Guides
Why Some Rock Bands Refuse to Play Their Greatest Hits LiveA quiet rebellion is happening on stages from Sydney's Hordern Pavilion to Melbourne's Forum, with nothing to do with pyrotechnics or encore rituals. Some of…Bonham's Drum Break That Echoed Across Music HistorySome sounds are so powerful that they escape their original context entirely. Six seconds of a drum solo, captured in an English country house in late 1970,…When The Slide Found Its Blues-Rock VoiceFew sounds in guitar music are as instantly recognisable as a metal or glass slide gliding across the strings. It can sound mournful, dangerous, celebratory or…Soundtracks for Late-Night Drives Through Australian National ParksThere's a particular silence you only find past midnight on a stretch of road cutting through the Australian bush. Crickets and wind replace city noise, and…The Rock Punchline That Turns Regret Into RevoltRock music has always understood that regret rarely arrives as a polite apology. It comes after the encore, when the crowd has gone home and the big promise…Why a 1972 rock album found its voice inside a motel roomThe story of how a legendary rock record came to life in rented rooms above a car park, with traffic noise bleeding through the walls, has become one of…The forgotten art of the rock double bass drum techniqueDrum kits have always been rock's engine room, but for a stretch in the late twentieth century, the roar of the double bass drum cut through the mix like a…Honking anthems: how car horns became rock's wildest instrumentRock has always raided the toolbox for new sounds. Distorted guitars, screaming vocals, pounding drums — and yes, the humble car horn. From the garage bands of…Rock songs that turn a bonfire into a night to rememberPicture a stretch of sand at Byron Bay, the sun dropping behind the lighthouse, an esky loaded with cold ones, and a pile of driftwood crackling into flame.…Mallee Signal Turn Nature Into Rock’s New Weather SystemMallee Signal’s latest album, Weather Station, sounds like it was recorded between a suburban rehearsal room and the edge of the bush. The Naarm-based quartet…