Melbourne’s Teskey Brothers top ARIA chart with old school album
Melbourne’s The Teskey Brothers have achieved a chart feat not seen since AC/DC two decades ago — and it reveals the one thing music lovers are missing during strict lockdown measures.
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Melbourne band The Teskey Brothers have scored their first ARIA No.1 album.
Their record Live at the Forum is the first live album to reach No.1 in Australia since AC/DC in 1999.
“It’s quite ironic a live album is No.1 right now,” Michael Gudinski, their record label boss, said.
“It accentuates how people are missing live music. They’re a special band.”
The album was recorded last November during the band’s string of sold-out shows at their hometown venue.
The Warrandyte-based quartet, which avoids digital recording on their albums, also took an old school analog approach to capturing the live record.
They set up a reel-to-reel tape machine backstage at the Forum to record the record, which includes their cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy.
The band even had to take an intermission during the show while the tapes were changed backstage.
As well as the usual digital (it has topped the iTunes chart all week) and CD, Live at the Forum is available blue vinyl, with a limited edition version exclusively sold at indie record stores.
The band’s previous two albums, 2019’s Run Home Slow (2019) and 2017’s Half Mile Harvest (which scored a Grammy nomination) have re-entered this week’s ARIA chart.
The Teskey Brothers were featured on Friday’s State of Music broadcast, getting access to the currently-closed NGV to record their performances.
Gudinski launched State of Music as a weekly show to fill the void left by live shows, moving this week’s event to avoid a clash with Powderfinger’s Saturday night Youtube concert.
It has already featured a string of new and established artists including Paul Kelly, the Hoodoo Gurus, G-Flip, Missy Higgins, Vera Blue, Birds of Tokyo and James Reyne.
“State of Music has been great for musicians and I’m looking at ways to keep it going, it’s getting a great reaction,” he said.
Gudinski will release a two CD-set of his Music from the Homefront Anzac Day concert on June 19, followed by a triple vinyl set six weeks later.
The TV program was a ratings hit for Channel 9 and featured acts including Delta Goodrem with Colin Hay, Crowded House, Jimmy Barnes, Bliss N Eso with Kate Ceberano, Dean Lewis, the Rubens, Tame Impala and Vance Joy.
JB Hifi is waiving any costs from the album to ensure more money goes to music industry charity Support Act.
“People will buy and keep this album, I don’t know any show that has had such a big impact, and all the proceeds go to Support Act. It put Australian music back on prime time TV like it should be.”
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