Rolling Stone Australia October 2016

“Melbourne is the best city in the world, and you’re clearly jealous you don’t live here. Jerks.” Amity Advice THE AMITY AFFLICTION GET a lot of shit, but your story [RS 778] proved to me once again how important they are as a band. At a time when millions of people are suffering from depression, to have someone like Joel Birch stand up and talk about his own experiences really helps those sufferers (myself included) not feel so alone. I wish him well in his sobriety. Danielle Bayley, Northcote, Vic GREAT AMITY AFFLICTION story. I can’t help but wonder, though, how Joel Birch will go with his sobriety when the rest of the band are getting drunk around him. It strikes me as quite selfish on their behalf – surely…

PREVIEW SUMMER FESTIVAL GUIDE THE BIG, THE SMALL, THE WEIRD We profile the eclectic mix of new and old music festivals worth getting out to this summer. MUSIC LIVE LODGE UP CLOSE We spotlight artists appearing at Rolling Stone’s 2016 Live Lodge, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes videos and footage from this year’s event. EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE NEW RELEASES This month we host exclusive premiere streams and track-by-track breakdowns from local artists Ceres, the Pretty Littles and Unity Floors. WATCH LIVE LUCA BRASI Tasmania’s favourite sons swing by the Sydney Rolling Stone office to perform a stripped-back live set of their melodic punk stylings. MUSIC REUNION THE MISFITS The original lineup of the horror-punk crew got together for the first time in more than 30 years. Get the full story on one of…

Thug’s Happy B-day “He’s a superstar,” says T.I. (left) of Young Thug (right), who threw a huge 25th-birthday bash in Atlanta. Future (middle) was the surprise guest, putting to bed a recent Twitter feud with Thug. Let peace reign in Trap Land! Katy Roars at the DNC No pop star works harder to get Hillary Clinton elected than Katy Perry, who has played rallies since Iowa’s caucuses. “I have a couple of saved messages on my phone from HRC,” she said. (She also exchanges tweets with Hillary, who told Perry to “keep letting us hear you Roar”.) The day Clinton got the Democratic nomination in Philadelphia, Perry sang her new single “Rise” and hung backstage with America’s most powerful Katy Cat.…

TWO YEARS AGO, BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG WAS driving into Manhattan when he came across a throng of protesters. Outraged by a grand jury’s decision not to indict a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer for the killing of Michael Brown, they filled the streets and backed up traffi c for [Cont. on 14] kilometres. Armstrong was moved. “I got out of my car and marched with the people,” he says. “It was a trip to see people rebel against the old order.” The experience inspired the title track of Green Day’s new album, Revolution Radio (due October 7th), a collection of songs about the chaotic state of America in 2016. It’s not a political concept album like American Idiot – there are also more personal songs like “Ordinary World”, a sweet ballad…

“We’ve never toured. We’re essentially a baby band,” says bassist Jeff Ament. “We can finally road-test these songs.” WHEN CHRIS CORNELL AND three future members of Pearl Jam came together in 1990 to record Temple of the Dog’s one and only album, they never could have imagined playing the songs in arenas a quarter-century later – it was merely a one-off tribute LP in honour of a friend, Andy Wood of the Seattle band Mother Love Bone, who had just died of a heroin overdose. Despite producing an MTV hit, “Hunger Strike”, the album remained a grunge footnote. So, last year, when the bandmates began talking about reuniting for their first-ever tour, they weren’t sure how it would be received. “We were anxious about what size venues we could play,”…

“I’m getting a crack at this, I’m not gonna let it go,” says James Alex. IN HIS TATTY WHITE SANDSHOES, red jeans and denim jacket, Beach Slang frontman James Alex looks like one of the punk rock kids who’ve been falling for his band’s brash take on Replacements-style rock. His mop of messy brown hair, meanwhile, is straight out of the Ryan Adams style guide. As he takes a seat in the Sydney ROLLINGSTONE office, he pulses with the energy of a man who, at 41, has no desire to sit still. Which explains why, less than a year after Beach Slang’s debut album, The Thing We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, the Philadelphia outfit are about to release their follow-up, A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings.…