Living A Messy Life

This week on the podcast I welcome an old friend, Benny Davis of The Axis of Awesome fame. We went through university together many moons ago, and I invite you to be a fly on the wall as we talk about many things.. music included.. and a little bit about how The Axis of Awesome and the 4 Chord Song came into being. ​Benny is a musician and occasional comedian from Sydney. He's best known as the keyboard player from The Axis of Awesome, where he spent ten years writing, recording and performing comedy songs.Since leaving the group, he has continued making comedy music, and has solo works available on all platforms. He also composes and produces music freelance for a variety of clients.

This week I had the pleasure of catching up with the creative director of Newy Bass Crew, Dreadmaiden. We talk about the Newcastle dj scene, both of our bad backs and where she gets her cool glasses from..As the creative director of Newy Bass Crew, Dread Maiden is at the forefront of fostering underground rave and doof culture, creating safe and inclusive spaces for self-expression, and championing representation for women in the bass music scene. Dread Maiden’s performances have graced stages at festivals, including Dragon Dreaming, Subsonic, and Rain Dance, and she’s shared the spotlight with international heavyweights such as Dillinja, Serial Killaz, Jam Thieves, Visages, Hypho, Teddy Killaz, Paige Julia, and KOAN Sound.You can follow Dreadmaiden here.. https://www.instagram.com/dreadmaiden.audio/

Ponymeadow is an Australian electronic music producer who creates uplifting progressive house and trance tunes that feature evocative female vocalsWe chat about her journey from playing bass in New York to producing electronic music in Sydney, the importance of having a mentor and playing at Comet Ping Pong.Follow Ponymeadow on instagram..https://www.instagram.com/ponymeadow_music/

For this week's episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Kinetic Theory. KineticTheory is a DnB artist known for her deep, dark, and heavy sounds in jungle, dancefloor, and neurofunk drum and bass. We talk about her diverse musical education, that time she auditioned for Australian Idol, and her ideas for the future of youth culture on the Northern beaches.You can follow Kinetic Theory at https://www.instagram.com/kinetictheoryau/

This week I had the joy of speaking with the wonderful Jessica O'Donoghue. We talked about her music career, motherhood and changing direction as an artist. Jessica and I have crossed paths a few times; we've sung together, I've photographed her band and most recently when I conducted a new Australian work for which she was a composer.Jessica is an award winning performer and composer, post-Baroque Dramatic Pop artist and creator of new artistic works and events. She is co-artistic director of The Song Company and will be performing the title role of "Aphrodite", a new opera composed by Nico Muhly & Laura Lethlean with Sydney Chamber Opera in June 2025.