Arun Kendall, Author at Backseat Mafia

Meet: We chat with Johnny Hunter and find out about wasted youth, putting on a show and the soundtrack of their lives. Plus tour news.

Last month I was highly impressed by the debut EP ‘Early Trauma’ from Sydney band Johnny Hunter – it’s a new new wave for our times. So impressed was I…

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Meet: We have a chat with Babybird’s Stephen Jones about that hit single, his creative process and the music industry. Plus we review his new album.

While Babybird will always be associated with the global hit ‘You’re Gorgeous‘, the prodigious talent behind the name, Stephen Jones, has never ceased creating sublime indie pop over the course…

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Track: Bitter Defeat – The Light That Shines

Bitter Defeat hails from Kirikiriroa/Hamilton in the North Island of New Zealand and their debut single ‘The Light That Shines’ is an effervescent slice of classic New Zealand indie pop…

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Album Review: St. Ove – County Show

St Ove hail from Aylesbury and the surrounding villages, Wendover and Quainton in England and yet a gentle, jangling air of Athens , Georgia can be detected in their sound. ‘County…

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Track: EWAH and the Vision of Paradise – Vultures

EWAH and the Vision of Paradise have the dubious honour of being the last band to be reviewed live on Backseat Mafia before the global lockdown, so it’s nice to…

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Track: Thrillhouse – 2045 plus top ten favourite songs

Brighton’s brightest, Thrillhouse have released another brilliant single ‘2045’ to follow their previously reviewed singles ‘Wild Child’, ‘Ready When You Are’ and ‘Lesser’. Thrillhouse have developed quite a unique sound…

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Meet: We chat with Steve Kilbey from The Church about celebrating 40 years, acting ‘European’, the fruits of isolation and we review his new solo album

If there’s one thing that is patently obvious over the forty years of Steve Kilbey‘s career, he is the maestro of melody and mysticism. Whether fronting The Church, through his…

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Track: The Electorate – Decades in a Day

The Electorate have individually quite a pedigree and yet little history. The band played together in their twenties without recording, and individual members have played with the legendary Peter Milton…

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Track: Doves – Cathedrals of the Mind

In my recent interview with Jez Williams from Doves and review of the forthcoming Doves’ album, ‘The Universal Want’, I described the album as immersive. There is no greater example…

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Meet: We chat with Jez Williams from Doves about Northern Soul, getting the band back together and the new album, plus we review ‘The Universal Want’

The new album from Doves, ‘The Universal Want’ is a blistering rebirth from the Mancunian band. It’s much more than a return to form – their previous albums were uniformly…

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