Vix 20 are Gary Mills and CJ, two music industry veterans who grew so disillusioned with the state of every element of the music industry that they threw their guitars out of the window and sulked for a few years. Now rejuvenated, though no less prickly about the Modern Age, they return, to quote the band themselves, “we’re hard rockers turned to the dark side of pop”.
As evidenced on their previous single, Digital Age, their passion for power-pop (don’t say ‘punk-pop’ to them, it suggests too much jumping around) and dexterity with words combines to become insanely catchy 3-minute thunderbolts.
The track Hashtag Change pushes the envelope even further with the glorious cut-up tones of Donald Trump delivering a love letter to his beloved Melania.
Usually, a band would flash their pedigree and tell you about all the incredible things members of Vix20 achieved during their years in music. Regale you with stories of rock n roll decadence, tours, and air miles…from Rick Wakeman on a beach in Tenerife to L A Reid in New York City, not to forget becoming Dutch Rock Heroes…but you probably wouldn’t believe them anyway.
And so it was 25 years after their first school band and after a period of time spent apart sheltering from the music industry, label politics and amoral men in suits, CJ and Mills quite accidentally started making music again…strictly for fun, right?
Sure, right up until Mills arranged the commercial release of ‘Digital Age’. This has made CJ very angry but Mills thinks it will be fine. Each cut on the Vix20 debut album draws from their eclectic influences.
After the surprising reach of Digital Age, The second single follows up where we left off punk leaning towards pop of Me Gwanshi and the tongue in cheek day in the life of the commander and Chief.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://www.vix20.com
https://www.instagram.com/vixtwenty
https://www.facebook.com/vixtwentymusic
https://twitter.com/Vixtwenty
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuPABFfRP8fWPKkp6mA9Kkw
https://open.spotify.com/artist/01fEKKUsAN1pp9jguVrTQG?si=0cMw1OI6R6mM2iO_42M6sw
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The Cure perform ‘Disintegration’ at the Sydney Opera House on May 30, 2019
The Cure’s fifth and final performance of Disintegration at Sydney Opera House on 30 May 2019.
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One Last Shot – Slitting My Throat On My Own
What happens when you mix over-the-top theatrics with hardcore? Certainly not something well-received in the militant Syracuse scene from whence horror-influenced screamo band One Last Shot hail. However, the perception of others is no longer a concern for this band who, after their singer Jeremy Romance’s brush with death in 2016, understand there is no time to waste trying to satisfy anyone’s vision for them but their own.
What exactly that vision entails comes from a lineage of hope inspired by artists like The Used and MCR, who are not only influential to OLS for their musical fearlessness and theatrics, but the hope and positivity they gave Romance as a young music fan.
“I want to do the same thing those bands did for me growing up,” he explains. “I want to be that escape and let kids know that dreams can come true.”
These days, One Last Shot have transcended the world where they never fit in, spitting in the faces of those who impede them and carving a path where they’re well on their way to carrying those heroes’ torches. They’ve even had the chance to complete the musical circle with some of them—Jeremy, having sung with the Used, and the band having been opened on Aiden’s 2015 farewell tour. They have also played alongside Creeper, Neck Deep, State Champs, and Beartooth among others, as well as made appearances on Warped Tour annually since 2014.
One Last Shot is:
Jeremy Romance – Vocals
Zak Phillips – Guitar
Angelo Zinkovitch – Guitar
Adam Vlassis – Bass
Ryan Sheldon – DrumsSOURCE: Official Bio
Featured image by Ron Bonk.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/onelastshot
https://twitter.com/onelastshot315
https://www.instagram.com/onelastshot315 -
The Silverbeets – Girlfriend
With a rich dark green sound interspersed with multi-colored stems, their non-formulaic style is distinct. Like their forthcoming 8-track full-length album, this single evokes the spirit of artists such as Can, They Might be Giants, and XTC.
Formed in 2014, The Silverbeets hail from Hobart, Tasmania – the small Australian island state at the bottom of the world. This relative isolation has led the band to craft an idiosyncratic sound that borrows from luminary rock acts like Pink Floyd, The Byrds, David Bowie, Radiohead, The Pixies, Queen, Fleet Foxes, Simon & Garfunkel, Nick Cave, and Neil Young, among others.
The Silverbeets consist of Farnz Cordeaux (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jamie Scott (lead guitar, vocals), Nigel Hope (bass), and Bill O’Brien (drums) but their recorded sound is also heavily influenced by their “5th member”, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Ernie Oppenheimer.
“This is a song about how the government, or people in power, once treated people with some common decency, like we mattered. However all semblance of caring seems to have completely gone by the wayside and all we have left is the greed of man, the greed of those in power who know how to use it against the 99% Viva la revolution!” says frontman Farnz Cordeaux.
“This is the band’s third multi-track release – we are starting to show who we are. By this, we mean that only now, looking back at all our releases, can people start to get a handle on what we are trying to do. We don’t sit in one style, we don’t just write one mood of music but instead are reaching to push ourselves to show a range of human emotions and incorporate different musical styles while doing so”.
The ‘Halcyon Days’ was recorded at Bad Radio Studios and Urban Fringe Compound between mid-2019 and mid-2020. All songs were mixed and mastered by Ernie O at Urban Fringe Compound.
In 2016, The Silverbeets debuted with their ‘Purple Stems’ EP, rated among the year’s best releases by the NBTMusicRadio. The band followed up with a ripper cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘We’ve Got a Groovy Thing Goin’ (2016) and their ‘Stay Tuned’ LP in 2018, an epic homage to the concept album (also rated the year’s 16th best album by NBTMusicRadio). In January 2020, they released ‘I’ve Got to Get Away (on an Hawaiian Holiday)’, a polemic tune on the lack of government leadership in handling the fires in Australia.
LINKS:
http://www.thesilverbeets.com
https://thesilverbeets.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheSilverbeets
https://www.instagram.com/thesilverbeets
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7WHM47mdXfW9kpTIRjI01w