Lifestyle

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | Are the Dockers really changing their club song? Why are NME interested in Aussie flashers? And what is Daniel Johns doing with Paul Kelly and The Temper Trap at the Sydney Opera House?

Wilbur Smith is one of the world’s most successful authors - a global No 1 bestseller who has sold 120 million books worldwide. On the phone from his home in London, HEATHER WALKER found out about his latest novel, Those in Peril, and his accomplished writing career.

REVIEW | The iconic 90’s pop song Ice, Ice Baby was the last song I expected to hear when I turned out to see Architecture in Helsinki perform in London on Tuesday.

REVIEW | No matter how many times you hear them, when The Cat Empire take the stage, you better have your dancing shoes on.

It takes a great show to sell out a venue at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival but takes an even greater show to come back the next year with the same show, upgrade to a larger venue and sell it out once again. That's exactly what The Boy With Tape On...

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | An old school spat between Courtney Love and (insert any name here); the glory of music posters and getting excited about Melbourne Music Week.

When PAUL JUDGE spoke to funnyman Adam Hills recently, the Aussie comedian was in a London backyard kicking a football with his 13 month year old daughter after having spent all morning reading through a script for Spicks and Specks.

Aussie favourites The Cat Empire are about to rock London with two huge shows this week as they embark on yet another epic UK tour. TIM MARTIN caught up with co-lead vocalist and trumpeter Harry Angus to talk London curries, Felix’s dance moves and James Brown.

The relationship between Oscar Wilde and Australia is often a conflicted one. Much like the relationship between the celebrated playwright and his 'new' play, Constance, showing at north London's King's Head Theatre.

It was the story that painted South Australia as the serial killer capital of Australia and made a small country town a tourist attraction for all the wrong reasons. The “bodies in the barrels” case was seemingly made to be portrayed as a Saw style horror film yet director Justin...

When Sydney boy Lachie Chapman moved to London six years ago, little did he know the drastic direction his life would soon take. Now a member of the hugely successful singing group The Overtones, the booming baritone told TIM MARTIN just what it’s like to be a UK hit.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | Is it true!? Is Madonna coming to Oz? And what about the ARIAs. Who is going to win? Oh, and Ministry of Sound gets lucky. We've got all the Aussie music goss.

This week top Claridge’s chef Chris Ark shares some pointers and techniques on making bread plus his top three bread recipes.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is not known for speaking. What he is known for is having “the voice of a higher being” according to music legend, Sting, and London felt the full force of it last week at the Barbican Centre in all it's glory.

There is a bar in Soho that is the perfect place to go to for a dose of British charm. It isn’t much like any other that Australians frequent in London, but there is a particular appeal that this bar can offer.

Australia’s longest running TV drama will decamp for Port Douglas as Neighbours puts Tropical North Queensland streets ahead.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | Aussie legends band together for a Wiggles tribute album; Angry Anderson wants to be a poli and Aussies in Afghanistan.

Australian Times favourite Sarah Blasko is one busy musician and is about to get a heck of a lot busier when she kicks off her UK acoustic tour this weekend.

REVIEW | New Zealand singer-songwriter Brooke Fraser is beginning to make waves in Europe. Nathan Motton tells why her endearing blend of pop/rock is striking all the right chords.

Check out which acts and musicians have been announced for the Big Day Out 2012. This is the lineup so far, with many more to come.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | What do you get when you mix country music and guns? Steve Lee! Plus we have all the Big Day Out latest news and the low down on the Deadly Awards.

REVIEW | Seeing Mat. McHugh step onto the London stage without a band behind him was an exciting prospect and The Beautiful Girls frontman quickly introduced the crowd to his solo repertoire.

The Beautiful Girls frontman, Mat. McHugh, is finally ready to introduce himself to the world.

Tim Martin chats to Michael Hohnen ahead of his European tour with Australian musical genius, Gurrumul, and finds out just who is the man that lives in Gurrumul’s shadow.

The newly unveiled singer of INXS says he could never hope to fill the gap left by the late, great Michael Hutchence.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | Aussie musicians living below the poverty line, INXS heading in a new direction and calling all amateur directors.

Ahead of this week's AFL grand final, we take a look at the best speccies, greatest kicks and biggest hits that YouTube has to offer. Here's our top 5.

The hymn-like quality of Gurrumul's latest album, Rrakala, makes it perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, with songs of family and home, ancestors and intimacy with the earth a reminder of what Australians often miss when abroad.

REVIEW | Watching Peter Knight and Dung Nguyen’s Way Out West Sextet at the Pizza Express Club in Soho and it is clear that this Aussie group are taking International jazz to the next plateau.

REVIEW | In the moments before The Jezabels took the stage at XOYO in Shoreditch, suspense and anticipation were sky high.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND: We join in honouring Aussie legend Cave, tell you about the 'most' exorbitant festival ticket ever and get a little bit excited about Mr Slim Shady.

REVIEW | Darren Hanlon has played many of London's “strangely shaped rooms” over the years, and the iconic 100 Club — a small venue on Oxford St which has boasted the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Clash — provided the perfect, intimate setting to conclude his UK tour.

Australian singer songwriter Pete Murray has announced two London shows at Bush Hall this November.

REVIEW | When the Spooky Men’s Chorale took to the stage at the Union Chapel, what followed was a masterclass in music, interspersed with dad jokes and sight gags.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND: Could Melbourne be the next Austin, Texas? Are Hunters and Collectors coming back for good? And just who is Danielle de Niese?

REVIEW: Literally quite a few of London’s hippest kids jammed into the 02 Academy Islington for the rare honour of witnessing S.mouse, live.

In recent years, manliness has found itself under assault by make-up companies, diet gurus and even breweries. But there are a group of Aussie men who are bringing the fight to the UK. Men, manly men!

REVIEW | We sat there staring into the storyteller’s shaded, deep set eyes as he spun uncomplicated yet incredibly moving yarns through his impressive song writing, all the while backing it up with a voice that is as solid, seemingly unchanging and Australian as Uluru.

INTERVIEW | “I think people are influenced by what’s gone before. When I learnt how to play songs, you fall in love with other people’s songs and you learn them and you start to write your own." Paul Kelly, September, 2011.

REVIEW: Despite being filled with some of Paul Kelly’s lesser known songs, the “dark, weird and difficult night three” as described by Kelly himself was not without highlights.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | Stafford Brothers named hottest act in Aussie dance and Legacy goes new-age. Plus, guess who's hitting the UK this autumn?

REVIEW: The letter ‘F’ was where we started the night with Paul accompanied by nephew Dan Kelly a famous musician in his own right.

REVIEW | Paul Kelly is a walking, talking manual for how to live. And, yep well I better come out and say it; 'an Australian bloke's way to live.

Multi-award winning Australian actor/writer/director Chris Lilley will be performing in the UK for the very first time on Wednesday 7 September, at the O2 Academy Islington, London.

Paul Kelly's been entertaining audiences for three decades and the ever popular Australian musician is still in huge demand around the world, as evidenced by his four sold-out shows in London this week.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND: Triple J launching a new radio station, remembering Nirvana in Oz and packing Kylie up for the archives.

Celebrity Big Brother contestant, Australian Darryn Lyons, stuns viewers with his fake abs.

Australian expertise will be called on to help host the 2012 Edinburgh Festival as local know-how is drained by the coinciding Olympic Games, a London newspaper reports.

Australian punk paparazzi king-pin Darryn Lyons enters the new UK Celebrity Big Brother house, but no Charlie Sheen.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTHERLAND | Acca Dacca vino hits the shelves, young Aussie rockers are signed by FIFA while Spicks & Specks hits the road to wave goodbye.