WRITING CHALLENGE: Create A Supergroup! — The supergroup phenomenon A supergroup is generally considered to be a group or band that is comprised of well known musicians, either solo artists or members of others bands, that come together, typically under a new name, to make and perform music. Over the decades, there have always been plenty of collaborations in…

The memory of an incident I buried for years — I have never really liked country music. I don’t mind hearing some quality country songs every now and then, but the genre is certainly not one I delve into regularly. My friend, Terry Barr, enjoys country music as much as every other genre. When he writes about it, I have…

Please join us on 19 March to discuss an extraordinary album — I have participated in five or six of The Riff’s monthly album discussions and thoroughly enjoyed the experience each time. Great people talking about great music. It is a special thing to look forward to every month. It has been so much fun to meet people that I’ve come to…

Featuring the Battle of the Bands mystery contestant — Many moons ago (and I mean MANY!), I studied at a small university campus in eastern Melbourne. Having only around 2,000 students, we had a vibrant community on the quaint campus, which was tucked between an enormous university and a light industrial area. During my time there, I enjoyed two…

How many of these do you know? — In recent times, I have come across a few pieces of writing (on Medium and elsewhere) discussing the finer points of certain Australianisms, or Aussie slang. Those words, terms, and phrases used by Australians, that often mean very little to non-Australians. …

The good, the bad, and the ugly — I recently picked up on this writing challenge and it sent me off down a few rabbit holes! The challenge is simple: All you have to do is to write down five different phrases that you like to hear and also five different phrases that you don’t like to hear. …

My Rate-A-Record contribution. — The Rate-A-Record challenge, published by Plethora of Pop, has been kicking around for six months or so. The peerless Terry Barr developed the concept, basing his original challenge on the American Bandstand segment ‘Rate-A-Record’. The idea in the show was quite straightforward — a group of teens listened to two…

20 of my favourite cover songs — Thanks so much to Pierce McIntyre for his great piece on cover songs. An inspiration and a most excellent writing prompt. He got into the groove again thanks to Kevin Alexander and Francis B. Paul Combs threw in a baker’s dozen, and Steve Goldberg gave us 10 from 2022 alone. …

Midnight Oil’s breakthrough album, 40 years on. — I couldn’t let the year go by without acknowledging one of my favourite records. December 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Midnight Oil’s fourth album, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Occasionally considered a somewhat clumsy title, the album is often referred to…