Born in the early 80's The Powerhouse Blues Band was the incarnation of a love for rhythm and blues that was shared by three men; Peter 'Pedro' Gray, Ray Woolley and Ken Mactaggart.

With Ped on Guitar and Vocals, Ray on Bass and Ken pounding the drums the guys belted out renditions of classic blues that they themselves had been raised on.

In the later part of the 80's the guys brought on board a young harp player in Paul Wilson - who's amplified harp took the bands sound right to Chicago.

It wasn't too much longer before the band were recruiting again and fostering the talents of another young player; Chris Sykes on Saxophone. Fresh out of high school Chris could knock the audience dead with his terrific sax style and finesse.

The first half of the 90's the band worked their collective asses off collaborating to record the succesful "Three Ringed Circus" project which helped to raise funds for a local radio station. With the success of this project the band performed on several occasions in venues in Melbourne including the Corner Hotel, the Redhouse and Virgona's.

Shortly after, the band recorded their first album "Move the Pool Table". The album was a fine example of Australian Blues and was distributed by Shock Records and enjoyed moderate success around Australia and Europe.

In their tradition of fostering young talent and showcasing older players, over the last ten years Powerhouse have featured the likes of Sandy Clark - guitarist and singer, Shaun Gardner - keyboard player extraordinaire, Liam Wilkerson - Guitarist & Singer and Anne-Maree DeSiree - singer.

Currently Powerhouse are featuring Sandy Clark on Guitar and Vocals. Powerhouse are also working on some live recordings / new material. Catch them on the road at a blues show near you!

‘I have written a blasphemous book’, said Melville when his novel was first published in 1851, ‘and I feel as spotless as the lamb’. Deeply subversive, in almost every way imaginable, Moby-Dick is a virtual, alternative bible – and as such, ripe for reinterpretation in this new world of new media. Out of Dominion was born its bastard child – or perhaps its immaculate conception – the Moby-Dick Big Read: an online version of Melville’s magisterial tome: each of its 135 chapters read out aloud, by a mixture of the celebrated and the unknown, to be broadcast online, one new chapter each day, in a sequence of 135 downloads, publicly and freely accessible. 


For more info please go to: www.mobydickbigread.com

Contemporary instrumental groove music for dancing to (mostly — there are some tunes for the brain, too).

Since its inception, Alligator has always kept a close eye both on new artists and new technologies. In the 1970s, the company produced LPs, cassettes and 8-track tapes. In the 1980s, Alligator was the first blues company to produce CDs, and in the 1990s Alligator was among the first labels to market its catalog over the Internet. These days, alligator.com, the label's website, and its social media sites are instantly updated with the latest news and tour dates. At the website, visitors can listen to a 250-song jukebox while reading bios of every artist, get free downloads and purchase CDs and other blues-related merchandise. Alligator is also deeply involved in the downloading worlds, working closely with almost all of the legitimate download services, making thousands of Alligator tracks available for instant online purchase.

Today Alligator Records is fueled by the same principles that it first established in 1971. The label continues to push forward, still bucking the odds, with everybody working long hours on a shoestring budget. The entire staff is always looking for new talent and listening to a wide variety of roots music. As driven and determined as ever, Alligator is committed to the future. "I want to keep bringing blues and roots music to new fans and getting them as excited about the music as I am," says Iglauer. 

https://linktr.ee/wearedelasoul

De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream. As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their adoring fanbase and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a hiatus from making albums, but joined The Gorillaz on the track “Feel Good Inc” which won them a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.  In 2015, the group raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their album and the Anonymous Nobody, which was their first #1 on the Rap Albums chart, and was also nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy.   

However, the demand for unreleased De La Soul music was palpable and the cry for access to the first six albums grew louder. Unfortunately, De La Soul was stuck riding a roller coaster of stalled negotiations, dashed hopes and dead-end conversations with their old label, and the group nearly gave up. 

"We have lived without the music up for long, these six albums haven’t been up—ever,” Pos says. “We got used to knowing they weren’t up.” In June of 2021, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home.  In March of 2023, the six missing albums were finally available to stream.  But sadly, right before the catalog release, Dave, the beloved member of De La Soul, passed away. Though bittersweet, De La Soul preserves his legacy and the ongoing impact of their music. 

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number”, found new life in the film Spiderman: No Way Home in 2021, De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. 

As Pos notes, “We’ve noticed over the past several years of tour like, ‘Wow, there’s a father here with his child who also is here with their child. ‘We’re generational. To me, there’s nothing more gratifying than that. That means something. That’s telling about a group. What we were doing wasn’t just stuck to that time.”

“We really naturally been that group for everyone,” Pos says. “It was never about we’re just here for this community, that community, this set of people or these certain fans of Hip Hop culture. We see music as music. We’ve been very resilient, even being a group that didn’t have our music up [on streaming platforms]. We still had these beautiful opportunities through young people finding out about us through a commercial or Spider-Man. Now that it can all be there for people to gravitate to, I’m really happy about that.” 

De La Soul's impact on the musical landscape is immeasurable, with 3 Feet High and Rising widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of its era. Pioneering inventive sampling, playful lyrics, and eclectic beats, the album broke new ground and set a standard for creativity in the genre. Recognizing its cultural significance, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

http://dearplasticmusic.com/

We're a 5-piece Melbourne band made up of visual artists, science geeks, and analogue synth wizards. This is our debut album, The Thieves are Babes: http://www.waterfrontrecords.com/product/84387

You might like our tunes if you love Bjork, dig Radiohead, or enjoy that weird feeling you get when you pop on some Scott Walker. 



Drop us a line!: dearplasticband@gmail.com

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