'cause is good enough...'
Mt. MORNING
MT. MORNING is the new incarnation of the band Suicide Swans who throughout their 8-year, 5 studio albums, 1 EP and 1 live album mined the landscape of alt-country, folk, and rock. In Mt. Morning the four members will start a new chapter with Kristian, Ben, Glen and Kyle continuing the same mining of alt-country, folk, country but looking at delving and being more open to indie rock, pop, sound scapes, and any other type of music that interests them collectively.
MT. MORNING will continue their DIY focus and the drive to embrace, whatever sonic interest that comes their way. The band are currently working on their first release as Mt. Morning entitled ‘Idles Aches’ that will further push their on stage performances that brings their own distinct sound that is situated within the kind of raw ethos that lies at the heart of their 1960s/70s - combining rock, alt-country and folk mixed with 90’s indie-rock that reflects the tastes of all four members, capturing in its glory a band confident, pushing a sound with a distinctive potency that is all their own.
THE LONG PATROL
The Long Patrol is the nom de plume of Canadian singer/songwriter Patrick Morrissey. Inspired by bands like Wolf Parade and Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey came up playing bass for small bands at dingy punk shows in and around the Toronto area. It was during these formative years that he cemented his love of loud, fast, matter-of-fact self expression. Having played in alt-pop band First Rate People and after years of touring both Canada and the USA with likes of Born Ruffians; the pull to create music that Morrissey could call his own led him to compile mix-tapes and bedroom recordings that documented the the perils of love, loss, ageing, addiction and loneliness whilst growing up in rural Canada. It is these early recordings that The Long Patrol first found its form and that would later serve as the foundation of their debut album, Sunlight.
A multi-instrumentalist and fastidious songwriter, Morrissey went to work in 2021 to consolidate and curate the back catalogue of songs written under the Long Patrol monicker in order to start production on his first release, Sunlight. Playing guitar, bass, piano and singing on all tracks, The Long Patrol celebrates the DIY attitude of Morrissey and is the perfect canvas to showcase his depth of talent on each instrument. No only does he have an innate sense of melody and harmony when arranging songs, lyrically he is both devastating and hilarious in a single turn of a phrase; painting vivid images of the characters and settings he brings to life in his songs.
The Long Patrol's debut record, Sunlight is a mix of guitar driven punk with strong, poppy choruses that morph into downtempo folk-pop with melodic interludes that highlight the artists loud-quiet-loud influences. A debut record ten years in the making, Sunlight is a mature and measured debut and it will surely connect with any audience that wants to engage with relatable, lived experiences set against a backdrop of non-stop hooks and a pop sensibility. Sunlight is out now on your favourite streaming services.
BENJAMIN BONES
Benjamin Bones is the solo project from multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer Benjamin Lancaster. Having spent the majority of this new century playing with, recording and producing his bands Old New York, Suicide Swans, Man Moot and Deserts; Benjamin had been squirriling away song ideas and building a backlog of ideas and scraps of songs. Taking inspiration from well known DIY-ers Ben Kweller, Kevin Parker, Badly Drawn Boy… Benjamin Bones decided to create this solo project by performing, recording and mixing everything himself (with the inclusion of some guest instrumentalists).
Having built up a decade's experience running his own studio, By the Living Grace Studios, Benjamin has produced over 20 records for other bands in Australia. The leap from studio nerd to solo artist was a natural progression.
DESERTS
Emerging from a punk/alternative rock background, Benjamin Lancaster (Suicide Swans) and Jacob Lancaster (Old New York) have found an outlet for their pop sensibilities in their new project, Deserts. A year in the making, the brothers have drawn on their punk roots to create a fresh pop inspired sound. Applying the same DIY work ethic that is prevalent in their other bands, Deserts got to work on recording their 7 track EP in a basement in Brisbane.
After finishing recording the EP in late 2016, a monumental data crash lead to the loss of the entire completed recording. Reeling from the loss of this and many other projects, the band had to make a decision; ‘scrap it’ or ‘start again’. They chose ‘start again’. Using skeleton mp3 versions of the songs, the boys began reassembling the album piece by piece. Having only weekends and balancing newly married life with music making, it took about another 6 months to get the EP completed; or is it re-completed?
Combining a rock and roll aesthetic with a solid pop foundation, Deserts create a sound that is both familiar yet incongruent to the usual pop tropes. Living somewhere between Alt-Pop and Electro-Rock, the band experiments with strident synths, impacting live drums, fuzzed out fuzziness and vocals that straddle the path of classic pop and modulated, messed up noise. While the sounds and feel are distinctly pop influenced, there is no escaping the essence and ethos of a post-punk musical upbringing.
DIRTY HEARTS
Dirty Hearts are a 3-piece band from Brisbane who are putting their own slant on classic Australian rock ‘n’ roll. Playing with an energy and soul that leaves other bands in their wake, Dirty Hearts aren’t so much pumping on your stereo as they are blowing your speakers up.
Blending alternative ‘90s Australian and ’70s British rock, Dirty Hearts have carved out their own sound that demands to be listened to – loudly. Front man Matt Doe wails both lyrically and on guitar, while bassist T-Man and drummer Groovey Avalon provide the raw power.
Having supported some of the country’s most revered bands such as You Am I, DZ Deathrays, Peep Tempel and Velociraptor, the trio are more than the sum of their parts when it comes to their powerful and relentless live performances. Brisbane’s 4ZZZ have described the band’s sound as “the music that once ruled this country”. With their strong DIY work ethic and fistfuls of classic tunes, Dirty Hearts are ready to stake their claim for Australia’s rock ‘n’ roll throne.
ELBA LANE
Formed in 2015 to avoid suburban insanity, Elba Lane began with basement jams between lead vocal/guitarist Mitchell Smith and drummer Mitchell Blyth. The escapism of these early days centred on Mitchell Smith’s solo material, but as soon as third member, bassist Kris Griffin and his fuzzed out rolling bass was added to the mix, Elba Lane finally began their journey on refining and defining their blues/rock sound. Through a series of pummelling live performances their sound matured from singer/songwriter melodies into crushing bass, drum and guitar collages. Infusing and drawing upon 90s alternative rock/grunge, Elba Lane have produced in their debut album ‘Arctic’ a roaring behemoth that surges and shifts through crashing cymbals, thumping drums, fuzzed out guitars, throbbing bass and introspective vocals. ‘Arctic’ is not so much a group of songs but a statement of intention from an emerging, confident act.
KYLE JENKINS
Kyle Jenkins is an Australian visual artist, musician, singer and songwriter born and raised on a small farm outside the rural town of Dungog in New South Wales, Australia. After studying visual art at Sydney College of the Arts, he travelled and lived around Europe and the United States settling in Pleasanton, California 25 miles (40 km) east of Oakland. Now residing in Toowoomba, Queensland, Jenkins exhibits his conceptual / geometric abstract based paintings nationally and internationally and is represented by Minus Space (NY), Alexandra Lawson Gallery (Toowoomba) and NKN Gallery (Melbourne). Raised on a mixture of his parents country vinyl and his adolescent addiction to American 70s and 80s punk/hard-core, Jenkins found the immediacy and DIY aesthetic in this music to parallel his interest in conceptual based painting and from this, his various studio spaces over the years have become a place for sonic experiments and visual outcomes.
Jenkins is the songwriter, guitarist and lead singer for Mt. Morning and formerly known as acclaimed Australian Alt-Country band Suicide Swans. Over an eight year period Suicide Swans released 1 self-titled EP and 5 studio albums: Ghosts We Forget (2014), Augusta (2017), double album la Jungla (2018), Through the Years (2020) and Reservations (2021) as well as live album Live at Dashville Skyline (2019).
In 2017 Jenkins entered By The Living Grace studios in Brisbane to record a collection of songs that would become the layered vision Meltdown (2018). Since then he has released two more solo albums - both double albums comprising 29 songs in total - Love, Lost Love & Lost Love Lost (2021) further mine his love of 1960/70s Laurel Canyon sounds and vibes with alt-country and rock. He is currently recording his fourth solo album titled 'Fool's Gold' set for release in 2023.
MAN MOOT
Man Moot are an Australian music project from Brisbane / Toowoomba Queensland. Formed in 2017 the band consists of Kyle Jenkins (vocals, guitar), and brothers David Lancaster (bass) and Benjamin Lancaster (drums/guitar). The band’s sound incorporates a wide range of genres, including 1960s garage rock, punk, post-punk, art-punk, noise and psychedelic rock.
The band became an outlet for Jenkins (Mt. Morning) and B. Lancaster (Mt. Morning/Old New York/Deserts) while they were mixing their other bands’ albums. With a desire to create something that was energetic, whimsical, without inhibitions and basically just fun Kyle and Ben invited David to play bass and over three summer days they bashed out their debut album ‘Ta Da’.
The album incorporates everything the other bands they are involved in aren’t. The main goal of Man Moot, to not really have any goal and just go where the noise took them. What is left is an album of 10 unapologetic post-punk (and everything in between) songs. Who knows if the band will play live, who knows if they’ll record another album? Whatever happens enjoy the spontaneity of their debut album ‘Ta Da’ that was three days of having fun writing on the spot and having more fun recording what was left. Dig in.
OLD NEW YORK
Forming in early 2009, Old New York quickly developed a presence on the Brisbane live scene and have played their brand of late 80’s, early 90’s alt rock around the country. After a short hiatus, Old New York is back and set to release their third album 'Before We Hit The Ground'.
Old New York has developed from the collaborative efforts of previous bands into something that reflects each member’s musical preferences and tastes. Equal contribution to songwriting and performing keeps the band focused on producing the very best they can with what they can manage to scrap together. Their DIY attitude reveals their ambition to be heard in the current "No Budget" landscape of the music scene.
The band derives great pride in being personally responsible for all their own recording, mixing, PR, artwork, filming and web design. Old New York mix sixties style vocal harmonies with 80’s and 90’s indie rock and have twisted it into their own style of indie music that is both exciting and fresh.
SUICIDE SWANS
Suicide Swans were an Australian 4 piece alt-country band from Toowoomba consisting of Kyle Jenkins (guitar/vocals), Kristian McIvor (multi-instrumentalist / vocals), Glen O’Shea (drums / percussion), and Benjamin Lancaster (multi-instrumentalist / vocals / engineer / mixer).Over an eight year period the band released 1 self-titled EP and 5 studio albums: Ghosts We Forget (2014), Augusta (2017), double album la Jungla (2018), Through the Years (2020) and Reservations (2021) as well as live album Live at Dashville Skyline (2019) featuring the band’s sound of mixing - the twang of country, the chug of 60’s/70’s rock with dashes of pop that they termed cosmic country.
Over their eight year period the band invited fellow guests, friends and musicians to collaborate with them in live performances as well on various studio and live releases. This period of the band came to an end in 2021 when the four members decided to move forward without any outside collaboration and from 2022 are now called MT. MORNING. Check out all things Mt. Morning for upcoming releases and shows.