It's Up To Me- the latest single from Melbournites The Colour Code - makes me seriously happy; I've been dancing away to it all afternoon. The grungey, rock-esque bass line doesn't let you down (I was ready for the repeat button before the song had even finished) and can I just take a moment in appreciation of those vocals? Thanks to these talented guys, I'm already excited for the next track!
I can't really tell you why, but Reuben Koops' Slate EP makes me think of weddings. Maybe it's the slow, folky ballads or the simple guitar playing, I'm not really sure. But I do know that this offering is oozing with talent, class and some seriously breathtaking love songs. Just seriously, listen to it. Koops won't disappoint - and I am not just saying that because he's Tasmanian. Slate might just be the sweetest EP I've heard this year.
Oh my, oh my. Morgan Bain you are insane! (Okay, sorry I just couldn't help myself..) I am so unbelievably lucky to get to talk about people like this guy. I mean seriously, the talent that Bain shows on his What You Believe EP is just stealing all my words - and that's not something I really have to worry about very often. The rocky feel is amazing no matter what, but I could love it purely for the nostalgia it brings me. Growing up a total daddy's girl, I spent a lot of time listening to Aussie rock and this just brings all of that back. Kudos.
Shelley Segal's Strange FeelingEP is like the older sister I've needed my whole life. Tackling everything in an upfront, straight-to-the-point kind of way, I was starting to wonder if Shelley had been perusing my own thoughts. The music itself is so unique and easy to listen to. I don't know exactly how to explain the sound - you should just listen to it maybe?? - but just trust me when I say it's all good!
I mean at first I was confused because my iTunes thinks I'm listening to Country & Western, but we all make mistakes. The Hounds EP, whatever it may be mislabeled as, is definitely not a mistake. It's deliberately amazing (I mean who sets out to make bad music..?) and I've been a fan of these guys since I first listened to them. Check it out.
After their last stop here at Love 'Em - in which they shared a hilarious Day in the Life- these four musos from the self-described "best city in the world" have been busily working on their follow-up single It's Up To Me and working on a potential music video.
But more importantly they've bought a Nutri-ninja. Which I had to google to find out what it actually was, but I kind of want one now.So with that being said, welcome back The Colour Code.
Hey, it's...Mike S. from The Colour Code.
We'd describe ourselves as...four happy-go-lucky guys from the best city in the world, just trying to make a splash in the enormous ocean that is the Melbourne music scene.
Our music is usually...big, full and crammed with hooks. Although sometimes we like to bring it down to flex our slow-jam muscle.
We wouldn't mind being compared to...whoever/whatever: from The Killers to Frank Ocean, or from Death Cab For Cutie to Hall & Oates. All of which we have actually been compared to!
Our new single is called It's Up To Me because...I think people forget how much influence they have on themselves, their partners, and their peers. Everyone. People give you a lot, and as a member
It's the perfect follow up to Alibi because...it's more accessible. We've shown this song to many people of all ages and demographics. The beat is killer, the hook is contagious but not in a 'throwaway pop' sense, and it makes people at our live shows dance.
It's mainly about...the internal struggle between your selfless and selfish side.
Lyrically we're inspired by...the likes of Brandon Flowers, Andre 3000, Chris Cornell and John Mayer, as well as the lyrics on the latest Father John Misty record. Intense!
And musically...I can honestly say everything. Our drummer Dave has a hardcore background, our bassist Scott is [into] House, Ryan on guitar grew up listening to Jeff Buckley and I love a whole lot of R'n'B and Hip Hop.
We became a band when...we road tripped to Sydney. We spent 20 hours in a car together to play one show. We learnt a lot about each others' awkward sexual encounters, got super inebriated together, and played an amazing set to a venue full of strangers somewhere in-between.
Since then, we've...been writing some absolute gold and polishing our live set. Also, I bought a Nutri-ninja. It's fantastic!
We're currently working on...a potential music video and a live YouTube session.
By the end of the year, we're hoping that...we have an official EP released with our best music to date!
At a The Colour Code gig, you can expect...something you've never heard or seen at a live show before. Don't expect hipster beards, ironic trendiness or high-strapped Telecasters.
We'd love to headline... a tour. We'd love to have the fan base to warrant one. And we'd love to play with some killer Aussie bands that are down to earth and create good honest music.
The most thing about music is...remembering why you started it in the first place. Remembering that initial spark that gave you goose bumps and trying to keep that feeling alive.
The most important thing about our music is...that it's fresh, unique and that it's all ours!
One last note...give our single It's Up To Me a spin. It's just the tip of the iceberg...
You know how some people just get it? They might be young but they're doing what they want to do and they're totally killing it already. Well, let me introduce you to twenty-year-old Morgan Bain. He's killing it in all the right ways. After taking home Song of the Year in the WAM contest, Bain is making waves and has some seriously exciting things coming for the rest of they year. And because what's a new artist without a quick stop by at Love 'Em?! So don't be shy, say hey to Morgan.
It's seriously hard to believe by listening to your music that you're only twenty, how long have you been working on song writing?
I wrote my first song when I was 10 years old. It was about a homeless man that I saw one day and I had strong feelings about seeing him in that situation, but I wanted to know what other people thought so I wrote a tune about it. I've been writing ever since!
So for those who mightn't know, what is WAM? What does your win mean?
WAM stands for West Australian Music Industry and winning an award in their Song of the Year competition feels great because you're getting recognition from your peers in the Industry and it reassures you that you're on the track. Now you're heading off on a national tour, what should we expect if we head along to a show?
The new single Why Don't You Stay is an alternative moody soul sound but generally it will be a pretty upbeat show with some fun jams in there too! I'll also be doing some tunes from my current EP What You Believe and also my previous EP.
Is there any show that you're particularly excited to be playing?
Hard to pick one. I'm excited for all of it really. I'm keen to play Adelaide because I've never been there and I'm interested to see how the shows in Melbourne go. I'm also looking forward to playing in Hobart with my band for the first time and Launceston too. Tassie is one of my favourite places!
How did you decide on Why Don't You Stay as your newest single?
I think Why Don't You Stay perfectly explains where I'm at in my journey of music, so to speak. It's different from what I've written before and I knew as soon as I'd written it that it would be the new single.
Can you share how this song came about - what's the story behind it?
It's a song I wrote about giving your everything to someone and the anxiety you experience because of that. You don't want those anxieties to get in the way or take over how you feel in your relationship, so you are constantly fighting for it...
When did you realise that music was something you could do as a job?
I guess when I was about 15 and you have to focus on the whole career thing and I never thought of doing anything else but music. I tried to think of other things that might interest me but I just wasn't able to come up with anything. Hahaha What happened from there? What've you been doing to get to where you are now?
[I've] just been working constantly writing songs, playing shows, recording and trying to get my music out to as many people as I can. I've entered song writing competitions along the way too, which has given me some success and I've been lucky enough to support some really amazing artists.
What's the rest of 2015 got in store for you?
The National Tour runs from April 17 to May 17 from Perth to Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmania and then as soon as I get back I've got an overseas invitation to a huge Conference/Festival (that I can't announce yet) and then loads of WA shows, as well as more recording, etc. It's going to be a busy year!
Buy What You Believe EP: iTunes || Visit Morgan's website
The last time Forest Falls stopped by Love 'Em they'd just finished up their Australian East Coast tour to celebrate Heavy Hearted Girl. Now, they're back. With new music, upcoming tours and all the good things, really. And despite their busy schedule they've kindly dropped by for another chat.
It's so lovely to feature you guys on Love 'Em again! How's it been since the release of Heavy Hearted Girl?
Well,it's lovely to be feature in Love 'Em again, so big ups to you guys! We've been busy little bees since our East Coast Australian tour in late 2014for [our] previous single, Heavy Hearted Girl. Having recorded and finalised our newest record, the Hounds EP, with folk legend Wayne Connolly, we concluded 2014 and entered 2015 supporting Canadian powerhouse band, The Paper Lions, playing a slot on the New Music Stage at St Kilda Fest, selling out Ding Dong Lounge supporting Woodlock, and sharing the stage with Melbourne folksters HUSKY. Somewhere in between all of this we found time to do a Tram Session, which was the most enjoyable thing ever!
I'm loving your new single Hounds, what's the story? Hounds is essentially a script, or a dialogue, between a couple 'on the rocks' - it takes a step back and hears both sides. I think song writing can be one-sided a lot of the time, we wanted to put a different spin on a pretty classic idea. Musically, it's quite soulful. Hallet's bass line gives it a wicked groove - again we're just mixing it up, trying to create new sounds and grow, but still keep what we love.
The music video is so gorgeous; did you have much to do with the creative process? What's your role in the clip?
We did get pretty involved. There was a lot of to and fro with developing storyline and certain scenes making the final cut. We didn't want the clip to centre on the band so Jon ended up playing this omnipresent cameo type role. As the lyrics suggest, Jon is just watching a couple go through their relationship and even though he has the benefit of being objective and outside the relationship, it's still quite quite quite convoluted and messy - it isn't black and white. We're super stoked with it.
I hear you also have a new EP coming out in May. What can we expect?
More lush and polished sounds, but never over-produced. 'Our sound' is really coming to the fore in the new record. Our East Coast tour last year allowed us the opportunity to work really hard on nutting out some more beautiful and complex harmonies, so we've been jumping out of our shell - so to speak - and have been working our instrumentation around that. The songs now seem greater than the sum of their parts, which is an amazing feeling, but we've still put a lot of focus on making our live show an experience for our audience. What was it like working with an ARIA winning producer? Do you feel any pressure working with someone with those credentials?
This was nothing short of a pivotal point for the band. You're right, Wayne has some brilliant credentials. But ultimately, he decided to record us. And that validation meant a huge amount to us as a band. Of course he has a reputation to live up to, and to think he must have seen something in us that he liked is a big push forward. Once Wayne said yes to us, we knew we were on to a good thing. It's one thing to believe wholeheartedly in what you're doing, but it's another to have eternal recognition for what you pour your heart and soul int. To share that with others is the best feeling in the world.
You guys have some pretty exciting shows coming u; will this be featuring your new EP?
Yep! We've been working the live set pretty hard. We have a lighting and sound team behind us now who know our sound - we pretty much regard them as the seventh and eight members of the band - which really helps with our confidence getting the new work up on stage. It's an amazing set, one that we feel really proud of, and the new material is just the icing on the cake!
How are you feeling about performing these songs live?
Last time we toured we didn't have Jamie (our drummer). We did it acoustically, allowing us to focus on the core of the songwriting and harmonies. This time around we have him back and with that comes a bucket load of energy; for both us onstage, and our audience! It's such a thrill to be on stage, all six people at once. It's quite the spectacle!
I love the harmonies in Forest Falls, how are these to perform live?
We feel vocals are a massive part of our performance, Our harmonies are part of our musical identity. This is reflected in rehearsals, so most weeks we'll have an acoustic vocal session and a live production session. We film our performances, we sing individually, we critique each other and Morgan McWaters (our sound engineer) really helps us out by working with us to shape our sounds both onstage and in the house so that they work perfectly live. We're always incorporating different vocal techniques into our sounds both onstage and in the house so they work perfectly live. We're always incorporating different vocal techniques into our rehearsals so we can carry off live the effect as we want it. It's a massive buzz singing roaring five-part harmonies onstage with your best buds!
Thanks so much for stopping by again!
It's totally our pleasure! Might we just mention that if readers want to hear more about our band, previous releases, upcoming tours, or even the pre-order the new Hounds EP, they can head straight to our website which has all the info. Thanks!
It wasn't the sort of album that I would put on quietly. I tried, but this is the sort of music that needs to be loud. Earphones blaring, when you can't hear anything else. Just the music. Just the music. Just the music. The richness and simplicity was definitely better at volume. I am a great lover of string instruments, especially the cello, so for me hearing this on more contemporary music was a massive plus. This is a band that knows music, that understands what will work, which areas to push and which to leave as 'normal'.
I often think how fortunate I am to listen to so much great music. And Fall Electric have only added to my list. Interior impressed me immensely.
I'm so thrilled to welcome Sarah Bannan - the author of Weightless - to Love 'Em for the finale of her blog tour. If you want to become more familiar with the book first, read my review HERE!
And make sure to enter the giveaway at the end!
5 Truths and a Lie about Me
In Adamsville, Alabama, rumour is gospel. It's the gospel truth.
At Adams High, the girls spread the word like they're apostles on a holy mission, spreading gossip, half-remembered memories, overheard conversations, intercepted texts.
In WEIGHTLESS, the narrators spend their days and nights talking. Texting. Tweeting. Messaging. Relaying truths and lies and a million things in between. They've known Brooke Moore and Gemma Davies since they were in diapers, have pined for Andrew Wright and Shane Duggan from the time they could put two words together. And they know lots about every one of them - only it's hard to tell how much they've gotten right. Even they have trouble remembering sometimes.
When Carolyn Lessing comes to Adamsville, Alabama, she's a blank slate. She's beautiful, sophisticated, stylish. She has money and intelligence and talent. She's the fastest swimmer on the team. But what her peers know about her - and what we know about her - is limited. Fuzzy. As sketchy as can be. Our picture of her is pieced together from a handful of conversations. A half dozen overheard encounters. A few stray texts. An incomplete Facebook profile.
As the year progresses, everybody - the narrators, the cheerleaders, the football players, the parents, the teachers, the principal, the Reverend - tries to cobble together a version of this girl. The new girl. Carolyn Lessing.
And it's not clear if they even really want to know the truth - or if they'd rather believe some truths and not others, swallow some lies and then go on and invent some more. The line between truth and fiction is hard to find. And they tell so many lies, to one another and themselves, it gets hard to keep track.
Do you remember that game you used to play at slumber parties? 5 Truths and a Lie? It was never an easy, and in Adamsville, it'd be impossible. But I thought we could try it out on me. To see how good a liar I am. Or not.
So...here we go...five truths and a lie...
I still sleep with a security blanket (I am 36 years of age)
I've been vegetarian since my 16th birthday
I'm allergic to cats and nuts
I can't ride a bike
When I was seven, I told my first grade teacher my biggest fear was...FAILURE
I have lived in Dublin, Ireland longer than I have lived anywhere else
Did you keep up? How good of a detective are you? Because I can now reveal that Sarah's lie is...Number 2! She's not a vegetarian. Did she trick you? Can I fool you too?
What am I lying about?
I am an introvert but I love meeting new people
I love my cat more than most people
Before I started my blog, I had to ask my brother's help with anything computer related
I can play the saxophone, clarinet and mallet percussion
I'm terrified of the ocean
I don't like shaking people's hands. At all. Ever.
Thanks to Sarah Bannan and Bloomsbury Australia for having me on the blog tour!
I'm not going to lie, one of the reasons I was so excited to chat to Héloise was that she is from Tasmania, too!Although she's now moved to a city filled with more 24 hour pizza restaurants than a girl can count (or at least that's what I'm told), this folk songstress proudly hails from my own home state of Tasmania.
With the palest skin and a seriously angelic voice, this is someone to be listening to. Folk is a genre that I drift in and out of, but when it's right, it is just so delicious that I've got to stay. And, man, does Héloise get it right.
Fresh off the back of her major win in Melbourne Music Bank 2014, Héloise is ready to debut her new single This Is Home at The Workers Club Melbourne at the end of April. But before she takes to the stage, Héloise has shared a little bit about herself with Love 'Em!
Hey, I'm ... Héloise!
You'd notice me because ... I am very pale and very ginger.
I'm a musician because ... I can't escape the urge to create.
I sound kind of similar to ... [I'm] not really sure.. I hope I sound like me!
I listen to ... Jack White, Tom Waits, The Delta Riggs, Butch Walker, Cory Chisel, Beck, Ryan Adams, [and] Nikki Lane.
I am most inspired by ... Tom Waits.
I'm from ... that beautiful little island down South.. Tasmania!
I left because ... I was itching to start my career on the mainland.
Now I live ... in Melbourne!
It's different to my home because ... it's bustling with people, cars, noise and so many 24hour pizza delivery places.
So far 2015 has ... brought me wonderful opportunities, new friends and exciting prospects.
At my shows you can expect ... to dance, dream, laugh and travel to faraway places.
Someday I want to headline ... Byron Bay Bluesfest .. (In my dreams!!)
I hope my music makes you ... feel as if you've been transported somewhere someplace else.
I most like singing when ... I'm with my wonderful band.. They know my songs better than I do!
The most important thing about music is ... to just keep doing it.
I wouldn't mind being mistaken for ... Ron Weasley?
I'm really grateful that ... there are so many 24hour pizza places in Melbourne.
My goal for the rest of 2015 is ... to release our second EP, tour Australia and write more songs!
It's Up To Me - the latest single from Melbournites The Colour Code - makes me seriously happy; I've been dancing away to it all afternoon. The grungey, rock-esque bass line doesn't let you down (I was ready for the repeat button before the song had even finished) and can I just take a moment in appreciation of those vocals? Thanks to these talented guys, I'm already excited for the next track!
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