A Friend Of Mine

A Friend Of Mine
If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It (Independent)
A full and fierce debut EP from the ambitious songwriting team that is A Friend Of Mine. Heavily informed by a late-period Radiohead, the boys also cite Mogwai, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails and Neutral Milk Hotel as influences and bear the marks of all these bands. Rich, dark and deeply creative, they move from glitch-based dreamscapes to murky ballads to industrial gothica in an album length collection of oblique but powerful tunes. Very, very interesting. - Beat Magazine 27.06.07

A Friend Of Mine
If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It (Independent)
A full and fierce debut EP from the ambitious songwriting team that is A Friend Of Mine. Heavily informed by a late-period Radiohead, the boys also cite Mogwai, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails and Neutral Milk Hotel as influences and bear the marks of all these bands. Rich, dark and deeply creative, they move from glitch-based dreamscapes to murky ballads to industrial gothica in an album length collection of oblique but powerful tunes. Very, very interesting. - Beat Magazine 27.06.07

A FRIEND OF MINE
IF YOUR HEAD EXPLODES YOU'LL NEVER MAKE IT (INDEPENDENT)
The music industry is plagued with perils and pitfalls that compromise artists' ability to evolve from amateur garage band to commercially attractive proposition. Judging by the title of its debut EP - If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It - local band A Friend of Mine has already grasped a salient (if statistically unlikely) lesson about life in the music industry.
If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It is a mix of atmospheric rock moments, samples and emotive pleadings which resists the temptation to dive into a well furnished musical pigeon hole. The opening track Welcome Back is a minute and a half of droning noise (that could, if you'd taken the wrong inebriants, cause your head to explode), while the ambitious intentions of Cry Like You Mean It would benefit from a more seamless character. The contrast between soulful indie-rock pleadings and the scatter-gun sampled drum beat in the epic My Editor In New York is just enough to lift the song from the intrinsic lying just within ear shot, while Nothing Gives Me Greater Satisfaction Than Watching You Fuck Up Your Life escapes from the sludgy atmospheric rock into a typically bruising rock finale (via a grinding guitar solo that might be a metaphor for the fuck up referred to in the song title). The tone of Honey, It's Our Song is (not surprisingly) lighter and happier, like the Hummingbirds writing immediately after being sodomised by the music industry, and the power pop flourishes in Suicide Is Bad For You are almost as valuable as the practicality of the advice offered in the title.
Like spontaneous human combustion, infinite cranial expansion syndrome is sadly misunderstood in our society. Hopefully A Friend Of Mine will not only continue to progress musically, but continue to raise public consciousness of danger of exploding heads.
-Patrick Emery - Beat Magazine 22.08.07

A FRIEND OF MINE
IF YOUR HEAD EXPLODES YOU'LL NEVER MAKE IT (INDEPENDENT)
The music industry is plagued with perils and pitfalls that compromise artists' ability to evolve from amateur garage band to commercially attractive proposition. Judging by the title of its debut EP - If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It - local band A Friend of Mine has already grasped a salient (if statistically unlikely) lesson about life in the music industry.
If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It is a mix of atmospheric rock moments, samples and emotive pleadings which resists the temptation to dive into a well furnished musical pigeon hole. The opening track Welcome Back is a minute and a half of droning noise (that could, if you'd taken the wrong inebriants, cause your head to explode), while the ambitious intentions of Cry Like You Mean It would benefit from a more seamless character. The contrast between soulful indie-rock pleadings and the scatter-gun sampled drum beat in the epic My Editor In New York is just enough to lift the song from the intrinsic lying just within ear shot, while Nothing Gives Me Greater Satisfaction Than Watching You Fuck Up Your Life escapes from the sludgy atmospheric rock into a typically bruising rock finale (via a grinding guitar solo that might be a metaphor for the fuck up referred to in the song title). The tone of Honey, It's Our Song is (not surprisingly) lighter and happier, like the Hummingbirds writing immediately after being sodomised by the music industry, and the power pop flourishes in Suicide Is Bad For You are almost as valuable as the practicality of the advice offered in the title.
Like spontaneous human combustion, infinite cranial expansion syndrome is sadly misunderstood in our society. Hopefully A Friend Of Mine will not only continue to progress musically, but continue to raise public consciousness of danger of exploding heads.
-Patrick Emery - Beat Magazine 22.08.07

(A portion of a larger review for a headline show by Birds Of Tokyo)

Backtracking a little, it would be remiss of me not to mention openers A Friend Of Mine, who played a solid set of their version of post punk which, at times, was tremendously powerful. Creating a pummeling wall of sound, the punters seemed genuinely appreciative of having their ears tested early. - Beat Magazine 28.05.08

(A portion of a larger review for a headline show by Birds Of Tokyo)

Backtracking a little, it would be remiss of me not to mention openers A Friend Of Mine, who played a solid set of their version of post punk which, at times, was tremendously powerful. Creating a pummeling wall of sound, the punters seemed genuinely appreciative of having their ears tested early. - Beat Magazine 28.05.08

A Friend Of Mine played the sort of music you might bulldoze a neighbourhood to: rolling waves of brooding guitar grounded by frenetic, precise drum work and a monotonous but mostly effective vocal style. Their chaotic soundscapes were rather overwhelming at times, but their variation in intensity and unpretentious character made them a band worth catching. Take Tool and splice their musical genome with that of jazz legends The Necks and you've got a rough idea. - Inpress 22.02.06

A Friend Of Mine played the sort of music you might bulldoze a neighbourhood to: rolling waves of brooding guitar grounded by frenetic, precise drum work and a monotonous but mostly effective vocal style. Their chaotic soundscapes were rather overwhelming at times, but their variation in intensity and unpretentious character made them a band worth catching. Take Tool and splice their musical genome with that of jazz legends The Necks and you've got a rough idea. - Inpress 22.02.06

(a portion of a larger review of a night headlined by QLD singer-songwriter Edward Guglielmino)

Next up on the bill was A Friend of Mine and they reminded everyone that loud 90's grunge was not dead, it was just sleeping. They had an eerie likeness of one of the greatest school bands ever: The Zit Remedy from Degrassi High. But this might be before your time kids; I mean it was the late 80's after all. On first impressions, however, I wasn't alone in drawing comparisons to Nirvana or Alice in Chains. Maybe it was the overexcited smoke machine (haven't seen one of those in a while) which added to the school of rock authenticity as the guitarist shouted out "Does it look like my amp's on fire?" However, you couldn't turn a deaf ear to them; with double unison vocals which droned into a sea of power chords, and a drummer that rocked hard enough to put holes in your ear drums. The laptop beats also added a sophistication to what could be an easily pigeon holed group. A Friend of Mine gave the crowd a grand finale rock explosion, with extra smoke.
-JonathanB - FasterLouder.com.au 29.01.08

(a portion of a larger review of a night headlined by QLD singer-songwriter Edward Guglielmino)

Next up on the bill was A Friend of Mine and they reminded everyone that loud 90's grunge was not dead, it was just sleeping. They had an eerie likeness of one of the greatest school bands ever: The Zit Remedy from Degrassi High. But this might be before your time kids; I mean it was the late 80's after all. On first impressions, however, I wasn't alone in drawing comparisons to Nirvana or Alice in Chains. Maybe it was the overexcited smoke machine (haven't seen one of those in a while) which added to the school of rock authenticity as the guitarist shouted out "Does it look like my amp's on fire?" However, you couldn't turn a deaf ear to them; with double unison vocals which droned into a sea of power chords, and a drummer that rocked hard enough to put holes in your ear drums. The laptop beats also added a sophistication to what could be an easily pigeon holed group. A Friend of Mine gave the crowd a grand finale rock explosion, with extra smoke.
-JonathanB - FasterLouder.com.au 29.01.08

-Riki Platt
"We're pretty much like brothers. If we have something we wanna say, we're not afraid to just say it.
Get it out there, there's not really any tension," says Chris Drane, drummer for Melbourne band, A Friend Of Mine.
There have always been cases of band members not being able to get along with one another, coming together to create music but soon departing from each other to live their separate lives. Then there are the bands whose members are great friends, doing what they love in good company.
A Friend Of Mine are a prime case of that. "We kinda of have an odd sense of humour that the three of us have grown up to know," Drane chuckles, "A lot of people probably wouldn't get some of the things we say. The three of us have just know each other that long and have the same musical backgrounds, likes and dislikes, it just makes it a lot easier."
The boys have a bit of a history together, Patrick Walker, the guitarist/vocals for the band and Drane have been belting out their instruments together as far back as in their early teens. "We started off pop-punk, grunge, then went to metal and ended up here," says Walker.
The guys having now reached the age of 22, have been in A Friend Of Mine for roughly two years now. "Grungy-rock with electronic sounds," the name that comes to mind for the boys as they attempt to classify their band under a genre.
"Some people try to put it into a genre and it always just ends up sounding pretty stupid," Drane laughs.
The band have just released their first studio E.P, "If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It". As well as that, the boys have a few support shows coming up and have recently been planning an international tour for next year to America and Europe where they will support Shooting At Unarmed Men.
Even in these busy times the three still write new songs continuously. "We got heaps of new songs at the moment, we pretty got the next two or three E.Ps or albums ready to go," Drane says. "Patrick and I both have big books full of ideas for lyrics and stuff, we just sort of sift through them, see what fits for what," notes Dave Lees, who provides bass/vocals for the group. "90% of the stuff one of us likes, the rest of us likes as well. It means that when we're writing stuff we all agree on what's good and what's not good, it works well."
A Friend Of Mine is a common goal between the guys and helps keep them linked. So what might they be doing if they weren't involved in this?
"I think if we weren't in a band, we'd probably just be drinking and on the street," Drane laughs. - Buzz Magazine 12/07

-Riki Platt
"We're pretty much like brothers. If we have something we wanna say, we're not afraid to just say it.
Get it out there, there's not really any tension," says Chris Drane, drummer for Melbourne band, A Friend Of Mine.
There have always been cases of band members not being able to get along with one another, coming together to create music but soon departing from each other to live their separate lives. Then there are the bands whose members are great friends, doing what they love in good company.
A Friend Of Mine are a prime case of that. "We kinda of have an odd sense of humour that the three of us have grown up to know," Drane chuckles, "A lot of people probably wouldn't get some of the things we say. The three of us have just know each other that long and have the same musical backgrounds, likes and dislikes, it just makes it a lot easier."
The boys have a bit of a history together, Patrick Walker, the guitarist/vocals for the band and Drane have been belting out their instruments together as far back as in their early teens. "We started off pop-punk, grunge, then went to metal and ended up here," says Walker.
The guys having now reached the age of 22, have been in A Friend Of Mine for roughly two years now. "Grungy-rock with electronic sounds," the name that comes to mind for the boys as they attempt to classify their band under a genre.
"Some people try to put it into a genre and it always just ends up sounding pretty stupid," Drane laughs.
The band have just released their first studio E.P, "If Your Head Explodes You'll Never Make It". As well as that, the boys have a few support shows coming up and have recently been planning an international tour for next year to America and Europe where they will support Shooting At Unarmed Men.
Even in these busy times the three still write new songs continuously. "We got heaps of new songs at the moment, we pretty got the next two or three E.Ps or albums ready to go," Drane says. "Patrick and I both have big books full of ideas for lyrics and stuff, we just sort of sift through them, see what fits for what," notes Dave Lees, who provides bass/vocals for the group. "90% of the stuff one of us likes, the rest of us likes as well. It means that when we're writing stuff we all agree on what's good and what's not good, it works well."
A Friend Of Mine is a common goal between the guys and helps keep them linked. So what might they be doing if they weren't involved in this?
"I think if we weren't in a band, we'd probably just be drinking and on the street," Drane laughs. - Buzz Magazine 12/07