Hi, my name is Matt – I like dogs and music. When I'm not petting the former, I'm writing (or editing other writers' works) about the latter. Currently holding down the fort at Australian Guitar and freelancing all over the place.
Author: mattdoria
Hi, my name is Matt – I like dogs and music. When I'm not petting the former, I'm writing (or editing other writers' works) about the latter. Currently holding down the fort at Australian Guitar and freelancing all over the place.
So when I rambled about Australian Guitar #141 on here, I noted that my number one pick for the #142 cover story was a giant long shot, and I’d probably have to syndicate it from international because there’d be no way I could score it locally.
But lo and behold, thanks to the absolute legends at Sony, we managed to pull it off, and Australian Guitar has an exclusive interview with a Foo Fighter for #142. Fuck. Yes.
This issue was an absolute joy to put together. I somehow managed to score almost every interview I pitched, and all the feature options I had from international were pure gold. The deadline rush was even surprisingly un-hectic; we approved the issue for print with like eight hours to spare on send day! That never happens!
#143 is deep in production now and I’m even more stoked about it than I am this issue. We already have our cover locked in (a band that’s been on my bucket list since day one) and a stack of A-plus features ready to go. This year really is shaping up to be a great one for AG.
For the moment, you can read all about what’s in Australian Guitar #142 over on the Guitar World site. Copies are on sale now at newsagents all around Australia, online via Techmags and iSubscribe, and digitally wherever great magazines can be downloaded.
At the start of the year, I told myself I’d be using this site a lot more frequently, and posting at least once a week. But alas, we’re ankle-deep in March and I have posted literally once – I’m sorry. Please accept the above photo of my adorable baby Bruno as a consolation.
Anyway, here’s everything of mine that got published around the web (see: one piece for BLUNT and the rest on the Guitar World site – I also need to up my freelancing game ASAP, I know) in February. Note: all the GW features are also printed physically in Australian Guitar #141, which is out now wherever great magazines are sold!
To see this one out, here’s a song I am absolutely obsessed with at the moment. It’s the new single by Norwegian alt-pop trailblazer Girl In Red, “Serotonin”, from her debut album if i could make it go quiet – which lands April 30th via AWAL. I’ve been stewing with an advance copy of the record for a couple of weeks now, and I’m still blown away by it all over again on every listen (I’ve probably played it cover-to-cover a solid 100 times by now). It’s my first 10/10 album for 2021. I’m dying to get my hands on the vinyl come April. “Serotonin” is definitely a highlight on the record, too; I hope you like it as much as I do.
Well okay, it’s the same mag, but there IS a new issue of it! We’re kicking Australian Guitar’s 2021 off with an epic double-length AC/DC cover story, featuring two in-depth interviews with Angus Young. Even for someone who admittedly isn’t that big a fan of the High Voltage rockers (sorry, dads of the world), I’d argue it’s a pretty solid read. We grabbed both interviews from the syndication system – if I’m not mistaken, they’re both from the UK – and honestly, this is the most stoked I’ve been about having access to Future’s massive stable of in-house content. I always want to make our cover stories unique and tailored to AG wherever possible, but I am really excited to bring Australian readers more awesome stories from that pile throughout 2021. I started working on #142 today and the cover artist on the top of my wishlist is extremely selective about who they grant interviews, so I’ll probably end up syndicating a piece for that one as well – but of course, I have my fingers crossed I can wrangle something up myself. Praying every night to the gods of rock ’n’ roll.
Anyway, #141! We’ve used this edition to backflip a bit on the approach to content that carried us through 2020 – where the last few issues were jam-packed with a whole bunch of small features spanning one to three pages, this one features a small amount of really big, in-depth features. There’s a beautiful deep-dive into the origins of the blues, celebrating the players that not only invented, but individualised the genre. There’s a piece that explores the women around the world who are shaking up the lutherie game – who are not only destroying the notion that only men can build great guitars, but taking real innovative leaps forward in the design sphere. There’s the ultimate guide to building the ultimate pedalboard, a ten-page technique bootcamp, and an intro to the world of podcasting (because let’s face it, are you really a musician in the 2020s if you’re not also a podcaster?).
And then there’s all the interviews – so many interviews! I had the incredible privilege of yarning with some absolute legends for this issue, like Billy Corgan, Orianthi, Julien Baker, Steven Wilson… I had a great chat with my all-time favourite musician, Laura Jane Grace (who is always such a fantastic interviewee, all fan bias aside), and had the time of my life talking shit with Heather from Pale Waves – who are about to drop a very easy contender for 2021’s AOTY.
You can read more about what’s in the issue over on the Guitar World site. Copies are on sale now at newsagents all around Australia, online via Techmags and iSubscribe, and digitally wherever great magazines can be downloaded.
So this is a good while late – exactly three weeks since release day, in fact! But in case you don’t already follow me on my personal social media channels, or keep up to date with all the minutia of niche lifestyle magazines distributed exclusively in Australia, then I have some news for you: there’s a new issue of Australian Guitar out! It’s available digitally and on newsagent shelves all around the country, and you can read about exactly what’s in it here: bit.ly/AustralianGuitar140
[Clears throat and whips out my best Ewan-McGregor-as-Obi-Wan-Kenobi impression] Hello there! So this is my first post on the new website. Immediately, the new WordPress post-builder layout is much different than I remember it being, and much different than the Tumblr layout I was using for my old site – the latter in a good way, the former not so much. I miss the way WordPress looked when I was using it for BLUNT and Hysteria circa 2016. This is… Eh… No. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
Anyway, I’m stoked that my first post here is to plug this recent interview I did with Chicago-based goth-punk / absolute legend Danny Denial. Every so often I’ll have the privilege to do an interview that reminds me why I got into this whole game in the first place – this was definitely one of those. We talk about imposter syndrome, Danny’s early demos, the way his (incredible) new album came to life, and that moment in every great artist’s career where they say, “Fuck it, I’m’a do me” and let their whole soul bare.
