The Advocates

Melbourne’s newest purveyors of hard-edged, thumping 70's-inspired Blues/Funk/Prog/Alternative Rock have arrived. Otherwise suitably known as The Advocates. This explosive, high-energy three-piece features the talents of Mike Elrington on guitars/vocals, Roderick McLeod on drums & Oscar Lopaczuk on bass.

Fusing sounds inspired by the likes of Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Cream, Tea Party, Audioslave & the Chili Peppers to name a few, this is one band not afraid to take chances with genre-bending ideas, tight musicianship & epic song structures. All topped off with Elrington’s howling, soaring & Chris Cornell-type vocals.

Previously known as the Mike Elrington Band, Mike, Rod & Oz have been together since 2003 and since their inception have cut their teeth playing blues clubs & festivals throughout Australia, the United States & Canada. The two self-managed trips to North America saw them grace stages to rave reviews in some of America’s most prestigious clubs such as Biscuit’s & Blues in San Francisco, the Cat Club in Hollywood & Sullivan Hall, New York City.

After many years as a hard-working blues band and a healthy desire to push new musical boundaries, the group decided to change it’s name to The Advocates. And what are they Advocating you ask? Powerful, passionate, original and meaningful genre-bending rock’n'roll, which isn’t afraid to push boundaries, take chances, challenge the listener and deliver a knock-out live show wherever they may be in the world.

The group’s rather outspoken and somewhat controversial frontman (Mike Elrington), only wants to achieve one thing with this band and it’s music, and that is to make music that has some type of an effect on people which could ultimately inspire them to do something risky, passionate & meaningful in life. He says – “Quite frankly I couldn’t give a flying fuck if doing this shit makes me widely respected, famous & rich, or keeps me living in definite obscurity, I just want to make music that MEANS SOMETHING to me, my band & the people who choose to listen. If I can do that, I’m a satisfied man”.