KARNIVOOL Names The Best Eight Australian Bands

Australian prog legends Karnivool is set to release their long-awaited new record In Verses on February 6. But who are they listening to? We sat down with Karnivool guitarists Drew Goddard and Mark “Hoss” Hosking, as well as drummer Steve Judd, to discuss exactly that.Check out their picks below and pre-order In Verses here.

Cog

A huge piece of the Australian prog rock scene. A monster trio that absolutely delivers live. We had the chance to tour with them when they released The New Normal in ’05, and it was super inspiring. Absolute legends! – Steve

Hiatus Kaiyote

A great fusion of neo-soul, funk, R&B and Melbourne swag. Choose Your Weapon really hit me at a time in my life when I really needed it. Lots of musical experimentation, from the wonkiest of beats, to some magical pop gems that just kind of just envelop your soul. Amazing band. – Steve

Midnight Oil

Titans of the Australian rock scene who stood on what they believed in and spread their message on a global scale. Never understated and truly an undeniable force. Rob was such a beast behind the kit, too. So much power and energy! Sadly passed this year, but the Oils on the Water concert (from ’85) is a great snapshot of that and always something I come back to watch. Icons. – Steve

Lo!

Sludgey, post-metal awesomeness from Sydney. A very memorable moment was watching them with Forstora in a tiny venue called 208 in Maylands, Perth.

Guitarist Carl Whitbread‘s dissonant note choices, together with vocalist Sam Dillon‘s confronting reptilian-inspired screams and stage presence, felt like a full frontal assault aimed at the small crowd who was gathered in a semi-circle around the band in the stageless room, it felt like everyone was being pushed up against the back wall by the sheer force of the music.

I left the venue howling cathartically at the moon. The heavy drop in the middle of the track “Mega Fauna” has to be the heaviest moment I’ve ever heard in my time on this planet. – Drew

The Drones

This band holds a special place in my heart, and a lot of Australians, for that matter. Singer, guitarist Gareth Liddiard is a celebrated figure in the Australian music industry, often cited as one of the country’s best songwriters, which is entirely subjective, of course, but I definitely agree with the statement.

The band’s music is characterised by Liddiard‘s guttural Australian drawl, his unique, dissonant guitar work and cynical, often humorous lyrics that touch on subjects like Australian history, suburban paranoia and societal decay. The band took a hiatus in 2016, and Gareth and his partner and bandmate Fiona Kitschin went on to form the band Tropical Fuck Storm (TFS) and continue to this day. – Drew

Red Sand Beat Band

Another band that holds a special place in my heart, having worked a number of times with the band personally in their hometown of Warburton, a small indigenous community in the Ngaanyatjarra lands, an area that spans roughly 3% of the Australian continent and encompasses the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts, located around the WA, NT, SA borders.

Their sound is a special type of central “desert reggae” that, for me, symbolises something incredibly pure and powerful, emitting so much joy and goodwill in the face of so much adversity and the daily and generational challenges that face the Yarnangu people.

A song like “Wati Kutju” (One Man) or the undeniably catchy “My Life” instantly takes me back to this beautiful country (Ranges) and makes me smile, thinking of the people there, many of whom I’m proud to call my friends. – Drew

Pendulum

Lucky to know the good humans of Pendulum, Rob and Gareth are both legends and originally fellow Perthians. It’s an ironically bad band name (like we can talk!) thinking about it, most pendulums across the world would be swinging at 120bpm with the average band Pendulum song clocking in around 174-180 bpm I would hazard to guess.

Pendulum may very well be the world’s most aggressive gateway drug for metalheads who are afraid of sunlight but still want to headbang at those speeds. Not many bands could remix the ABC news theme and make it sounds better than the cinematic soundtrack to the new Tron movie.

They have somehow managed the art of compressing walls of sound that make DnB purists reach for their dictionaries while most of the crowd are too deep into the mosh-pit to care if the lyrics to “Propane Nightmares” actually make sense. Love them. – Hoss

King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard

Another band we love for their prolific extravagant catalogue and amazing musicianship. A band with so much music and so much lore they’ve had their own Gizz-Verse created by their ever loving fandom. Microtonal guitars we are very jealous of, and a genre breaking approach to music that is nothing short of inspiring.

With enough albums to fill the wing of a public library, music ranging from spooky flute jazz to how good is the environment over thrash metal, somehow it all still leaves you feeling like it all makes perfect sense, and wondering who the hell Han Tyumi is and why you even care.

I love a band that makes me feel like I’m being chased through a neon desert by a cyborg whilst simultaneously feeling like I need to do my taxes. All the while loving music even more and feeling inspired to create create create! – Hoss

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