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lutruwita/Tasmania’s Party in the Paddock Festival announces stunning line up for 2025 including Empire of the Sun, Aurora, A .Swaye and the Ghosts and Amyl and the Sniffers – Backseat Mafia
From humble origins of a few-hundred-people-party, local bands and a hay bale stage, to evolving into Tasmania’s largest multi-day camping festival – Party In The Paddock (PITP) has just revealed its line-up for 2025. Taking place at Quercus Park on tilapangka/Liffey River, in lutruwita/Tasmania, on Palawa/Tasmanian Aboriginal country, the festival will run from 6-9 February 2025. Given the many documented challenges facing the music industry at the moment, this promises to be something quite spectacular. The stunning full line up (with one UK special secret headliner) includes: Amyl & The Sniffers, Angie McMahon, Role Model (USA), Still Woozy (USA), ‘Secret Act’ (UK), The Rubens, Thelma Plum, King Stingray, Slowly Slowly,…
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South London’s Lex Vervain shows us his ‘Favourite Song’ in a sparkling debut. – Backseat Mafia
We’ve met Lex Vervain before: he is in fact the South East London, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Alex Parry who last visited us in the form of LXP (see my review of the debut EP here). Parry however does not confine himself to a single musical lane. Lex Vervain is a parallel project that explores a more traditional indie path (influenced by artists such as Elliott Smith, Bedouine and Alex G) and his debut single under this moniker is the jingle jangle sparkle of ‘Favorite Song’. Ringing out on a pattering bed of percussion, the guitars shimmer under Parry’s velvet yearning vocals. Parry’s production skills are on show as many layers…
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Is PJ Harvey Heading Downunder? – Backseat Mafia
Get ready, Australia. PJ Harvey, the woman who has consistently rewritten the script on what it means to be an artist, just dropped a quiet bombshell on her Instagram. A simple post, cryptic yet thrilling—inviting fans to sign up to a mailing list ahead of an announcement that’s got us all on edge. No frills, no excess, just a call to be ready. You can practically hear the ripple of excitement across the country. If you know, you know. Something big is coming, and like always, PJ’s setting the stage her way. PJ Harvey is a sonic shapeshifter who has spent decades defying expectation and dismantling boundaries. From the jagged…
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An energetic and explosive jazz fusion calling card. – Backseat Mafia
Given that their name links back to their student beginnings during lockdown in a bedroom-come-practice space full of houseplants, Plantfood’s music is not what you’d describe as pastoral. This tight collective that formed in Leeds around 2020 seem intent to bust into the UK nu-jazz arena and beyond with their energetic fusion of punk jazz, rap and dance sensibilities. Their first major calling card after a flurry of singles, the album ‘Carnivores’ has just hit the shelves and in line with the quizzical title (given the band name) it’s got plenty of bite. Opener Eclipse is a widescreen ride, with the twin sax dynamism of Joe van der Meulen and…
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SXSW Sydney 2024 Launches with Global Talent and Energy – Backseat Mafia
SXSW Sydney cracked open its doors today, unleashing over a thousand events, panels, and experiences, with creatives and innovators flooding in from more than 40 countries. Sydney is staking its claim as the Asia-Pacific’s epicentre for global networking, collaboration, and creativity, as the city pulses with energy. The conference is housed across three core venues: ICC Sydney, Novotel Darling Square, and UTS Building 8—a tight triangle of thought leadership and artistic vision. Strolling through Sydney’s ICC, you’re immediately swept into a buzzing ecosystem of creativity. There’s a pulse here, a quiet urgency in the air. A cluster of dancers huddle in front of a towering mirror, their reflections sharp as…
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Jerry Cantrell Shares One Final Sneak Peek Of Forthcoming Album ‘I Want Blood’ – Backseat Mafia
Jerry Cantrell’s highly-anticipated new album, ‘I Want Blood,’ arrives next Friday, with one final sneak peek with the release of the album’s title track. “There’s a confidence to this album,” Cantrell explains. “I think it’s some of my best writing and playing and certainly some of my best singing. There are large chunks of this record where I felt like my face was pressed to the ceiling of my abilities, operating at the top of my capacity.” The four-minute-plus track opens with a menacing bass line from Duff McKagan, accompanied by Mike Bordin’s building drumbeat, followed by Cantrell’s ominous first words… “I Want Blood.” The song was co-produced, as the album was, by Cantrell…
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Kaeto – Intro – Backseat Mafia
Kaeto’s music is the culmination of a period of sonic self-discovery for the Scottish-born, London-based artist. It was back in 2019 that Kaeto first entered the studio with outside producers and began building a sound that would be all her own, but the route she’s taken since is a mark of her maverick and inventive approach to music. Now it’s 2024, and her debut mixtape, ‘Intro’, is out for the world to hear. Written and produced by herself and Mathias Wang (aka Junkmail). Many of the songs were written while the pair were in Seville, which Kaeto describes as “such an inspiring place to work and one of my favourite places…
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a cornucopia of delights. – Backseat Mafia
With the welcome regularity and relief of a southerly buster after a stinking hot Sydney day, the esteemed The Nature Strip are back with another album packed full of pop goodness, delivered with their usual wry sense of humour and an uplifting lilt that’s as infectious as the crowd in a mosh pit these days. Unbelievably this is only their fourth album (they feel like they’ve been part of the sonic furniture for a lot more than that) but it has taken a long seven years since their last release. ‘Domesticated Beast’ might well refer to their ability to wrestle the expansive wilds of the pop canon into 12 bite-sized…
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Rory Gallagher Celebration starting Joe Bonamassa – Due to popular demand, third show added on July 3rd, 2025 – Backseat Mafia
Presented by Aiken Promotions in association with Donal & Daniel Gallagher, critically acclaimed and globally celebrated blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa and band will play a third night Live at the Marquee Cork as a special celebration of the legendary Rory Gallagher. The first two dates, 1st & 2nd July 2025 are now sold out. Tickets for this third date on July 3rd will go on sale Thursday 17th October at 10am. Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster.ie and Aikenpromotions.com. Described by Guitar World magazine as, “Arguably the world’s biggest blues guitarist,” Joe Bonamassa opened for the great BB King when he was just 12 years old. An acclaimed virtuoso, Joe Bonamassa has sold over 10 million records, earned 27 #1 Billboard Blues albums. What’s more,…
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HotKid – Downtown – Backseat Mafia
HotKid is the creative vision of Canadian producer, songwriter, and guitarist Shiloh Harrison. Along with Harrison, the EP features Jesse Bellon on guitar, Andrew DeVillers on bass, and Mike McKeever on drums. The full-band tracks were recorded live off the floor at the National Music Centre’s Studio Bell in Calgary. This new EP has a gorgeous, intimate feel. The title track, ‘Downtown,’ sounds so fresh, recorded live. Shiloh Harrison’s effortless vocals sound, at first, at odds with the loose distortion of the guitars, yet it all just works—it always has for Hotkid. It’s like a messy sonic whirlwind, with McKeever keeping things grounded with his bass drum at the centre,…
