inspiration to reach people in meaningful new ways.
Few bands on their 22nd lap around the scene could claim to be in “just getting started” mode as much as punk stalwarts Silverstein. The forthcoming release of their tenth studio album, Misery Made Me, finds the group spring-boarding off the heights they’ve reached over the past handful of years; their latest album (2020’s A Beautiful Place To Drown) adding 80 million streams to a mind-numbing career total of 500 million; it collecting a nomination for Rock Album of the Year at the esteemed JUNO Awards.
For the first time in our career, we truly put it all out there. We went into this with no rules and no preconceived notions of what Silverstein is or what it could be. The results are bold. We somehow wrote the heaviest, saddest, catchiest, and most emotional songs in 22 years of being a band … all on the same album.
– vocalist Shane Told.
The album’s lead single, “Ultraviolet,” is about feeling powerless and under the control of the chemicals in your brain, and it dives deep into feelings of desperation, describing the utter helplessness of losing control to anxiety. Guitarist Paul Marc explains – “Ultraviolet” being invisible felt like the right way to describe it – to get lost in this unseeable thing. “Ultraviolet” light also causes physical damage to our skin, so it serves as a sort of “proof” that something invisible like anxiety can hurt us.
Ironically, amid all the positivity and connectivity injected into the creation of Misery Made Me, there comes a dark set of themes underpinning the album, as its title might suggest. The album is a depiction of Silverstein – and the world at large’s – collective turmoil, frustration, and anxiety.
Ultimately, Misery Made Me finds the band trying to navigate the ever-worsening challenges of our modern world – angst, doom scrolling, and disassociation. It’s a record that is a product of the moment in time in which it was created yet doesn’t feel like it will date itself anytime soon, as many of its topics of loneliness, anxiety and isolation are eternal human struggles.
Exemplified by the anthemic opener “Our Song,” Misery Made Me is part acceptance of the band’s personal miseries, and part declaration that they will not be buried by them. At the back end of the record lies “Live Like This” (ft. nothing,nowhere.) and arguably its most bleak and haunting lyric: I don’t want to die, but I can’t live like this.
Misery Made Me is a campaign hinged on Silverstein’s reflection and gratitude for their roots, their honouring of their earliest fans, and their staunch desire to explore forward-thinking and adventurous ways to connect with new ones.
Misery Made Me sees its release via UNFD on CD, vinyl and digital formats on May 6, 2022. It was produced by Sam Guaiana (A Beautiful Place To Drown and both Redux) at Jukasa Studios in rural Ontario, Canada and features guests Andrew Neufeld of Comeback Kid on “Die Alone,” singer/songwriter Trevor Daniel on “Cold Blood,” The Devil Wears Prada’s Mike Hranica on “Slow Motion” and nothing,nowhere. on “Live Like This.”
MISERY MADE ME Tracklisting:
1. Our Song
2. Die Alone (ft. Andrew Neufeld)
3. Ultraviolet
4. Cold Blood (ft. Trevor Daniel)
5. It’s Over
6. The Altar / Mary
7. Slow Motion (ft. Mike Hranica)
8. Don’t Wait Up
9. Bankrupt
10. Live Like This (ft. nothing,nowhere.)
11. Misery
Silverstein will hit the road in support of Misery Made Me on March 26. The U.S. run includes spring dates with Beartooth, a UK/EU summer leg and fall performances have been confirmed at WHEN WE WERE YOUNG festival and the Emo’s Not Dead cruise. Check below for a full list of dates and stay tuned for more to be announced.
SILVERSTEIN LIVE DATES:
Mar 26 – Fort Wayne, IN | Clyde Theatre ~
Mar 27 – Milwaukee, WI | Eagles Ballroom ~
Mar 28 – Des Moines, IA | Val Air ~
Mar 30 – Denver, CO | Fillmore Auditorium ~
Apr 01 – Salt Lake City, UT | The Complex ~
Apr 02 – Las Vegas, NV | Brooklyn Bowl ~
Apr 03 – San Jose, CA | San Jose Civic ~
Apr 05 – Anaheim, CA | House of Blues ~
Apr 06 – Anaheim, CA | House of Blues ~
Apr 07 – Phoenix, AZ | Van Buren ~
Apr 09 – Lubbock, TX | Lonestore Amphitheatre ~
Apr 10 – Oklahoma City, OK | The Criterion ~
Apr 12 – Austin, TX | Stubbs ~
Apr 13 – Edinburg, TX | Bert Ogden Arena ~
Apr 15 – Corpus Christi, TX | Concrete Street Amphitheatre ~
Apr 17 – Nashville, TN | Wildhorse Saloon ~
Apr 19 – St Augustine, FL | St Augustine Amphitheatre ~
Apr 21 – Columbia, SC | The Senate ~
Apr 22 – Richmond, VA | The National ~
Apr 23 – Raleigh, NC | The Ritz ~
Apr 24 – Norfolk, VA | The Norva ~
Apr 26 – Providence, RI | The Strand ~
Apr 27 – Long Island, NY | The Paramount ~
Apr 29 – Trenton, NJ | Cure Insurance Arena ~
Apr 30 – New Haven, CT | College Street Music Hall ~
May 01 – Rochester, NY | The Armory ~
May 03 – Louisville, KY | Old Forester’s Paristown Hall ~
Jun 03 – Leeds, UK | Slam Dunk
Jun 04 – Hatfield, UK | Slam Dunk
Jun 06 – Lille, FR | TBC w/ August Burns Red
Jun 07 – Augsburg, DE | Kantine
Jun 08 – Budapest, HU | Budapest Park w/ Billy Talent
Jun 11 – Bremen, DE | Tower
Jun 12 – Aarhus, DK | Train w/ Beartooth, August Burns Red
Jun 14 – Hannover, DE | MusikZentrum w/ Beartooth
Jun 15 – Hamburg, DE | Gruenspan w/ Being As An Ocean, Sperling
Jun 17 – Bischofsmais.DE | Rock the Hill (Festival)
Jun 18 – Mannheim, DE | Delta Bash (Festival)
Jun 19 – Pratteln, CH | Z7 Wild Dayz (Festival)
Jun 21 – Milan, IT | INFEST (Festival)
Jun 22 – Graz, AT | Orpheum w/ Beartooth
Jun 23 – Nuremberg, DE | Z-Bau w/ Beartooth
Jun 24 – Ysselsteyn, NL | Jera On Air (Festival)
Jun 25 – Munster, DE | Vainstream (Festival)
Jun 26 – Ferropolis, DE | Full Force (Festival)
Aug 06 – Columbus, OH | Express Live ~
Oct 22 – Las Vegas, NV | WHEN WE WERE YOUNG Festival
Oct 23 – Las Vegas, NV | WHEN WE WERE YOUNG Festival
Oct 29 – Las Vegas, NV | WHEN WE WERE YOUNG Festival
Nov 08 – Emo’s Not Dead Cruise | Los Angeles, CA – Ensenada, Mexico
~ w/ Beartooth, The Devil Wears Prada, ERRA
With Just Like That…, her 21st album and first new release in more than six years, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Bonnie Raitt, continues to display the vitality and urgency that has defined her legendary career. Teaming up again with distributor, ADA, globally and new partner, Sub Pop, for physical product in the United States, Just Like That… is set for release on April 22 in all formats, including an Indie exclusive Teal LP, immersive audio formats Dolby Atmos, and 360 Reality Audio. Raitt’s new single, Made Up Mind, is out now.
Just Like That… was recorded in the summer of 2021 in Sausalito, CA. The players include two long-time members of Raitt’s band: bassist, James “Hutch” Hutchinson, and drummer, Ricky Fataar, as well as two new musicians: Canadian, Glenn Patscha, on keyboards and backing vocals and Nashville guitarist, Kenny Greenberg. Her long-time guitarist/songwriting partner, George Marinelli, also joined in, playing and singing on Livin’ for the Ones, the song they co-wrote for the album. Once again, Raitt took the producer reins, reuniting with her favourite recording and mixing engineer, Ryan Freeland, for their third collaboration (they each earned GRAMMY Awards for Raitt’s 2012 release, Slipstream).
The mix of sounds and approaches on Just Like That… reveals how, 50 years after the release of her debut album, Raitt continues to personify what it means to stay creative, adventurous, and daring over the course of a life’s work. “On this record, I wanted to stretch,” she says. “I always want to find songs that excite me, and what’s different this time is that I’ve tried some styles and topics I haven’t touched on before.”
Raitt will receive the Billboard Icon Award and perform at this year’s Women in Music Awards on Wednesday, March 2 at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. The annual event recognizes music’s rising and A-List artists, creators, producers, and executives for their contributions to the industry and community. The 2022 Women in Music Awards will stream live on Twitter.com/Billboard.
Before the new year, The Recording Academy® announced that Raitt will join the honourees receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony and 64th Annual GRAMMY® Nominees Reception event. The Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates performers who have made outstanding contributions of artistic significance to the field of recording. Ten-time GRAMMY winner, Raitt, will be joined by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Lionel Hampton, Marilyn Horne, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena, and Talking Heads. Ed Cherney, Benny Golson, and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds were named Trustees Award honourees, and Daniel Weiss is the Technical GRAMMY® Award recipient.
Like the rest of the musicians around the world, sidelined for two years from their livelihood and great joy—touring live—Raitt and her band and crew are thrilled to return to the road in April for an eight-month U.S. tour. The tour’s special guests include NRBQ (from April 12—23), followed by Lucinda Williams and long-time friend, Mavis Staples, on various dates throughout the run. The full tour schedule, with info on Special Benefit Seat information, is listed at www.bonnieraitt.com.
Raitt has never felt more grateful that she can continue making music, contributing to causes, keeping her crew working, and connecting with her audience. “I’m really aware of how lucky I am,” she says, “and I feel like it’s my responsibility to get out there and say something fresh and new—for me and for the fans. But I need to have something to say or I won’t put out a record.”
ABOUT BONNIE RAITT
Bonnie Raitt is a singer, songwriter and guitarist whose unique style blends blues, R&B, rock, and pop. After 20 years as a cult favourite, she broke through to the top in the early 90s with her GRAMMY-award winning albums, Nick of Time, and Luck of the Draw, which featured hits, Something To Talk About and I Can’t Make You Love Me, among others. The ten-time GRAMMY winner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and Rolling Stone named the slide guitar ace one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Raitt’s widely-acclaimed 2012 independent release, Slipstream, sold over a quarter-million copies, making it one of the top selling independent albums, and earned Raitt her 10th GRAMMY Award (Best Americana Album). In February 2016, Raitt released her highly-anticipated 20th album, Dig In Deep (Redwing Records). On tour for much of 2017-2019, Raitt and her band performed overseas in Australia, New Zealand as well as Canada before spending the summers touring as support for James Taylor in stadiums and arenas across the U.S., United Kingdom and Europe.
As known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music, Raitt has long been involved with the environmental movement, performing concerts around oil, nuclear power, mining, water and forest protection since the mid 70’s. She was a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) which produced the historic concerts, album and movie NO NUKES and continues to work on safe energy issues in addition to environmental protection, social justice and human rights, as well as creator’s rights and music education.
Midnight Oil are more than just a rock ‘n’ roll band. From the northern beaches of Sydney to the streets of Manhattan, they have stopped traffic, inflamed passions, inspired fans, challenged the concepts of “business as usual” and broken new ground.
Seeing Midnight Oil in full flight is to experience the transcendent, kinetic power of live rock ‘n’ roll. They leave you inspired to live life more passionately and to Get Involved.
Everything about the band is uncompromising, but their greatest achievement is that they are, night after night and album after album, a great rock ‘n’ roll band. For all of the incredible growth, ambition and experimentation that Midnight Oil have evidenced, the sound and the fury and the spirit of their earliest recordings are still there 40 years later, on tracks like “White Skin Black Heart” and “Say Your Prayers”.
Rob Hirst (drums, vocals) and Jim Moginie (guitars, keys & vocals) started making music together at school in 1972. They gradually evolved into Midnight Oil, with singer Peter Garrett joining in 1975 and Martin Rotsey (guitar), coming on board in the following year. Founding bass player, Andrew “Bear” James, was replaced by Peter “Giffo” Gifford from 1980 until 1987 when Bones Hillman joined the band.
Before they took it global, Midnight Oil’s early spiritual home was the Royal Antler Hotel, Narrabeen on Sydney’s northern beaches. It was there that ‘the Oils’ fan base swelled from a handful to a thousand – in a space intended for half that number. Between 1976 and the very early 80’s, these five young men played out this blistering ritual almost 1000 times. At all of these shows the distance and the difference between audience and band was indistinguishable. From their earliest days, Midnight Oil was writing songs about who and what they saw around them.
The eponymous debut album, smartly nicknamed “The Blue Meanie” (equal parts a reference to the Beatles and the snarl of the sound), was released in 1978 and was a collection of primal, spiky rock ‘n’ roll. Like so many great debut albums it spoke directly about the milieu in which it was born (Sydney surf/suburbs culture) and was an in-studio approximation of their live set. The song “Run By Night” became an instant classic and despite receiving next to no commercial radio support, the album cracked the Australian Top 50. Midnight Oil was on its way.
A second album, “Head Injuries”, followed the next year featuring the singles “Cold Cold Change” and “Back on the Borderline” – the geography was a little broader, the subject matter a little more universal and the sound a little closer to their live energy.
Shortly after Head Injuries Andrew “Bear” James retired and the bass was picked up by Peter “Giffo” Gifford. Recalibrating their sound as they would do many times, the band’s new line-up released the 12″ “Bird Noises” EP (featuring “No Time For Games” and the sublime surf instrumental “Wedding Cake Island”).
Their ambitions growing, the band decamped to England to record the “Place Without A Postcard” album with legendary producer Glyn Johns (The Faces, The Who, The Rolling Stones). A dense, claustrophobic gem, “Place Without A Postcard” is arguably Midnight Oil’s first great album – defiantly articulating a broader Australian world view on tracks like “Armistice Day”, “Don’t Wanna Be The One” and the epic “Lucky Country”.
By the time “Place Without A Postcard” was released in 1981, the Australian pub rock scene was at its zenith. Suburban beer barns held 2,000 punters and the Oils were filling them nightly, creating rock ‘n’ roll chaos. Being an Oils fan wasn’t a part-time or passive experience.
Throughout all this the band wrote their own rules; refusing to appear on popular TV shows like Countdown and shunning all the ‘music biz’ norms. At the same time, Midnight Oil was becoming known for their support of environmental and social justice causes. The singular trail that they blazed set the tone for everything that followed.
In 1982, their fourth album “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1” turned everything on its head. Recorded as the band lived on the breadline in London in the shadow of the nuclear arms race and produced by an enthusiastic, irreverent 21 year old Nick Launay, (PIL, Gang of 4), 10-1 is rock ‘n’ roll paranoia at its finest. They deconstructed their sound and reassembled it into complex agitrock anthems like “Power And The Passion” where drums play against drum machines while thick warm waves of acoustic guitar lay a bed for the immensely unsettling “US Forces”. The lyrics captured a band who would not be boxed in by geography, precedent, corporations, government or the expectations of anyone. As Midnight Oil expanded their creative ambitions they also expanded their audience. The album was a monster success in Australia, staying in the Australians charts in excess of 200 weeks. It was also popular on US college radio and across pockets of Europe – as the band expanded its ambitions it also expanded its reach.
“Red Sails in the Sunset” came next. Recorded in Japan it took sonic experimentation and polemics to new and extreme levels. It was released in 1983 and loomed large on the charts through 1984 against the backdrop of singer Peter Garrett making a run for the Australian Senate on a Nuclear Disarmament platform. While Garrett focused on ‘real’ politics, Red Sails saw drummer Rob Hirst coming to the fore, assuming lead vocal duties on “When The Generals Talk” and “Kosciusko”.
In 1985, Midnight Oil performed an unforgettable live set on Sydney’s Me-mel (Goat Island) to celebrate the 10th birthday of music station 2JJ before reacting to the experimental extremes of their two previous albums with the fierce, streamlined EP “Species Deceases”, featuring enduring fan favourites like “Hercules” and “Progress”. This was a reset that suggested a new beginning.
That new beginning happened in 1986 when Midnight Oil was invited to tour through some of Australia’s most remote communities with legendary Aboriginal group, the Warumpi Band. The ‘Blackfella/Whitefella’ tour was a transformative experience that exposed the band to the austere beauty of the desert landscape, the inspiring creativity of the indigenous people and the deplorable conditions in which so many of those people existed.
The band returned to Sydney and began work on their global breakthrough “Diesel and Dust”. The singles lifted from that album like “The Dead Heart”, “Put Down That Weapon”, “Dreamworld” and, of course, “Beds Are Burning” brought Midnight Oil to new audiences around the globe. The band toured internationally through ‘87 and ’88 driving the album to huge critical and commercial success. It ultimately sold more than 6 million copies and earned them a Grammy nomination although the band declined to attend the ceremony in order to honour their commitment to a political event at home.
Among numerous other honours, “Beds Are Burning” is included in the U.S. Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame as one of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock ’n’ Roll”. “Diesel & Dust” was recently listed at #1 in the definitive book “100 Best Australian Albums”.
1990’s “Blue Sky Mining” saw tracks like “One Country,” “Blue Sky Mine,” and “Forgotten Years” bring an international orientation to the band’s song writing without losing any of their characteristically Australian voice. While touring the US after the album’s release, the band drew attention to the environmental disaster caused by an Exxon oil tanker that ran aground in Alaska. They hired a flatbed truck and played a blistering guerrilla set outside the Exxon offices in New York, stopping traffic and putting the issue on front pages worldwide. “Blue Sky Mining” was another globally successful album, charting top 5 in many parts of Europe and top 20 in the U.S.. Back home it won the band five ARIA Awards and was certified five times platinum.
Midnight Oil’s creative evolution continued with 1993’s “Earth and Sun and Moon” with its emphasis on melody, textures and storytelling. They toured the world on the WOMAD festival and were one of the first international artists to play in South Africa after Nelson Mandela came to power. These new experiences influenced 1996’s atmospheric album, “Breathe” which they recorded in Sydney and New Orleans. Then, in typically perverse fashion, the band veered away from these warm, dark, ambient textures to create arguably their most angry and confronting release – 1998’s “Redneck Wonderland”. In Australia, anti-migrant and anti-Aboriginal sentiment was being inflamed for political gain and Midnight Oil’s visceral response pulled no punches.
In 2000 the band performed to an audience of over a billion people at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games revealing clothing emblazoned with the word, ‘SORRY’; thereby provoking global discussion about the apology due to stolen generations of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families between the 1890’s and 1970’s. That year they also recorded the excellent “Say Your Prayers”, an anthem for the East Timorese, which appeared on a benefit release and was stripped onto their 11th and final studio album, “Capricornia”. Aptly enough, this swag of songs drew heavily from their deep affection and appreciation of their Australian homeland.
In December 2002 Peter Garrett left the band to pursue a full time political career. He was elected in 2004 as a federal Member of Parliament where he would eventually serve as a cabinet Minister in various portfolios including School Education and Environment. Nonetheless in 2005 the Oils regrouped to headline the “Waveaid” tsunami benefit concert for over 50,000 people at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In 2009 the band topped a massive bill at “Sound Relief” at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where over 80,000 fans joined them in raising millions of dollars for victims of Australian fires and floods. Apart from these two iconic stadium appearances for charity (and a handful of intimate ‘warmup’ gigs immediately prior to each of them) the members played together in The Break and separately in other bands for over a decade. Then in May 2016 they made headlines with a surprise announcement via Facebook that they would be “getting back together for some gigs next year“.
On February 17, 2017 the band held a press conference on Sydney Harbour to announce that they would be playing shows around the world from April through November of that year. “The Great Circle” tour was accompanied by the release of three new box sets; one containing all their existing LP’s and EP’s, another containing all their existing CD’s and videos, plus a new 4 CD/8 DVD treasure trove of previously unreleased and rare material called “The Overflow Tank”.
As the tour name implied, “The Great Circle 2017” officially began with a surfside pub gig in Sydney and then looped around Brazil, North America, Europe and New Zealand before climaxing with a lap of Australia starting in the outback then heading around the coast . Over the course of those 7 months Midnight Oil played 77 gigs in 16 countries to over half a million fans. The shows shunned showbiz norms with the band rotating over 106 songs through their sets dropping apt cover versions and some surprise performances of whole albums to ensure every gig was truly unique.
Of course as “The Great Circle 2017” circumnavigated the globe it also drew attention to various issues affecting the planet. From a gig aboard Greenpeace flagship “Rainbow Warrior” in Rio De Janeiro’s harbour to an eco-friendly festival in the Czech Republic and Great Barrier Reef benefit shows in Cairns and Perth the tour saw Midnight Oil combining militance and music in their trademark manner.
The circle finally came to a close back where it all began – in their hometown where they played two epic shows. The venue? The Domain – Australia’s traditional home of political debate. The first date? November 11, known to some as Armistice Day.
Those who were there will never forget these climactic gigs. Thankfully they were recorded and filmed – and exactly a year later they were released as a movie and album called “Armistice Day: Live At The Domain, Sydney”, which debuted at #1 on the ARIA DVD Charts, and top 5 on the ARIA Album Charts.
In 2019, Midnight Oil headlined the world’s most remote music festival, the Big Red Bash – marking their first major Australian music festival appearance in 22 years. The band also performed a string of European shows for Summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
2020 saw the band release their first new music in nearly two decades – “The Makarrata Project”. All songs on the mini-album shared a strong lyrical focus on Indigenous reconciliation, and featured collaborations with First Nations friends. The release sought to elevate public awareness of ulurustatement.org/the-statement. Lead single ‘Gadigal Land’ (feat. Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs & Bunna Lawrie) was peer voted as the prestigious “Song of the Year “at the 2021 APRA Music Awards and “The Makarrata Project” debuted #1 on the ARIA Album Chart, becoming Midnight Oil’s first studio release to do so in over 30 years. In early 2021 it was accompanied by an acclaimed concert tour featuring lots of special guests that proceeded despite profound challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sadly, on the same weekend that the mini-album debuted at #1 Bones Hillman passed away after a battle with cancer. He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and a brilliant musical comrade. Bones joined Midnight Oil way back in 1987 after stints in various Kiwi bands, most notably, The Swingers. He played and sang on every Midnight Oil recording since “Blue Sky Mining” and played thousands of gigs as part of the Oils. He is deeply missed.
At the time of recording “The Makarrata Project” with Bones and producer Warne Livesey (“Diesel & Dust”, “Blue Sky Mining”, “Capricornia”), they also tracked another dozen songs together. In November 2021 it was announced that this latest chapter of their career would come to a close in 2022 with a new album and final tour, both aptly titled, “Resist”.
The band has made it clear that while this will be their final concert tour that does not mean the end of the Oils. Each of the members will continue their own projects over the years ahead. They remain very open to recording new music together in future and supporting causes in which they believe. Meanwhile, Resist will be a fitting, forward looking, statement for a band whose clarion call has always been “it’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees”. The tour will see them performing classic Midnight Oil songs from across their repertoire while also showcasing some urgent new works. As the title makes abundantly clear, Resist engages with the issues of today and tomorrow – like the lead single “Rising Seas” which tackles the climate crisis in typically uncompromising fashion.
Midnight Oil North American Tour Dates:
06/01 Vancouver, BC – Malkin Bowl
06/04 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
06/07 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
06/10 Chicago, IL – Rivera Theatre
06/13 Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
06/16 Boston, MA – Roadrunner
06/19 New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom,
06/22 Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
06/25 Oxon Hill, MD – The Theatre at National Harbor
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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