This week, IA’s resident riff wrangler, David Kowalski, dives into Grammy-bound punk chaos, transcendent live folk, Split Enz resurrection magic and a fresh hit of indie oddities.
Amyl sniffs out Grammy nomination
Melbourne bogan punks Amyl and the Sniffers have scored their first Grammy nomination for the Best Rock Performance category. This is a huge achievement for a young independent band having just released their third LP, Cartoon Darkness, around 12 months ago. They share the nomination with Linkin Park, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Yungblud and Turnstile.
Considering the preference of Grammy voters to prefer acts on major labels with big marketing budgets and bands that have been around forever, for a young independent punk band from the southern end of Australia to be noticed, let alone nominated, is truly astonishing. Personally, I wish them every success in this crowded field. I hope they bring home the gold.
Little Quirks live
On 25 October, I had the opportunity to catch Central Coast folk rock band Little Quirks live in Canberra. In a small-ish band room at the White Eagle Polish Club, the stage was only just big enough to contain the band’s physical presence, but not their energy.
I arrived as Stella Eve was warming up the crowd with her melodic brand of indie pop, her songs pleasantly punctuating the air with delicately chosen lead guitar lines and strident lyrics. Not long after drummer Mia Toole and her dad/manager Paul Toole fitted her cymbals and freshly tuned snare drum to her drum kit did her cousins and siblings bound onstage, full of colour and energy.
Lead singer and guitarist Abby leaps onstage in one of her full-body suits, with wings, and leads the band in a powerful set of songs taken from the new EP, The Beast, and their recent self-titled LP, as well as classics from earlier in their career like ‘Life Wouldn’t Be’ and ‘Crumbled’. They also included a couple of well-chosen covers in the mix. I thought the choice of ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton was an odd choice of song for them, until they played their stunning rearrangement of it. I don’t think I will ever doubt their song choices again.
The live four-part harmony singing in this song, and others, by the Toole family – Abby, Jaymi, Alex and Mia (even while pounding her drums into submission) – was just stunning. Jaymi’s lead vocal is drenched in the ache and pathos the song requires. They also included a powerful version of ‘Zombie’ by the Cranberries, a song that was a staple when the girls used to busk on the beachfront esplanade of Terrigal years ago.
Of course, I can’t forget to mention Jordan, not related by family to the others, but a brilliant guitarist in his own right who coaxed a gorgeous tone out of his Fender Telecaster while pulling all kinds of rock star poses. The night wasn’t complete without Abby running through the venue, guitar still strapped on, wirelessly connected to the PA and strumming vigorously, dancing with all the fans before returning to the stage to complete the show.
Having seen the band five years ago, and seeing them again a few weeks ago, their stage presence and performance style have gotten far and away more explosive in the ensuing years. They were fantastic then; they are even better now. They play every stage, no matter how small, like they’re onstage at Wembley to 100,000 people. Having seen some of the recent footage on social media where they opened for Rob Thomas in Brisbane last weekend, they played to 8,000 people like they played to this writer and a hundred others in a small club in the nation’s capital.
Little Quirks are definitely one of the best live bands in Australia at the moment. Check them out whenever you can.
Bluesfest 2026 lineup
The lineup for the next Bluesfest in Byron Bay over the Easter long weekend in 2026 has been announced. The lineup will include The Living End, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mark Seymour, blues legend Buddy Guy, Mental As Anything and also NSW Central Coast teenage guitar prodigy Taj Farrant, among many others, with more to be announced in due course.
I could’ve fallen off my chair at the announcement of the headliners. New Zealand legends Split Enz have reformed to take the top billing and will be mounting an arena tour of Australia later in the year. I never thought I’d see the day.
The band will include original members Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner and Noel Crombie, joining Tim’s younger brother Neil Finn along with James Milne on bass and Matt Eccles on drums to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their debut LP, Mental Notes. They promise loads of their classic art-rock eccentricity and renditions of classics like ‘I See Red’ and ‘Message To My Girl’.
Split Enz will be playing Melbourne at Rod Laver Arena on 13 May, Sydney at the ICC Theatre on 18 May, Perth at the RAC Arena on 22 of May and Adelaide at the Entertainment Centre on 25 May.
Split Enz - I See Red (Official Video)
New music — Sneeze's new EP
Sydney indie and underground stalwarts Sneeze are back with a new EP with the very grown-up title Bands, Jobs, Girlfriends. The band have made a name for themselves with songs that feature the utmost of brevity. Their debut self-titled release in 1993 was a double 7” single with 20 songs on it. That release was later expanded onto 12-inch vinyl with bonus tracks to be retitled 41 Songs in 47 Minutes.
This new release is no different, with six songs in just over eight minutes, recorded at various points between 1998 and 2025. The band has a core of former Half a Cow bookstore owner and Godstar frontman Nic Dalton, and Smudge singer-songwriter Tom Morgan.
The band was filled out with a revolving cast of people in Dalton’s orbit, including at various times Alison Galloway from Smudge, Simon Holmes, Alannah Russack and Robyn St Clare of The Hummingbirds, and on occasion Evan Dando from the Lemonheads.
This particular release features their long-serving drummer, Lara Meyerratken, and also an appearance from Simon Day, most notably known for his band Ratcat.
The EP, as well as a host of great music, is available at the Half a Cow label Bandcamp page.
Until next time...
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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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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