BRENDAN Hamilton, aka Brendan Kelso, is taking a casual mindset to his new musical path as a singer-songwriter.
He's been up and down the highway before. A decade ago he was slogging it out in pubs playing drums with disbanded Newcastle pop-rock three-piece Broadway Mile as they supported the likes of You Am I, Jon Stevens and Bluejuice.
Broadway Mile released several EPs and enjoyed success on the triple j Unearthed charts with tracks like Now You Know, but the band eventually fizzled out.
"It was a project I poured my heart and soul into for a few years," Kelso said. "It was hard as we were trying to become rock stars during the GFC and people weren't buying music and Pirate Bay is where people were stealing their music and there was no Spotify.
"We didn't get the success we wanted and were a bit cocky, to be honest."
Kelso then studied law and has since founded LegalSites, a business that specialises in creating websites for legal firms.
However, his love of music endured. Two years ago Kelso started writing his own music again and earlier this year took the plunge, performing his originals solo at an open mic night at the Stag and Hunter Hotel.
Kelso also decided to record the single Warrior at Glendale's Spinlight Studio, under the name Brendan Hamilton, to differentiate his music from his business.
"I didn't put much promotion into it, I just wanted to see if this is something I wanted to do," he said.
"I didn't really wanna work on it, because the more work I put into it the higher my expectations would go."
The feedback to Warrior was positive, so Kelso knuckled down with producer Rhys Zacher to record another four tracks for a future EP. The pop-rock single It Feels Right was released in August and on Friday the third Brendan Hamilton track, Little Things, arrives.
Little Things marks a shift towards a folk-pop sound, complete with a finger-picking acoustic guitar and stomp box.
"It was written after I had a fairly stressful experience one day," he said. "I basically had a pretty rough day and I wrote Little Things because I wanted to have some positivity in my life and I wrote it about finding the good side of negative experiences."
Kelso hopes to branch into more live performances once COVID restrictions ease. He is due to perform at Lizotte's on March 16.
FIVE STAR RETURN
HALLELUJAH the Cambridge Hotel has announced it is reopening on Friday October 15 after the latest COVID lockdown.
The Newcastle West live music venue also has major gigs again to announce. On June 18, 2022 the Cambridge will host early-2000s indie-rock legends Motor Ace on their 20th anniversary tour for their debut album Five Star Laundry.
The record was released in 2001 and peaked at No.4 on the ARIA charts and spawned the hits Death Defy, Hey Driver, American Shoes and Chairman Of The Board.
Motor Ace reformed in 2019 after splitting in 2005 and they last played in Newcastle at 48 Watt Street in January 2020.
LAHI HOWLS BACK
NEW music and a video clip is coming on Friday from Singleton-bred singer-songwriter Laura Higgins, aka LaHi.
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing is LaHi's first single since the release in March of her impressive debut EP The Purge that incorporated elements of indie, pop and jazz.
HEAVENLY TIMES
BACK in 1997 when Sydney three-piece Karma Country were bouncing around the pub scene with just a snare drum, acoustic guitar and double bass, they foreshadowed the acoustic roots movement which would boom in the 2000s.
Karma Country's debut album Last Stop Heavenly Heights launched Brendan Gallagher (vocals/guitar), Michael Galeazzi (bass) and Stuart Eadie (drums) and led to an ARIA award for Best Adult Contemporary Album in 2000 for Into The Land Of Promise and overseas tours.
To celebrate 25 years of Last Stop Heavenly Heights Karma Country are performing the album in full, including their classic Postcard.
Karma Country open their tour at Lizotte's on November 4, which will be one of the Lambton theatre's first major shows following the recent lockdown.
EVEN DOUBLE BET
RETRO rockers Even have never been a band interested in trends. Their mid-90s prime was based on mining the spirit and influences of '60s garage rock.
While many young acts believe the album format is dead as they focus their energy on singles to infiltrate Spotify's algorithm, Melbourne's Even have gone in the opposite direction.
On October 29 the three-piece will release their first double album Reverse Light Years. If this year's Gum Ball is any indication, there's plenty left in the tank.
