Take 5

Nancy Bates is a proud Barkindji song woman, a mentor, and a curator. She recognises the power of song in sharing stories; particularly the songlines that tell the stories of First Nations peoples in Australia. During the Adelaide Fringe in 2022, Nancy is also behind the soundtrack for a huge and beautiful performance piece called Sky Song. It’s all about light, so I thought I’d marry the two idea...

Claudia Karvan has been a fixture on our screens for the last three decades. We watched her light up the screen on The Big Steal and The Heartbreak Kid, share-housed with her on The Secret Life of Us, and came of age as she did, on Love My Way. When Claudia wasn’t acting in some of film and television’s biggest moments, she was working behind the scenes as a writer and director, and increasingly h...

When you think of electronic music, do you think of the wild? Even as a synthetic creation, is it music that anchors itself in nature, in the sounds of icicles breaking or the feel of flow? Kelly Lee Owens is a producer who take you to all of those places. The Welsh artist may have begun her career as a nurse, and working in a record store, but these days she makes music that transports you; that...

Bodyjar are a band many of us grew up with; seeing them at all ages shows and festivals, hearing their music on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and voting them into many a Hottest 100. Eight years on from their last album, they’re back with New Rituals, and on the day of it’s release lead singer Cam Baines joined me to share his rituals across five songs. From their heroes Descendents, to the inspiration...

We’re wrapping up the Take 5 for another year and even though 2021 still kept a lot of us apart, these conversations helped me find a community again. Maybe they did for you, too. We connected a lot over Zoom, we bonded over the music that made us who we are today, and we learned a whole lot more; not just about the guests who joined us to Take 5, but also about the songs and artists they picked....

When Fran Kelly announced she was leaving RN Breakfast after 17 years, everyone I know had a little cry. Maybe it was the same for you too, because this legendary journalist has been waking up with us for a long time. Fran has held those in power to account and told stories we may never have heard otherwise. But it’s not often you hear Fran’s stories. That’s why I was so stoked and honoured to hav...

The first time I heard Stella Donnelly, I knew she was a star. Then I saw her live, and the heavy weight and brutal honesty of her songs made way for comedy interludes, even cabaret. There’s more to Stella Donnelly, than meets the eye. For all of these reasons, I’ve long wanted her to Take 5. Her music has given many a sense of community, a home, so I wanted Stella Donnelly to tell me about the so...

Damon Albarn is one of the busiest men in music. We first met him as frontman for Blur, he kicked off Gorillaz a decade or so after that, and in between collaborated with Malian musicians, wrote operas based on Monkey, and formed supergroups with members of The Clash and Tony Allen. You get the sense that he doesn’t like to sit still, so it was a coup to ask him to do that, for a spell, to Take 5....

As soon as I heard Amyl and the Sniffers, I was hooked. The name for one: genius. And this band out of Melbourne, with a phenomenal frontwoman and wild live show, held a lot of promise. They delivered on their debut, and kept that fire alive on the follow up too. Amy Taylor is the lead singer of Amyl and the Sniffers, and every time I’ve spoken to her I’ve been left feeling giddy afterwards. As we...

When people ask me who’s on my bucket list to Take 5, Billy Bragg is up there. The poet and activist has been part of my life since I was born. He’s a regular visitor to Australia, and his activism, songs and stories have captivated me for decades.  So having him join me on the day he released his new album, was a dream come true. The Million Things That Never Happened is a pandemic album, and we...

Ruby Wax is an icon of comedy and interviewing. Through the 90’s and early 00’s Ruby’s BBC TV specials saw her chatting with the most famous people of the times: Madonna, Jim Carrey, Imelda Marcos, Donald Trump, OJ Simpson, and Pamela Anderson. Her disarming docu-interviewing style preceded people like Louis Theroux, and when she wasn’t getting up in people’s grill, she was script editing Absolute...

Have you ever seen those videos online where someone hears a song, and they’re instantly transported back to a moment? It could be someone with Alzheimers or Dementia, or with a brain injury or trauma that language can’t reach, but music can. Maybe you’ve known someone with autism, who is non verbal but can communicate with song. It’s called music therapy, and the science behind it, is incredible....

Over the past decade, James Blake has gone from grabbing our hearts with the Wilhelm Scream, to collaborating with some of the biggest names on the planet. The London born producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist has always kept it moving; expanding his sound, testing new waters, and through it all remaining grounded in what matters. I first met James back in 2011, just as the hype around him w...

Sufjan Stevens is one of the most prolific songwriters working today, and it feels as though his drive to write songs is as much about the creation of music, as it is the understanding of creativity itself, and finding different ways to explore it. He first heard Angelo De Augustine a few years ago, and when you hear Angelo’s voice you’ll understand why Suf signed him to his label. And why they de...

It’s a special Take 5, as we mark the 30th anniversary of Nirvana releasing Nevermind. This was the record that brought grunge into the mainstream, it changed the game not just for the Seattle sound, but catapulted it into a worldwide movement. To celebrate this iconic moment, I dug up some of my most treasured conversations from the Take 5 archives, with the people at the centre of the scene. You...

Matthew E White is a jack of all trades. A producer hailing from Richmond, Virginia, he’s worked with everyone from Sharon Van Etten to Natalie Prass, Justin Vernon to The Mountain Goats. A few years ago he set up Spacebomb, a studio and label which also acts as a community space for artists to experiment. This all feeds off his own work, as a multi-instrumentalist, former jazz player, and songwri...

The AIR studios in Montserrat are the stuff of legend. Back in the 80’s, Sir George Martin set up a place to record in the middle of the Caribbean. It was an escape for the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Dire Straits. The Police captured one of their biggest albums there, and Duran Duran hung out for a spell too. This haven in the West Indies was short lived though; a hurr...

Comedian Steph Tisdell is here to help. Literally. The proud Ydinji woman may be up on stage telling jokes these days, but a few years ago she was at uni, and looking ahead to a career in human rights law. That all changed one fateful day, and what led her to stand up comedy is a story you’ve gotta hear yourself. The comedy path has seen her win multiple awards, and appear on TV and radio across A...

John Parish has crafted some of the indie music’s most acclaimed albums. The Bristol producer has been behind Aldous Harding’s last two records, he co-wrote and produced Eels “Souljacker”, and Giant Sand’s “Chore of Enchantment”, and recently he’s been working with The Goon Sax and Parquet Courts. He’s a composer and musician too, releasing his own works and soundtracking beautiful scenes on stage...

Danny Cohen is the creator of wild dreams. His music video’s have seen King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard crawl inside a giant custom built vulture, his photography has beckoned Mac DeMarco into a bathful of cigarettes, and his video for Kirin J Callinan, with a screaming Jimmy Barnes over the hills, has clocked more than sixty two million views. The Melbourne based photographer and filmmaker has...

You might know Jack Steadman as frontman for British indie band, Bombay Bicycle Club. But for the past few years he’s stepped out as a solo artist, going under the moniker of Mr Jukes. It’s a project that’s allowed him to go beyond the indie realm and produce music that’s full of classic soul, funk, and hip-hop. And his latest album, features new young MC Barney Artist. On the day they released “T...

You know when someone comes along, and everyone who meets them falls under their spell? Tony Armstrong is that someone. The freshly minted sports presenter for ABC News Breakfast has been making waves for the past couple of years, commentating the footy on Triple M and the National Indigenous Radio Service, and making bad news more palatable, on The Weekly. But before all of this, Tony was in the...

Stephen Page is a force of nature. As artistic director for Bangarra Dance Theatre, he’s told the stories of Indigenous Australia through movement, for more than thirty years. Bangarra began in the late 80’s, but it was Stephen’s appointment as the first Aboriginal artistic director that shaped what it has become today. And the story of Bangarra is not only one of dance, but of brothers. Stephen c...

Rise Against have been at the forefront of socially conscious punk for the last 20 years. On the release of their 9th album, I thought it was a perfect time to get lead singer Tim McIlrath back on the radio, to Take 5. He’s one of the most articulate musicians I know, and our conversations in the past have always been rich ones. Rise Against’s new album is about the failure of the American dream,...

Sleater-Kinney have always been shapeshifters. Within that guitar forward, angular, and soaring indie rock sound they have always experimented and tried something new. When I listen to Sleater-Kinney’s songs, I feel on edge, and I like that feeling. As with their other nine records, their newest album shifts again, and so does the band. SK have returned to their foundations of Corin Tucker and Car...