Humans of Music

Alexander 23’s path to this point has been anything but a straight line. He was studying mechanical engineering at university before he quit to pursue music full time with the band The Heydaze, which signed a deal with Island Records. When they split he decided to focus on songwriting and producing, but when he found that unfulfilling he returned to playing music and building his solo career. It’s all worked out well – not only is his solo career flying off the back of songs likes "IDK You Yet" and his debut album Aftershock, but he was also nominated for a GRAMMY for co-producing Olivia Rodrigo’s "good 4 u", all of which we talk about in this interview.

Dropkick Murphys' 11th studio album is called This Machine Still Kills Fascists. The record features a collection of Woody Guthrie’s unpublished lyrics set to music. The seeds of the project were sown some years ago when the band befriended Woody’s daughter, Nora. Her son was a fan of the Dropkick Murphys and saw in the band a group of kindred spirits who embodied Woody’s everyman working class ethic. We talk about that whole journey in this interview, as well as going deep into Ken’s life and career with the Dropkick Murphys, from fighting Nazis at punk shows to the DIY spirit that’s driven them from the day they formed in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1996.

There aren't many artists touring the world right now who can say they were once part of the Obama administration. Bartees Strange can, thanks to his time as the Deputy Press Secretary for the Federal Communications Commission. He also worked in the labour and climate movements, but before that he was an active member of the music scene in and around Oklahoma, where he was raised. He admits he strayed from music for a few years after he moved to DC to pursue politics, but playing and performing kept calling him back. Little by little he started to refocus his energies on his music career. In the years since he’s enjoyed a steady climb up the indie ladder, and he’s now two albums deep into his career, with his latest, Farm To Table, drawing on influences as diverse as country, pop, hip-hop and hardcore to make a sound that is uniquely his own. We talk about it all in this interview!

My guest for this 100th episode is bona fide musical legend Don Was. Don was a founding member of Was (Not Was), and he’s a GRAMMY-winning producer who’s worked with artists such as Bob Dylan, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and John Mayer, to name a few. He’s currently playing bass with Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir in Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros, and he’s also the president of one of the world’s most famous record labels, Blue Note Records. We talk about it all in this interview!

Marlon Williams' voice has been turning heads since he was a teen singing in the church choir – it was enough to convince Bradley Cooper to cast him in A Star Is Born, in which his character performed a beautiful version of Roy Orbison’s "Pretty Woman" alongside Brandi Carlile. He continues to act to this day, but it’s music for which Marlon is perhaps best known. He was raised in the small New Zealand town of Lyttelton, and cut his teeth in New Zealand before relocating to Australia, after which he toured the world on the back of his 2015 self-titled debut album and its follow up, Make Way For Love. Marlon now lives back in New Zealand, which is where he was when we caught up in late July. And while we talk about his entire life and career in this interview, we started by talking about his new album, My Boy…

When Orlando Higginbottom – AKA Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – releases his new album When The Lights Go on September 9, it will be 10 years since his previous LP, Trouble. Orlando wasn’t completely quiet over that period, having toured the world and released a series of EPs and singles. But after the success of Trouble he went through something of a personal and creative crisis as he struggled to figure out how to operate in the music industry, which was one of the things that contributed to the 10-year gap between albums. We talk about that whole journey in this interview, as well as Orlando’s upbringing in Oxford, his path into music, his memories of playing with Flume in Sydney while touring Trouble and, of course, the making of When The Lights Go.

In 2016, Moonchild Sanelly wrote down a list of goals she wanted to achieve in the next 10 years, and they included collaborating with Beyoncé, Diplo and Damon Albarn. She achieved those goals in half the time, singing on Gorillaz' 2020 album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, collaborating with Beyoncé on the song “My Power” from The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack, and singing with Diplo on DJ Raybel’s song “Whole Night”. Driven by an unshakable self belief, an image that turns heads, and a genre of music that she calls Future Ghetto Funk – which incorporates South African house, R&B, electro, pop, funk and rock – Moonchild Sanelly’s rise from the South African city of Port Elizabeth has been nothing short of spectacular. She calls herself the president of the female orgasm and preaches messages of sexual positivity and emancipation, and her latest album Phases seeks to give a voice to women from all walks of life. We talk about it all in this interview.

Alex Lynn – AKA Sydney singer-songwriter Alex The Astronaut – is one of those people who can seemingly do whatever she puts her mind to. She might be one of Australia’s most popular singer-songwriters, but after she left school she won a soccer scholarship to Long Island University, where she graduated with a degree in maths and physics. While she was still studying her music had started to get airplay in Australia, and luckily for us she decided to dedicate herself to that career rather than sport or science. The past few years have been a period of intense growth for Alex, as she became a carer for a sick loved one, and came to terms with being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Her new record How To Grow A Sunflower Underwater chronicles these experiences, but in a way that’s as whimsical and observational as it is emotionally moving. We talk about it all in this interview, as well Alex's upbringing in Australia and the UK, her path into music, the influence of artists like Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, and loads more.

British singer-songwriter James Bay recently released his third album, Leap. He finished recording it early in 2020, but – in an all too familiar scenario – the pandemic hit and put all of James’s release and touring plans on hold. The silver lining was that it gave him time to write more songs, and re-evaluate what he wanted to say with the record. We talk about that whole journey in this interview, as well as his upbringing in the UK, surviving the explosion of success that came with his debut album Chaos and the Calm, and loads more.

mxmtoon is the definition of a modern pop star. She grew up in Oakland making music in her bedroom and posting covers of pop songs she'd perform on her ukulele to YouTube. Eventually she started uploading original songs to SoundCloud, and by the time she left school she had more than 10,000 followers on the platform. That trajectory hasn’t really slowed since, and part of the reason for that – besides the fact she makes incredibly captivating indie pop – is the deep bond she’s formed with her audience. As she says in this interview she’s pretty much grown up online, and her social media and YouTube presence helped her forge an organic connection with her fans without the help of traditional music industry gatekeepers like record labels. It’s a fascinating story and one we go deep on in this interview.

Alfie Templeman is the very definition of a prolific artist. He may have just released his debut album, Mellow Moon, but over the past few years he’s put out four EPs and one mini-album; he also has a side project called Aerial Days, with which he’s released two full-length albums and one EP.  All this by the age of 19. Music has been the driving force in Alfie’s life since he saw a Rush DVD at the age of seven. He started uploading his songs to the internet at 14 and quit school at 16 to tour and pursue his career, which has so far seen him land on the longlist for the BBC Music Sound of 2021 and tour the world. We talk about that whole journey in this interview.

Spacey Jane have had a breakout few years. The Perth outfit's 2020 debut album Sunlight hit Number 2 on the Australian charts, and their just-released follow up Here Comes Everybody landed at Number 1. Go back to 2016 when the band formed, though, and it’s unlikely singer-guitarist Caleb Harper was thinking about this kind of success – at that point, as he was crashing out of university and unsure of what to do with his life, being in a band was simply one of the few things that kept him going. We talk about Caleb’s journey from then to now in this interview, as well as his upbringing, the realities of adapting to life in a successful band, and Spacey Jane's decision to remain independent throughout.

Given that he’ll celebrate his 44th birthday in 2022, it’s crazy to think that Ben Lee has been part of the musical landscape for three decades. As a 14 year old his band Noise Addict were plucked from a Sydney garage and championed by acts like Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys, introducing Ben to a worldwide audience and setting the platform for him to launch his solo career at the age of 16 Since then Ben has forged a career that can best be described as eclectic. He’s released a children’s album called Ben Lee Sings Songs About Islam For The Whole Family; co-written a musical called B Is For Beer; released a covers album paying tribute to the alternative acts he loved as a teen; made a largely instrumental album inspired by his experiments with Ayahuasca called Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work; and then there were the hit alternative pop records like 2005’s Awake Is The New Sleep. Add into the mix Ben’s forays into acting, his quests for spiritual enlightenment and his work as a death doula, and it all adds up to one of the most colourful careers in modern music. We talk about it all in this interview, as well as Ben's new album, I'M FUN!, which is released on August 19.

Conor Maynard was one of the earliest artists to embrace the power of YouTube. While he was in his teens he started uploading covers to the platform, and his version of Ne-Yo’s "Beautiful Monster" quickly racked up more than 1 million views. Before long managers, record labels and Ne-Yo himself came calling, all looking to work with Conor. By the time he was 19 he released his 2012 debut album Contrast, which hit Number One in the UK and yielded five Top 10 singles. The road since hasn’t been quite as trouble free, but 10 years on from Contrast Conor has well and truly taken back control of his career, releasing his new music independently and using his social media savvy to engage directly with his audience. We talk about that whole journey in this interview.

Songwriting has been a part of Sasha Alex Sloan's life for a long time. As a kid she struggled at school, but she would come home and dedicate hours to playing and writing music. Through a series of hilarious events she got a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music and moved from Boston to LA at the age of 19. It took years but the songwriting credits started to mount up. At this point Sasha has written songs with artists like Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, Juice WRLD, LANY, Steve Aoki and many more, all the while focusing on her solo career. We talk about that whole journey in this interview, as well as her latest album, I Blame The World.

Chris Messina is a GRAMMY-nominated producer, mixer, engineer and songwriter, and one of Bon Iver's main creative partners. They struck up a friendship when Chris was working on Bon Iver’s world tour in support of his 2011 self-titled album. After that run Mr Bon Iver himself, Justin Vernon, asked Chris to quit working on the touring circuit and move to Wisconsin to manage his studio, as well as collaborate on creating music. Chris did just that and played a key role in the making of Bon Iver's 22, A Million and i,i albums.  Before bunkering down with Bon Iver, though, Chris was touring the world working behind the scenes with artists like Madonna, Tom Jones and Lady Gaga, all of which we talk about in this interview.

The Living End frontman Chris Cheney releases his debut solo album, The Storm Before The Calm, on June 17. Worlds away from the bombast of The Living End, the record took years to make, during which Chris’s life veered dangerously out of control, as he talks about in this interview. He also talks about discovering music and learning to play guitar as a kid, breaking big with The Living End, and loads more.

Pete Murray has been a mainstay of the Australian music scene since he released his major label debut album, Feeler, in 2003. One of the interesting things about Pete’s story is that he didn’t even pick up a guitar until 22, and he was 30 when he released his first independent album, The Game. By today’s standards he is very much a late starter, having spent his youth focusing on sport, to the point where he almost represented Australia in rugby union 7s. Pete walks us through his story here, and the tragedies that set him on his path to being a musician.

The debut album by Jaguar Jonze – AKA Brisbane artist Deena Lynch – is called Bunny Mode. The record’s title may sound upbeat and playful, but the story behind it is heartbreaking, as it describes the behaviour Deena used as a coping mechanism when she was abused as a child. She is a survivor in the very real sense of the word, having not only made it through her childhood, but as an adult she was sexually assaulted by two music producers. She responded by bravely speaking out, and in doing so became one of the leading voices of Australia’s #MeToo movement. Deena's advocacy work has played a big part in Jaguar Jonze’s public profile, but so too has her boundless creativity. Jaguar Jonze is just one of Deena’s creative outlets, with Spectator Jonze focusing on visual art, and Dusky Jonze on photography. We talk about Bunny Mode as well as Deena's life, her art and her advocacy work in this interview.

Stephan Jenkins was cast into the spotlight when Third Eye Blind's  1997 self-titled debut album exploded around the world. On the back of hits like "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Jumper", the frontman achieved success beyond his wildest dreams – all the while learning the hard way about the compromises the music industry often demands of its artists. Fast forward to 2022 and Third Eye Blind have not only weathered the storms of those early years, but as Stephan explains in this interview, being in control of the band's decisions and trajectory is much easier. The five-piece will tour the US in June, commemorating the 25th anniversary of their debut, while also shining the light on their latest album, 2021's Our Bande Apart. We talk about it all in this interview, from Stephan's difficult upbringing to his devotion to music, from the success of the band's debut to current day.