All My Friends Are in Bar Bands

For many music listeners, Alex Lahey arrived on their doorstep with no note and no explanation - just a twangy guitar and a brilliant pop song. For those that had been paying attention, though, the ascent of this underdog was a few years in the making . Having forged a name as one-seventh of Animeaux, Lahey was a seasoned performer and songwriter well before people thought they didn't like people...

It's amazing to have any time at all with Sarah Louise Thompson. Better known among friends as Thomo, the beanie-toting Melburnian divides her time between affairs of Poison City Records and bringing up the rear of the beloved Camp Cope. Still, miraculously, a window was found in which to share Thomo's story - which, prior to Camp Cope's formation in 2015, hadn't involved her playing music for ove...

Things went from 0 to 100 in 2017 for Brisbane band WAAX. They've become festival favourites, sold out shows in their own right and rocked some massive venues alongside Dune Rats - all off the back of their killer EP, . We went on a blind date of sorts with three-fifths of the band - Chris, Maz and Tom - to learn a little more about where the band got their initial start and their surefire ascent...

She sings. She shreds. She slays. She's not taking your shit. She's Sadie Dupuis, AKA Sad13 - and if you're not already across her work, it's time to get thoroughly acquainted. Rising to an international profile through her work with Speedy Ortiz, Dupuis has been surrounded by music for as long as she can remember and been playing it for almost as long. It's taken her from the inner workings of th...

Caiti Baker is one of the most powerful voices in Australian music - and that is absolutely not a figure of speech. Tumbling through blues, soul, hip-hop and back, Baker is a striking and assertive vocalist that cut her teeth at the helm of Elefant Traks underdogs Sietta. Upon its dissolution, Baker turned her attention to a solo career; traversing the entire country and playing across a myriad of...

We're back, baby! Once again, we're thrilled to take you backstage at Wollongong's amazing Yours & Owls festival; in which we get a moment to discuss first, worst and best gig experiences with some of the absolute legends floating around the festivities. This year, our guests are Ali Barter, Brad Heald (The Vines, Red Riders, Ruby Fields), Izzy Manfredi (The Preatures), Marcus and Josh from No...

Don't go into a Touché Amoré show expecting a gentle, easy listening experience. It's going to be emotionally quite brutal - both on and off the stage. Truth be told, fans of the band wouldn't have it any other way. It's due in no small part to vocalist Jeremy Bolm, who lays it all bare through the band's introspective, intense collection of songs. He's the kind of lyricist that people get tattoos...

The 2010s are not over yet and the nostalgia seems to have already started. In the spirit of that, here's a chat with two Australian artists that originally came to prominence at the start of the decade - one as an indie-pop darling getting reblogged by Kanye West, the other as an up-and-coming Brisbane keyboardist in a band adored by Camera Obscura and The New Pornographers alike. When Jonathan B...

With only one guitar, one drum-kit and two full-throated voices, Vancouver's Japandroids made a quick ascent to the top of the indie-rock heap with loud, love-in live shows and anthems designed to be screamed in arms with your best friends. Then.... nothing. For three years. It was around this time last year, however, that guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse made their very welcome retur...

"I should warn you," prefaces Lincoln Le Fevre of Lincoln Le Fevre and the Insiders at the start of his third album, Come Undone: "I'm not built to last." Still, if his two decades and change of playing music prove anything, it's the complete opposite. Whether rousing a pub full of punks with his sing-alongs or playing hardcore punk in Outright, Le Fevre has constantly found new ways to keep his m...

Mars ain't no place to raise a kid, and West Virginia ain't no place to rock & roll - or, at least, so you'd be lead to believe. Enter Rozwell Kid, whose love of big riffs and old-school powerpop has endeared them to audiences on a global scale. They've just released their fourth album, Precious Art, but back in September 2016 the Kid visited Australia for the very first time as a part of Poison C...

For years, Georgia's A.W. would write, record and play music in their bedroom; completely unaware of the impact their songs and albums were having on the world outside. The magic of the internet meant their unique, earnest and catchy music was heard across the world; and it's brought her a surefire cult fanbase along the way. In May, A.W. and their backing band toured Australia for the very first...

Some were born to sing. Some were born to shred. Adam Gibson was born to speak - his art is poetry and spoken word; matched up to everything from jangly indie-pop to dark and atmospheric rock. His love of storytelling and yarns matched up with his love of punk rock got him an early and unique start in the world of music, and it's one he's held onto for decades. Now at the helm of the collective Ad...

What do you do when you live on the Gold Coast and you've already visited the various amusement parks? If you're Amy Billings - aka Amy Shark - you take to learning guitar, working your way up to singing and eventually giving the whole singer-songwriter thing a go. After building up a sure but certain following, Billings went for gold with last year's "Adore." What she ended up with, however, was...

David Liebe Hart has done a remarkable amount with his near-70 years on the planet. He's a singer, songwriter, visual artist, puppeteer, actor, punk rocker and one of the most celebrated outsider artists in the world. Best known for his time as a part of Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Hart is filled with unique stories, ideas and songs. In Australia for the third time, he shared some of his wi...

As angsty teens breaking out of a village near Sheffield in England, Rolo Tomassi always knew they'd have to stand out among the pack. 12 years on, they're adults with four albums under their belts and a handful of world tours completed. That rage has been maintained, however; and they still put on one of the best live shows in all of post-hardcore. The band were in Australia for the fourth time t...

It's time to rock and roll with some of our neighbours to the north. The Dirty Nil are loud and proud, straight out of Hamilton, Ontario with a game plan to kick arse and chew bubblegum. It's taken them from high school burnouts to touring the world with the likes of Alexisonfire and Billy Talent, and a killer live reputation to boot. While guitarist/vocalist Luke Bentham and drummer Kyle Fisher w...

One's a fearless frontman, at the helm of one of the liveliest and most exciting bands in post-hardcore, letlive. The other is a shredder of the highest order, having served as a sturdy sideman in Every Time I Die for nearly 20 years. Their respective bands teamed up for a co-headlining run in January of 2017 around the second annual Unify festival - and just before they played to a packed Metro T...

Adelaide's Horror My Friend may have put out "Stay In, Do Nothing" at the start of 2016; but they spent most of the year doing exactly the opposite. As one of the most exciting and promising rock bands in the country right now, the trio have undergone a touring regime that has seen them play with the likes of Camp Cope, Pity Sex and Hockey Dad among many more. This episode sees the band joking abo...

The votes are in, and here some clips from the best episodes of 2016 as voted for by YOU! 10. Meridian 9. Modern Baseball 8. Jeff Rosenstock 7. Frank Iero 6. Mere Women 5. PUP 4. Cayetana 3. Chris Farren 2. Jacob 1. Courtney Barnett Thanks to all who voted, thanks to all of our guests and thank YOU for listening. We're back, baby! Follow Bar Bands on Twitter: @BarBandsPod Support David on Patreon:...

You can't stop PUP. You can barely hope to contain them. Hundreds of shows a year? Bring it on. Destroyed vocal cords? 'Tis but a flesh wound. These Toronto natives have navigated the entire globe with their raw, authentic take on rousing melodic punk. With their 2016 album, The Dream is Over, PUP took up the mantel of Canada's most vital rock act - and anyone who's seen them live this year will t...

From a whisper to a shout, Sydney band sleepmakeswaves have spent the last decade building up their name as perhaps our finest post-rock export. Theirs is a journey fulll of left-of-centre victories - sold-out shows, top-40 album chart positions and world tours are naming but a few - that are all completely unbecoming of a band that's never done things in a conventional manner from a stylistic sta...

To do battle against boring live shows, Wollongong recruited seven loose units with attitude and gave birth to The Pinheads. It's only been a short period of time, but the gang have already traversed the east coast and gotten wild with a slew of great bands, from Totally Unicorn to Hockey Dad. Five of them huddled into a back table at Wollongong's Little Prince and explained how surf movies, metal...

From the leisure coast to the inner west, Amy Wilson and Flyn Mckinnirey have come a long way - and we're not just talking Bulli Pass here. Through early individual projects like Ohana and Little a, the two musicians developed a taste for truly alternative music and have continued to pursue it further down the rabbit hole through their band Mere Women. Now, they are one of the single most impressi...

Cayetana are a divine sisterhood from the city of brotherly love. In only a few years together, they have assembled a cult global fanbase for their honest and heartfelt take on indie-punk and played with everyone from PUP to Billy Idol. In September, the trio - Augusta on vocals and guitar, Allegra on bass and Kelly on drums - made their debut in Australia as a part of the Poison City Weekender an...