EMI Australia’s Magical Mystery Tour kicked off at 8.00am on Wednesday, August 11.

The entire staff met on the front steps of our office where the first part of The Mystery was revealed. We were to relive school days and travel from Sydney to Melbourne on bus coaches for 14 hours. Not ideal for some, but all snobby concerns were quickly forgotten once we hit the road and we realised these were true rockstar tour buses.

Each coach was equipped with entertainment facilities including DVD players (screening musical blockbusters like Spinal Tap, High Fidelity, Almost Famous, and The Wedding Singer), food, drinks aplenty, games, and hilarious personal messages from Chiddy Bang, 30 Seconds To Mars, Angus & Julia Stone, Birds of Tokyo, Miami Horror, John Williamson, Faker, Operator Please, Papa vs Pretty, Old Man River, all personally welcoming us aboard. Highlights were unquestionably Bob Evans‘ future #1 hit Hume Highway Servo Station Mags and Ben Harper’s challenging of our roadtrip stamina, personally inviting us on his REAL tour bus.

The trip was punctuated with stops at The Big Merino, The Dog on the Tuckerbox, and one particular roadside diner (to which we may never be permitted to return). Us EMI-ers cut loose, let our hair down, and bonded over karaoke and individually introduced fave tracks ranging from Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance and Blondie’s Atomic, to Pantera’s F*cking Hostile (thanks Barnesy!)

The journey was one of the best in memory for each and every one of us! What’s more, when we pulled into the city of Melbourne at 10pm, hotel rooms and an open bar awaited us… what else could you ask for? Suffice to say the night did not end there.

The fun was only beginning!!

You think your government will protect you…
Not even Julia Gillard can pull you out of this one.

The full set of Grinderman 2’s John Hillcoat trailers are now live. Here’s the latest bout of inexplicable awesomeness:

Watch the full set of seven Hillcoat films on YouTube.

They culminate in this fundamentally disturbing and hilarious work of genius… Heathen Child.

Grinderman 2 arrives on September 10. Arm yourselves.

Miami Horror, Melbourne’s favourite psychedelic indie-electronic adventurers, have just received a 4 star review for their debut album Illumination in Brag this week – and that’s only setting the scene for what’s to come. How can it not be 4 stars when it has Sometimes, Moon Theory and I Look To You already as club, triple j and festival hits!?

All the album artwork is truly spectacular also…

You can now hear a preview of the album with track-by-track artwork here:

…or go to miamihorror.com for a live countdown, full album live interactive u-stream with appearances from the Miami boys, and pre-orders. Also make sure you find out how to be part of the album launch in their home town!

30 Seconds to Mars returned to Sydney for their second Australian tour and they did it in style. Perth and Melbourne had experienced the Into the Wild tour previously in the week and for the final show of the tour, Sydney did not disappoint.

From the opening track Escape, the show was quite literally a live interpretation of their chart busting album This is War – with some older tracks making appearances. Night of the Hunter was easily a stand out performance as was the crowd participation in Search and Destroy. Closer to the Edge brought every fist in the arena into the air with everyone chanting:

A mention about the Echelon from Jared got the old school fans pumped as did the self titled tracks Buddha for Mary and Capricorn (even though they didn’t play it all). But the night belonged to This is War, with the crowd happily turning into another version of The Summit, chanting, clapping and stomping.

Shannon proved again to be a monster on the drums, and allowed a young fan to play his kit during the closer, Kings and Queens. Tomo rocked out in his usual style and Jared as ever, was a ball of energy wildly running from one side of the stage to the other, then suddenly appearing at the sound desk at the back for an acoustic set.

If you didn’t catch 30 Seconds to Mars this time around, then definitely head to Soundwave for their return – I think it’s safe to say that anyone who saw them this time has been left wanting more.

ed note: Kelly Smith is a long serving and high ranking member of The Echelon, the super organised and dedicated global 30 Seconds To Mars fan club. Hats off to the passion and hard work these men and women contribute to the promotion of their beloved band. Onward and upward!