Welcome to Notes From Pig City. This is my online archive for as much of my journalism as I can keep up with. Published pieces will be reposted here as soon as they can be. I also write exclusively on my Patreon page; those pieces are not republished here.
I’m the author of two books: Pig City (2004), a book about Brisbane, and Something To Believe In (2019), a music memoir. I'm currently employed by AAP. I continue to freelance occasionally for other publications, mostly Guardian Australia, where it doesn't conflict with my full-time gig.
I have a wide variety of interests, and they’re reflected by the number of tabs in the main menu. You can click through those, or the archive list at the bottom to find what you might be interested in, whether you’re a casual visitor or looking for something specific.
If you want to get in touch send me a message here.
The years have not been kind to the musicians who formed the fabled scene that coalesced in Dunedin, New Zealand in the 1980s. Martin Phillipps, leader of the Chills, died last year. Hamish Kilgour, drummer and co-founder of the Clean, took his own life in November 2022. Andrew Brough, guitarist for the Straitjacket Fits, died in non-suspicious circumstances […]
Shayne Carter: Life in One Chord Read More »
Rob Hirst knows he’s dying, but he doesn’t let it get in the way of kicking back. Hirst – for five decades the co-founder, drummer and driving force of Midnight Oil – is enjoying a sunny afternoon in Sydney, relaxing on an old-school banana lounge, soaking in Vitamin D. But even when he’s putting his
Rob Hirst: Feeling good, for 100 years or more Read More »
It’s a story almost too preposterous to believe, starring a group of young uni students, an infamous state premier, a legendary Australian poet and an extinct frog which gave birth by vomiting its young – all at the dawn of the Australian conservation movement. Yet the tale of the Southern Gastric-brooding Frog, which once inhabited
The poet, the premier and the frog Read More »
Paul Kelly is 70, and he has never been bigger. He has just headlined his first arena tour. The shows sold out. In an industry as ageist as Australian music, it’s a remarkable career trajectory. There’s been no sudden revival of interest, nor a belated rediscovery of his vast catalogue. Slowly, over a career spanning 50
Paul Kelly: Seventy Not Out Read More »
Although it’s now long deleted, my old X/Twitter account served at least one useful purpose in life. My profile image had me looking up quizzically at a ragdoll kitten on my shoulder. That cat, once mistaken for a parrot by a bone-headed rightwing pundit, is no longer with me – but my other ragdoll, Priscilla, became
The Moment I Knew: She Makes it Easy Read More »
What would make Harry Vanda – the last surviving Easybeat, the man who co-wrote Friday On My Mind, the original architect of what we came to know as Oz rock – come out of retirement at the age of 79 to release his first solo single? To any Australian music enthusiast, the very thought is unlikely enough. But here
Harry Vanda plays the devil’s music Read More »