Snap Scene

A considerable amount of the Melbourne music community gathered at the Corner Hotel Wednesday afternoon to farewell our friend and mentor, Ros O’Gorman. The afternoon was MC’d by Jane Gazzo, with speeches by Paul, Hayley & Tim Cashmere, Mary Boukouvalas, a representative of the SES & Karen and Linda Freedman (the Countdown sisters). 

Born in Athens in 1974. Performing from the age of 4 with his father, Nikos Papadeas ,he began his studies from a young age and has since become one of the undeniable masters of the Santouri, with a vast repertoire delving into Smyneika, early Rebetika and Nisiotika.

Boston rock band Extreme played the Forum Theatre in Melbourne on Wednesday 6 June 2018, during their first Australian Tour since 1993. The Grammy-nominated band is Gary Cherone (Van Halen) on lead vocals, Nuno Bettencourt (Satellite Party, Rihanna) on lead guitar, Pat Badger on bass, plus Kevin Figueiredo (Satellite Party, DramaGods) who has been on drums since 2007. The band was one of the most successful rock acts of the early ’90s, selling over 10 million albums worldwide.

American hard rock supergroup Mr. Big played Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on Wednesday 6 June 2018, as part of their Defying Gravity World Tour, and first-ever visit to Australia. Formed in Los Angeles during 1988, the band has remained active and popular over the decades, with a particularly massive fan-base in Japan that loves their musicianship and vocal harmonies. Their ballad To Be with You from their second album went to number one on the singles charts in fifteen countries.

Xylouris White is firmly rooted in the past and future. Playing Cretan music of original and traditional composition, the band consists of Georgios Xylouris on Cretan laouto and vocals and Jim White on drum kit. Xylouris is known and loved by Cretans and Greeks at home and abroad and has been playing professionally from age 12. Jim White is an Australian drummer known and loved throughout the world as the drummer of Dirty Three, Venom P Stinger and now Xylouris White. For the last four years these two men have been performing as Xylouris White, the culmination of 25 years of friendship forged through music and place.

American rock band Escape the Fate played a sold-out show at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on Wednesday 30 May 2018, as part of their Australian Tour celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the album This War Is Ours. That was the band’s second studio album, and the first to feature former Blessthefall singer Craig Mabbitt on vocals, after their original singer Ronnie Radke (Falling in Reverse) was fired as he went to prison for two years.

Steven Adler and Slash started their own band Road Crew. They recruited Duff McKagan to be their Bassist in 1983. However, they couldn’t find a suitable vocal. So Slash disbanded the group. Steven Adler joined Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin from La Guns and Road Crew band mates to form Guns N’ Roses. The band released their first album Appetite For Destruction in 1987. The album became the highest grossing debut album till date. It holds the record till today. He was an addict and thus Axl fired him from the group. He was Replace by Matt Sorum. He then struggled with his addiction. Sometime later he started his own band Adler’s Appetite. Steven Adler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the classic line-up of Guns N’ Roses.

Steven shared the stage with his mother at the show for an in-depth Q&A, only done once before in LA, where the audience heard accounts from the very person who was there from the beginning and witnessed it all. His mother and the author of “Sweet Child of Mine: How I Lost My Son To Guns n’ Roses”, which is an unflinching account of her sons drug fuelled ascent to becoming co-founder of one of the biggest rock’n’roll acts the world has seen, to his subsequent descent into drugs and alcohol and the eventual crippling effect that took its toll on his mind and body and resulted in him being kicked out of the band.

South African rockers Seether played Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on Friday 25 May 2018 as part of their Poison the Parish World Tour. Seether is Shaun Morgan on lead vocals and guitar, along with Dale Stewart on bass, John Humphrey (The Nixons) on drums, plus touring guitarist Corey Lowery (Stuck Mojo, Stereomud, Dark New Day). After forming in Pretoria during May 1999, the band released their seventh studio album Poison the Parish a year ago this month, which peaked on Australia’s ARIA Album Chart at number 29, and number 14 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album is the band’s heaviest to date, and fans tonight enjoyed hearing a slew of tracks from it, along with classic Seether hits like Remedy, Fake It, Broken, Rise Above This, and Gasoline.

Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer performed a special intimate show at Melbourne’s 170 Russell on Tuesday 29 May 2018, as part of their 5SOS3 World Tour. The sold-out show coincided with the release of their new single Want You Back (already viewed almost 20 million times on YouTube) and serves as a teaser for their full-blown national tour later this year, following the release of their third studio album Youngblood next month.