KISS founding member Spaceman passes away

This week, music guru David Kowalski, pays tribute to the loss of a legend and brings you the latest on the Aussie music scene.

Stereophonics cancel their tour of Australia

Welsh indie rock legends Stereophonics have been forced to cancel their upcoming Australian Tour. Vocalist Kelly Jones doesn’t elaborate as to why, or how, but he has a displaced jaw joint, although he assures us it’s not from singing!. He hasn’t been medically cleared to fly and so he will be sitting this one out. He has also cancelled shows in Dubai but the British tour later this year will still be going ahead.

On the band’s official Instagram account, in a heartfelt post, Kelly wrote:

'I have cancelled no more than four shows in 30 years and I hope you can trust this decision was not taken lightly.'

They were due to start dates in the major capital cities later in October 2025, and refunds are available at the point of purchase.

Jones has reminded the fans that there are 13 albums in the band's back catalogue to tide them over, so he encourages us all to “spin the black circle until the next time”.

I wish Kelly the best of health and a speedy recovery, and I hope to see them on our shores again soon.

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American Country star Teddy Swims at the NRL Grand Final

Fox Sports asked:

'Did Teddy Swim, or Sink?'

Well it depends on who you ask, really. Fox Sports were gushing in praise, but overall I am not so sure. The more I look into these events, and the online responses to them, it seems the organisers are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. It almost doesn’t matter who they book for the pre-game entertainment at the grand final, audiences will be split straight down the middle.

Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) were saying that Teddy Swims “smashed it”. Plenty of others wondered what yet another imported artist was doing here at a major Australian sporting event, especially when local legends Kate Ceberano and Jimmy Barnes actually publicly offered to play the same show.

I feel these events really should showcase Australian talent. They are a perfect opportunity to let some new faces shine on the big stage. The millions of dollars on offer would be very welcome to some local acts no doubt. The fact that Swims had to pepper his set with a cover of 'TNT' by AC/DC begs the question as to whether it was a creative choice or an attempt to throw raw meat to a ravenous crowd?

What did you think of the set? Let me know in the comments below.

Netflix to stream Spotify video podcasts

It has been reported that Netflix has inked a deal with Spotify, and some of its podcast creators, to make their video-enhanced podcasts available on the Netflix platform. These podcasts include programs from the Spotify-connected podcast creator The Ringer, including a number of true crime, culture and sports programs. This is great news for the content creators, which stand to earn a larger audience for their work.

However, I have to ask, what’s the point? Isn’t this just further consolidation of the media landscape and reducing the overall choice of content? Sure, there’s still miles of content available to consume all over the internet, however this seems to be a redundant move to my way of thinking. Keep the audio programs to one platform and the videos on another. It is a reflection of changing audience tastes. A recent study by US based audio conglomerate Cumulus Media suggests that 72 per cent of podcast listeners prefer their podcasts with video. I’m not one of them however, as I believe there is a real art to creating compelling audio programming without the need to add vision of talking heads into the mix…

New Teen Jesus

Canberra-based band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers are preparing to release a new album, their second, entitled 'Glory' on November 7. This comes after the big success of their 2023 debut 'I Love You', which peaked at #6 on the ARIA Album Charts and saw them win ARIA awards in 2024 for Best Breakthrough Artist. The new album was recorded on the NSW Central Coast with three-time GRAMMY Award-winning, London-based producer Catherine Marks (boygenius, Wolf Alice) and sees the band displaying a renewed confidence; in full command of their sound and their vision of who they are and what they represent.

Their latest single, 'Bait', is described as having the band in “big ego, full menace mode”. Sure enough, it is dark and brooding, stalking through new musical terrain for the band. It is wonderful to see them taking their music into scary and unusual places.

Anna Ryan, the band’s lead vocalist, says about 'Bait':

“We wrote it in LA, channelling a delusional man who thinks he’s God’s gift to earth. It was fun to cosplay as someone we’d all probably hate in real life.”

The video for the track sees them rounding up all their mates to pull off their best dance moves to the bouncy track.

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers are going on tour in May 2026, and they are playing some of the biggest venues of their entire career, including a spot on the bill at the Laneway Festival. Go to their official website for more details.

Breaking news

It saddens me to have to report that founding member of KISS, the Spaceman, Paul ‘Ace’ Frehley has passed away from a bleed on the brain, aged 74.

At least during my time as a music listener, when I discovered them in the late 1980s, KISS were epicly uncool. By then, they were reduced not to being founding fathers and the inspiration to the LA hair metal bands like Motley Crue and Poison, but to competing against them for airtime and concert ticket sales. They had gone from being legendary to being just another long-haired heavy metal band.

I didn’t care about what was cool anyway. I cared about what sounded good to me, and what was challenging, yet achievable, to learn on the guitar. Ace had the style and sound that resonated with me. There was some real artistry in the way he crafted the chords and notes he played. His inspiration was profound, at least on me.

Thank you for the music, Ace. I will miss you dearly.

Until next time…

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK'S SPECIALLY CURATED PLAYLIST BELOW:

David Kowalski is a writer, musician, educator, sound engineer and podcaster. His podcasts 'The Sound and the Fury Podcast' and 'Audio Cumulus' can be heard exclusively HERE. You can follow David on Twitter/X @sound_fury_pod.