Tag Archives: New Music 2025

CHEAP-SKATE.

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What is there to do on a boring Sunday evening but write about one of the most exciting bands from Australia- CHEAP-SKATE! I genuinely thought I’d written about them before, but turns out I’ve ignored the list on my phone of bands I want to write about for some time now, so I’ve deleted it. My notes app is a questionable place and the list of bands I had jotted down was probably the only coherent thing I had on there.

I’m very late with this, and this is a band I should have written about years ago it seems but, I do not like order or being organised. I don’t like it when it’s forced upon me, and it makes me want to do the opposite of what I’m told. Basically, I don’t like being told what to do. Even if I’m the one telling myself what to do. I’ve gone off track- sorry! By years ago, I mean in 2022 which is still pretty recent, right? Anyway, CHEAP-SKATE started in 2022 and over the past few years they’ve become a solid name in the Australian Garage Rock scene, and rightfully so.

What our boy Blaike Murphy has created as CHEAP-SKATE is something really beautiful. It makes you want to drink lukewarm beer in the sun and attempt to skate down the promenade. I cannot skate but I LOVE skateboarding as much as I love football, pizza, and music. Oh, and my cat. CHEAP-SKATE make the kind of music I wish I could; if I was in a band, I’d either want it to sound like this or The Jesus And Mary Chain. I remember listening to CHEAP-SKATE towards the end of 2022/start of 2023, and I remember getting this eternal summer feeling from the music. It felt like even on the coldest of December days, the sun was on my back when I was listening to them. That feeling hasn’t gone at all, and I know CHEAP-SKATE is Blaike’s side project, but I just hope he never stops making music as CHEAP-SKATE.

With a handful of singles and EPs already out there, there’s no denying just how bloody great CHEAP-SKATES is. I wish I could tell you their best songs or where to start, but I can’t. You just have to go in head first from the start and work your way to present day (or to a few weeks ago.) One of the last releases was SUN, which came out at the start of December if I remember correctly, and it’s made up of 5 songs and it doesn’t even hit the 15 minute mark. So, if you’ve got a really bad attention span- then it’s the record for you. CHEAP-SKATE are the band for you. There’s this divine sun-kissed sound going on, and it’s the fuzzy guitar, it’s the intense drums and blissed-out vocals that make CHEAP-SKATE the band that they are. However, there was a nice surprise drop 2 days ago and new EP GROM came out. It may only be 3 songs, but those 3 songs totally rip. They were written and recorded in a few hours, and if this is what CHEAP-SKATE can do in a few hours, then there’s no telling how great what comes next will be.

CHEAP-SKATE make the kind of music for those of us who are alone a fair amount of the time- stick our headphones on and go about our day with our favourite sounds in our ears. By no means is it a bad thing, if anything it brings a lot of inner peace and you know what? You, me, whoever- we deserve it. There’s no better feeling than being at peace with yourself, and listening to music that makes you feel good, you know? No better feeling. CHEAP-SKATE for me are just another band that I’d sell my kidneys to see live. You can just tell that the energy is right, and the show would be unreal. If I ever won the lottery (have to play it first, I know!) there’s a bunch of bands I’d be bringing over for tours, and CHEAP-SKATE would be high on my list.

I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is about the band that I love so much, but I think it’s the feeling I get from listening to them. Everything just feels alright, and given how cruel the world is- we all need that band in our corner. It all started in 2022 with the song I Don’t Wanna and now we’ve got to the GROM mini-EP; everything in between shows us why CHEAP-SKATE are such a great band, and one worth telling any and everyone about. I love that listening to the band makes you feel like you’re hanging out with someone who REALLY gets you. That’s a rare feeling- to find it in music and in a person, and Blaike does it in such a way that isn’t overwhelming, and the songs are delicate when they need to be and I think that’s part of why the band own a piece of my heart. I feel like I’m hanging out with my best mate when I listen to CHEAP-SKATE, and it’s such a pure feeling to gain from listening to music. We don’t get it enough, and I think that’s why bands like CHEAP-SKATE need to be treasured and appreciated. There’s a strong lo-fi DIY sound to the music, and its Surf-Punk at its finest (if we’re needing labels) and hand on heart, this band feel like home.

If you love bands like SKEGSS, WAVVES, Hockey Dad, Goblin Mode…all the good stuff! Then you’re going to fall in love with CHEAP-SKATE. I can’t wait to hear more from the band this year because the sheer joy they bring is just heavenly!

DITZ: Never Exhale.

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Nearly a decade ago, the band DITZ formed, and nothing was ever the same since. From their first EP in the same year to 2022’s debut, The Great Regression and a live record thrown in the middle- the band have made a name for themselves. They’ve become one of the best bands in this country, but also- criminally underrated. They aren’t a band for casual listening. They’re a band that when you listen to them, you listen with intent. With everything you have, and more (if you have it in you.)

In about 16 days’ time their new record, Never Exhale will be released. How early it is in the year to call it as one of the best records of the year, but it’s an accurate claim and I know by mid-September I’ll feel the same. I cannot budge on my love for DITZ. Never. Everything about their new record shows the band at their very best, and it doesn’t feel like it’s a band who are about to give us only their second full length record. This is a record that holds a lot of weight, importance, and passion. It’s a bloody unreal record and it just reinforces why I love them so much. I think any DITZ fan is going to fall madly and utterly in love with this one.

I won’t get into how great Taxi Man and Space/Smile are because with them being the two lead singles so far- you already know how great they are and beautifully set the tone of the record. The urgency on Space/Smile is throughout the record, and that raspy tone in C.A. Francis’ voice is just divine. You want more and more of it. There’s so much beauty in the lyrics on the record, and for me Senor Siniestro is lyrically up there as being my favourite. I love how C.A. Francis describes standing on a snail in the rain and the feeling and sounds it beings. The way this song kicks in just before the 2 minute mark is WILD, and I think live this is going to be one that truly sticks with you. There’s desperation in this song, and I think for me, that’s what makes it hit hardest. They are a band that HAVE to be seen live, because there’s no way that these songs should be confined to you listening to them in your bedroom.

For me, DITZ make the kind of music that you want to crawl inside of and stay there. You want every sound, lyric, note- every element of the music to just consume you in all ways possible. A person could never come close to giving you this; but music can. It always has, and always will. DITZ are a band that just never seem to stop and the bursts of energy on Never Exhale show this. There is this force in the songs that feels like you are preparing for something, they hype you up but at the same time you find a home and comfort in them.

Every song on this record serves a purpose, and that purpose is to make YOU listen. You have to. Like I mentioned, they aren’t a band that you have on in the background and casually listen to them. Oh no! DITZ are to be heard. You cannot just passively listen to songs like God on a Speed Dial and go about your daily business- absolutely not! Every emotion possible will go through you. It’s vocally one of the best moments on the record. Smells Like Something Died In Here isn’t only the best song title of 2025, but it may just be DITZ at their very best. It’s heavy, it’s brutal, it’s eerie and it should unsettle you. It’s the kind of song you’d want to hear during a horrific scene in a sketchy Horror film and something truly awful is about to happen. The atmosphere on this record is haunting and tense, and it is heightened on this song- well and truly. If a Horror film could be captured in a song, it’s this one.

On the way to work this morning, I was listening to The Great Regression and as I listen to Never Exhale, I can hear just how the band have secured their sound and built themselves to be one of the most thrilling bands we have in this country. Caleb kills the bass on 18 Wheeler, then when Sam comes in with the drums to back up the punchy tones of Caleb- it all comes together with Anton and Jack adding this extra heaviness, and it just makes for one of the most captivating moments on the record. It also has that distinctive DITZ sound- like you’re having an MRI scan, or someone is drilling your skull, and they pour their sounds into your ears, and it just swallows you up. Nothing else can be heard. It sinks deep into you. It’s consuming, and it is beautiful. This band go beyond giving you all that you need.

The Body as a Structure is the one that’s got me right in the gut. This is the one I’m most excited to see live (if they play it!) and touches on “the separation of the physical from an ingrained sense of reality” which is a beautiful way of explaining how important this song is. I feel this is going to be the song that I keep going back to. I don’t think I’m going to personally hear a song that will hit me in the gut like this for the rest of the year. There are a few reasons why this one hits me the most, but honestly? No one needs to hear it, nor does it need to be written down. It’s just one of the most powerful songs we’ll get this year.

The record ends with britney; 7 and a half minutes of greatness. The record consists of perfect moments and every song deserves its place. This the perfect way to close the record and it is the band at their most vulnerable. It’s one of those songs that will leave you crying at how beautiful it is- it’s the 2 minute mark onwards that grips you. It’s a tough listen, but if you can stomach it; then you’ll feel every emotion possible on this one. It’s heavy, and it’s by no means an easy listen. It’s one where you sit and let it consume you. It’s poetic, it’s passionate and it’s intense. That sums the record up in general, but my god on this song it exceeds it all. You have to listen to this with headphones on and with your eyes closed. Don’t let anyone or anything near you to distract you. For those 7 and a half minutes- you belong to DITZ and no one else. The build up and the release during the last 2 minutes on this song feels like something is clawing it’s way out of you, then when it all ends and the quiet hits all you are left with is how the record has made you feel, and what the hell do you do afterwards. You’re overwhelmed in the best way possible.

Never Exhale is a record that will stay with you for a long time after you’ve listened to it. Certain moments on the record will hit you as you go about your day, and you’ll feel the need to stop everything, and let the record consume you all over again. The same feeling I got when I heard them for the first time is alive and well after listening to the new record, and I think if a band can do that, then you know you’ve found something special. And you know that they have created something that goes beyond words and feelings.