I was at a gig last week, and was really intrigued by the opening act, Glasshouse Keepers, very much enjoying their complex rock sound with female lead vocals, so when I realised they had released a four-track EP earlier this year I knew I had to check it out. The...

I had to smile when I saw this single, as while melodic hardcore outfit Amanaki is new to me, on this release they have a guest in the form of Luke Manson, who I have seen in both Antagonist AD and Xile in recent weeks. Punchy, fast, and hard-hitting, Leech has an...

Last month a gig I was planning to attend fell through, so I looked around and ended up going to Wine Cellar, where the headline band that night was a group from Christchurch I had not previously come across, Volts. Their combination of melodic classic rock with...

In recent years I have been thoroughly enjoying the works of big band leader and arranger Ed Palermo as he has taken songs and turned them into jazz classics. The person getting the treatment this time is none other than Edgar Winter, an artist I have consistently...

It is safe to say that I was not a fan of Ghost Bath’s last album, 2017’s ‘Starmourner’, and I said that by far the best thing about it was the artwork! The band were still hiding their identities at the time (at one point everyone was convinced they were Chinese),...

Jeff Scott Soto has long been one of my favourite singers, and here we have an interesting concept as this album is a retrospective of sorts, as it contains re-recordings of favourite songs from throughout his career, but he has brought onboard other singers to treat...

It is not unusual for bands to go through line-up changes, but there is no doubt that what has happened with Massacre is a little unusual in that no-one in this line-up played on the last album, while vocalist Kam Lee (Mantas, Bone Gnawer) and bassist Mike Borders...

I am currently reading Richard Thompson’s excellent memoirs ‘Beeswing’, and in that he talks about how they had to let Iain Matthews go from Fairport Convention as he wanted to follow a different musical path, which directly led to Matthews forming Southern Comfort....

Last weekend I was at Whammy Bar in Auckland to see the album release show for Xile’s ‘I Am Your God’. Thanks to a certain pandemic this album almost slipped out with people not realising, as it was released in May 2020 back when everyone in NZ was in lockdown. The...

This is a somewhat unusual approach to an album, as multi-instrumentalist Ashley Davies has composed 10 instrumental tracks which fit in with the 10 Lasseter series of paintings by his uncle Len. Harold Lasseter was an Australian gold prospector who claimed in 1929 to...

This album is the third from Delay Tactics, with the line-up of Walter Whitney (keyboards, synths), Carl Weingarten (electric and slide guitars) and David Udell (acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards) who all played on ‘Any Questions?’ here being joined by fretless...

Peavy Wagner (vocals, bass) and his band of merry men are back with a special EP release for fans to celebrate their co-headlining tour with Brainstorm that is taking place over the next few months. There are few bands who have been so incredibly consistent with their...

It is not often that I am asked to review reggae, as it is an area which is very much a strange land to me, so I am coming at this as a straightforward listener as opposed to having any knowledge in the genre. This EP is a collection of three previously released...

Alt rockers Old Salts hail from the shores of Bream Bay, Northland, and features John Buckle (lead vocals, guitar) Scott Brown (lead guitar, BV) Marcus Jones (bass, BV), and Lucas Hargreaves (drums, BV). This four-track EP contains three previously released singles...

Just the opening few bars of their new single lets the listener know that Dead Favours are back, and yet again they mean business. Charlie sets up an intricate backbeat, Kyle and Jared have their guitars in sync, and at the heart of it all is a filthy bassline with...

Here we have the latest single from Auckland trio Imposter Syndrome, which is based strongly on a riffed acoustic guitar (the sound of which is superb, congrats whoever engineered this), with vocals over the top. Due to its nature this has plenty of space within the...

I’ve always had a soft spot for punk, ever since it exploded in the UK and my dad told me he would kick me out if he ever found any of that music in my collection. I was just 14 when the Pistols were due to play in the next town over (they were banned instead), and it...

These guys are new to me, and when I checked them out, I realised they are from Dunedin which is why I have not come across them yet on the Auckland circuit, but I do hope they can make it up here at some point as these three songs are a nice slice of rock, and they...