Harroway vocalist opens up about band’s origins


Originating from a musical background, 26-year-old Sydney based vocalist Matthew Banks formed Harroway due to a passion for music.

Before he started his band, Mr Banks’ father had an assortment of guitars around the house.

“Dad always had guitars around the house, but he never really played to us.

“They were just there.”

However, this all changed once his older brother started high school and chose music as an elective, which meant the guitars found usage.

Soon, Mr Banks was approached by his brother to play the bass, where he learned to play the instrument and “progressed into vocals from there,”

His first foray into the world of metalcore was with the album “in love and death” by used, along with Eminem.

Mr Banks was blown away by what he was listening to.

“I’m really digging these aggressive screams with this clean beautiful vocals.”

Soon, his brother introduced him to Trivium, which made him realise that “this is where metalcore is at.”

When he started high school, Mr banks joined a metalcore band.

 “All the members have been part of a band throughout our teenage and young adult lives,

“Me, Marcus and Jordan were originally from a band called Maybe I’ll live Forever and Jesse was from a band called Like Royals and Alex was from a band called Isotopes.”

Harroway soon evolved from Maybe I’ll live Forever after two of the band members left.

At the time, Mr Banks was between bands and was shown a sample of the band’s music by Jordan, who he met at a local chicken shop.

“A day later, he hit me up and was like ‘hey, our vocalist is leaving, do you want to join?

“Well, I am not doing anything, so **** it, why not?”

The band soon decided to go for a professional approach.

“When I go into these things, I like to do them as best as I can, in a professional sense.

“It’s a more mature and evolved sound.

“It was a massive step up from what we were doing back then.”

As such, Mr Banks said that Maybe I’ll Live Forever “helped us hone our craft and the execution.”

Speaking on the process of song creation, Mr Banks admits that the writing process “stretched out over a good couple of months.”

“if we’re not 100% happy with the execution, we’ll do it again and again until we get this out.”

This saw the whole band work together to create a song, which involved Marcus writing the riffs, Mr Banks writing the lyrics and melodies and Jordan serving as an aide.

The band sat in a room and worked together to create ideas from a variety of topics.

“I’m trying to branch out and take a more rapper approach with how I write lyrics,

“They don’t just write about themselves, they can tell stories, they can do everything.”

Some of the topics involve the struggle of humanity, relationship issues and “stuff on blackholes and outerspace.”

“I don’t want to be limited to what I can do and what I can write about.

“A lot of my inspirations comes from wanting to fix my mental space.

“I’ve been struggling with depression my entire life and never got away.

“It’s not one of those things were it’s situational and my brain doesn’t register emotions properly.”

“Everything is my inspiration.”

Harroway is currently creating more songs and is working on their timeline on when to release.

“Shine” is available now on all major streaming platforms.

Gulgong lights up with New Year’s Eve festival


With New Year’s Eve around the corner, a folk festival is being held down at a New South Wales town called Gulgong.

Called the Gulgong Folk festival, live folk music is offered in intimate venues amidst the backdrop of a town rich in gold mining history.

Playing at the festival is a well-known bush band called the BushWackers, who will be heading the festival.

With the majority of their music based on traditional folk and working songs from the early 20th century, the band have incorporated Celtic instrumentals and contemporary original songs such as ‘Leave it in the Ground.’

Appearing alongside BushWackers is Bethany Jolly, a singer-guitarist from Brunswick Heads and Luke Robinson, who has a reputable bass voice and originates from Mullumbimby..

With a variety of workshops and market stalls available, the festival has plenty of entertainment to offer

The festival starts on the 29th of December and finishes on the 31st of December.

For further information, visit www.gulgongfolkfestival.net.au

Queensland Art Gallery displays water exhibition


From immersive experiences to small scale treasures from Australian and international artists, the Queensland Art Gallery is set to highlight environmental and social challenges regarding water usage.

Called ‘water’, the exhibition has plenty of activities and artwork to experience.

The art gallery will be running the exhibition from December 7 to April 26, 2020.

Artist Olafur Eliason contributed to the exhibition and created a vast, rocky riverbed that can be walked across.

Cai Guo-Qiang is another artist that created and contributed a display that shows animals drinking from a waterhole.

Concerned about water usage, ‘water’ curator Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow knew residents loved the gallery for its beauty.

“We know water is a really critical issue today,” she said.

Guided tours for the exhibition are available every day from December 9 and start at 11:00 am.

For further information, visit www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/water.