The Brag

“The concept of the band came before the band itself,” singer Nick Finch says. I’ve asked whether his infamous horror/country/chain-gang collective Graveyard Train have become more concept-focused than intended. “The idea was to have a country-horror band with a whole bunch of guys making a whole bunch of noise on stage and singing songs about death and stuff. It has really developed a lot since then; we were a lot more country in the early days, but we are not really now.” The band are getting set to launch their new album Hollows, a dark and rollicking eleven tracks of minor chords and morbid lyrics. “I wonder if fans are going to like this,” he says. “It’s a long way from where it started.”

Posted: June 7th, 2012 under Brag 465 (June 4), Feature Music, Music, Music - Interview.
Tags: Brag, Feature, Graveyard Train, Hollow, interview, Krissi Weiss, Music, The Metro Theatre

Hayley Mary, the singer and the face of Sydney’s The Jezabels, has just arrived in Seattle and is settling in for a rare day off when we talk. At just 25 years of age, she is weary from travel and repetitive interviews but still incredibly warm, and exhibits a confusion over why anyone would be interested in her that’s both self-effacing and charming. She is shocked that she is morphing, slowly, into a bona fide rock star; the personification of a band that began at the University of Sydney as a four-part democracy of simple music making.

Posted: June 7th, 2012 under Brag 465 (June 4), Feature Music, Music, Music - Interview, New.
Tags: Australian Tour, Feature, Hayley Mary, Hordern Pavilion, interview, Jezabels, Krissi Weiss, Lights, New, The Jezabels

Here is a band that knows no name – and as frustrating as that may be for music journalists and fans alike, they’ve got a damn good reason. “I want whatever happens with this group to be representative of it,” guitarist James Manson says. “There’s a whole bunch of really terrible bands out there that have great names, and a lot of people get sucked in by that. We’ll stand on our own, with our music.”

Posted: June 6th, 2012 under Brag 465 (June 4), Feature Music, Music, Music - Interview.
Tags: Benjamin Cooper, Blues, EP, Feature, Group, interview, OAF, Oxford Art Factory, The Blue Tape

At the age of 21, Elizabeth Rose has already been jilted by Baz Luhrmann. “His office contacted me through triple j,” she says. “He wanted me to do a DJ set at his private house party for The Great Gatsby – but I couldn’t do it! Then they wanted me to write music for the film, in the same style as my song ‘Throw Me To The Stars’, so I got to go on the set. They didn’t pursue the song, but I turned up and saw them shoot a scene in the Gatsby house. It was so cool!”

Posted: June 5th, 2012 under Brag 465 (June 4), Feature Music, Music, Music - Interview, New.
Tags: Elizabeth Rose, Feature, interview, Laurence Rosier Staines, Music, New, Ready, The Standard

The only thing giving away Lanie Lane’s hangover today is the slight wilt to her quiff. Everything else is as it should be – the bright red lipstick, the gold hoop earrings, the enviable style and those wry, striking eyes – but before our interview has even started I’m digging out the Nurofen while her tour manager runs off for water.

Posted: May 23rd, 2012 under Brag 463 (May 21), Music, Music - Interview, New.
Tags: Feature, interview, Jack White, Lanie Lane, Metro Theatre, Music, Steph Harmon, The Brag, Tour