
Hey! What’s up? Comin’ to you live from day [I have honestly lost count] of Sydney’s lockdown, where we’re at 830 new cases of COVID-19 and there’s no end in sight to this brutal, droning hellscape! I am feeling… Not good. Honestly, one of the few redeeming factors of this gruelling malaise is that I still have work to bury my head in, which I am incredibly grateful for – especially right now.
News-wise, the highlight this week was obviously the lineup for UNIFY 2022 being announced. Though I have no confidence at all that it will actually go ahead, the idea that I might, potentially, maybe, possibly have somewhat of a slight chance to see Violent Soho, Teenage Joans, Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers, Short Stack and Ocean Grove at the same festival next year… It’s pretty fuckin’ exciting!
Anyway, here’s everything I got up to at NME this week 🙂
TUESDAY, 17/08/21
Korn postpone six shows after Jonathan Davis tests positive for COVID-19
Rammstein’s ‘Ich Will’ has become the official soundtrack for the German Paralympic team
Hear Angel Olsen put her spin on Billy Idol’s ‘Eyes Without a Face’
Grinspoon, The Butterfly Effect and more announced for Wallapalooza 2021
WEDNESDAY, 18/08/21
Trippie Redd won’t face prosecution for alleged assault and battery charges made in 2018
Lady Gaga’s dogwalker shares GoFundMe campaign to “support the process of growing from trauma”
Listen to Bliss N Eso’s propulsive new single ‘Tell The World That I’m Coming’
Watch Beks reimagine ‘Titanic’, ‘Dirty Dancing’, ‘The Notebook’ and more in new video for ‘Devoted’
Live Nation says it’s looking into trialling vaccination requirements for Australian events
360 announces tenth anniversary reissue for ‘Flying & Falling’
Listen to Cheap Date’s heartrending new single ‘Woman To You’
THURSDAY, 19/08/21
Remi Wolf announces debut album ‘Juno’, shares two new singles
Watch Courtney Barnett perform a dizzying rendition of ‘Rae Street’ on ‘Fallon’
Listen to Client Liaison’s fist-pumping new single ‘Elevator Up’
Murmurmur roar back to life in kaleidoscopic new single ‘Alive’
Mossy leaps into the world of electropop on first single in four years, ‘Shade’
Allday shares new video for ‘Door’, reschedules 2021 tour dates
Jimmy Barnes cancels ‘Flesh And Blood’ national tour
Violent Soho, The Amity Affliction and more announced for the 2022 UNIFY Gathering
FRIDAY, 20/08/21
Bon Iver protest Minnesota pipeline at their first show since March 2020
Justin Bieber announces three-day Vegas weekender with Kehlani, Jaden Smith and more
Holy Holy and CLEWS deliver a stripped-back live version of ‘The Aftergone’ from lockdown
Death By Denim crank up the grooves on new single ‘Cause A Scene’
Keith Urban shouts out “drifters” and “dreamers” in new single ‘Wild Hearts’
Melbourne artists join forces for livestreamed Artists For Afghanistan benefit
SATURDAY, 21/08/21
Corey Taylor has tested positive for COVID-19: “I’m very, very sick”
Dave Mustaine doesn’t think Metallica “could have survived” with him in the band
Big Boi and Sleepy Brown announce joint album release date, share new song ‘The Big Sleep Is Over’
Young Thug reigns supreme in the stylised video for new single ‘Tick Tock’
SUNDAY, 22/08/21
NYC Homecoming Concert shut down midway due to hurricane warning, may resume without crowd
Kacey Musgraves celebrates her 33rd birthday with a snippet of new music