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Published by Ash McGregor
Listen up! This is your new favourite music hub. From big names to the next-gen, Ash McGregor brings you unmissable conversations with artists shaping the sound of now. Each week, deep dive your favourite artists and discover the musicians about to take over. You'll hear it here first. Keep up to date: ⭐️ @listenupwithash ⭐️ @ash_mcgregor ------ We'd like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation where this show is filmed.
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From the feed
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Bugs have spent over a decade as one of Brisbane's most beloved bands. They found each other on Facebook, spent years touring the country, releasing music that refuses to be in a box, and collecting some of the most loyal local fans along the way. n late 2025, Jordan their bassist was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 colorectal cancer, and in June this year was given 3-4 months left to live. They are fresh off releasing their final album HEAD NOISE and at the time of recording are about to play two final hometown shows. This episode is a celebration. We dive into memories from the early shows, horror tours, accent choices, and what it took to build something real and lasting in this industry without a label. We also unpack HEAD NOISE, what they plan for their last two shows, and what this band has meant to each of them. There's a lot of love in this episode (and a whole lot of kissing???), so make sure you spread that love too!
Joel Birch has spent 20 years at the centre of The Amity Affliction - but the story behind the band is far more complicated than the music alone. On this episode, Joel opens up about the deeply personal story behind Amity’s ninth album, House of Cards , and his complicated relationship with his late mother. We talk about growing up around religion, becoming a parent, mental health, death, social media scrutiny and what the future of The Amity Affliction looks like.
Fully self-produced, no formal training, and lyrics that feel ripped straight from a diary - Erin LeCount is an artist on the precipice of stardom. We catch up off the back of a sold out tour, and get into what it really means to grow up in the public eye and navigate the vulnerability that comes with putting your most personal moments out into the world for strangers to dissect. Erin chats production Easter eggs, the sentimental samples nobody else will get, and how this playful approach to music creation is perhaps healing an inner child. She's returned to her self, we are living life to LOVE HYSTERICALLY. If you're a fan of Florence and the Machine, Kate Bush or Caroline Polachek , here's a new artist to add to the playlist!
Not many people know the full story behind Amy Shark 's career. Four albums in, hundreds of millions of streams, and it all started because her little brother began guitar lessons and she thought, if this little loser can do it, so can I. In this episode we go right back to the beginning, growing up on the Gold Coast with a family that thought pursuing music was absolutely out of the picture, an angry all-girl punk band called Hansel Kissed Gretel, losing jobs to go see live music, and the sliding doors moment where she almost sent a song called Home to M-Phazes instead of the track that really kicked it all off, Adore . We also get into what album four, soft pop , has felt like compared to Love Monster, Cry Forever and Sunday Sadness , and dive into the sexy and sad sides to this body of work. You can tell Amy has returned to self, she's having fun with it, and after a decade since Adore is still madly obsessed with music.
This is DICE 's first proper long-form interview! What a privilege! DICE are one of Perth's most exciting bands right now and it all started with a Covid jam session, a broken heart, and absolutely no plan. In this episode we go right back to the moment they wrote their first original song and realised they might actually be onto something. We get into what it really takes to break out of Perth as a band, playing multiple shows a weekend and carrying their amps across the city until they burned out (and how that burnout turned into some of their best songs). From the turning point in their career that had Australia talking, to deep diving their brand new record ' I Thought the Altitude Would Make It Worth the View '. We cover a lot of ground here, so get ready!
Drax Project are one of the most unlikely success stories to come out of New Zealand: three jazz school kids plus a fan-turned-band-member, who started busking on the streets of Wellington to pay rent and somehow ended up on the same stage as Ed Sheeran, Lorde and Christina Aguilera . In this episode Sam & Ben take it back to the Wellington jazz scene, the busking days, the toga parties, and what it really took to build an audience from scratch in a country where breaking out is genuinely hard. We get into why coming out of jazz school and wanting to make pop music was considered embarrassing by pretty much everyone around them, why they stayed independent, and how they found their sound by deliberately doing the opposite of what was already working in their city. We also talk their viral side project BlindBeat and why after two albums and countless EPs they're done with grand plans and just making music that feels good - they're ripping up that rulebook!
Not many people know the full story behind Matt Corby's career. Despite being a household name who has soundtracked generations (hundreds of millions of streams, huge hits like Brother and Resolution ) the journey to get there is not what you'd expect. We go right back to the beginning singing as a ten year old with a vibrato he couldn't control, touring the country at 14 and landing on Australian Idol. From there it's the move to the UK, coming home broke and in debt, and making coffees six days a week while writing the songs that would change everything. We also get into label politics, the unreleased album he hopes no one ever finds, why he's always pushed back against the industry, and what it means to produce for other artists out of his studio at Rainbow Valley. Plus we hear about the creation of his latest album Tragic Magic which came out of a hard period for Matt.
Hooligan Hefs is the Western Sydney rapper putting Australia on the map. We go right back to the beginning growing up in the 2767, Doonside, making music in a mate's wardrobe with soundproofing and doing it purely for the boys before the rest of the world caught on. We get into what it really means to come up in Western Sydney, why staying independent when the label contracts started rolling in was the smartest move he made, and how he became the pioneer of Australia's drill-meets-EDM sound. We also talk performing at Rolling Loud Miami, linking up with Savage , and the career move Hefs is now making off the back of one conversation with him. Plus: the A$AP Rocky shoutout, and a deep dive into his brand new EP Sixth Sense - packed with collaborations, an evolution in sound, and plenty of nitty gritty in between.
Kita 's story is one of naivety, guts and manifesting things into existence (which we do a lot of in this episode). We dive into the story that took her from SoundCloud demos and cold-emailing management teams to touring with Dua Lipa and pitching Fisher's 'Atmosphere' . One thing you'll learn quickly: rose-coloured glasses may get you further than you think in this industry. We also get deep into her brand new album RAGE - why the girl who presents as the calmest person in the room has a whole album called rage, what it means to live a double life as a mum and a musician, and why she thinks female anger is finally getting its moment. Plus: her next electronic collab, a live show idea for the single crowd out there, and a deluxe edition that's already on the way!
If you're into Ocean Alley or SIX60, South Summit are a band to get on your radar. Today I sit down with Zaya and Nemo, one half of Australia's most exciting reggae-rock acts. In this episode, we go right back to growing up in a 3,000-person mining town in the Pilbara of Western Australia, moving to Perth on rugby scholarships, boarding school, and the random Covid jam session that turned into their first ever song. We relive their first gigs, their worst gigs, and all the lessons they've learnt since dropping their first song back in 2020. They've just dropped a brand new album, ' Run It Back ', which sees them step outside of their reggae-rock tag. You best believe we dive into that!
Ten years ago, Caleb and Kieran of Spacey Jane were busking on the main street of Geraldton, getting paid $20 to play Riptide on repeat. Today, Spacey Jane are the face of Australian indie rock and they've just released their rawest project yet, Exit Wounds . In this episode, I sit down with two of my good friends to take it all the way back to day one: how a mum asking a favour at a high school kickstarted one of Australia's most beloved bands, the open mic nights and backyard house shows that built their fanbase before they had a single song out, navigating Covid as the only band still touring in Australia, and the road from there to number two on the Hottest 100. We also get deep into their brand new EP Exit Wounds ; a bare-all project that Caleb calls the darkest thing they've ever written, wrapped up in their most fun rollout yet. This one's a full decade in the making. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Genesis Owusu has built a reputation as one of the most fearless and genre-defying artists in modern music. From the explosive success of albums like ' Smiling With No Teeth ' and ' STRUGGLER ' to praise from public figures as unexpected as Barack Obama, Genesis' creations have aways been larger than life. Now, with his third studio album ' REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE ' , he’s turning his attention directly toward the world around us. It's an album set in the now. In this episode, Genesis takes us back to growing up in Canberra, his earliest creative projects alongside his brother Citizen Kay, and the journey from underground artist to one of Australia’s most acclaimed musical voices. We dive deep into ' REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' , an album that comments on division, noise and modern life while still searching for hope and human connection underneath it all. It's an album that is hijacking airwaves, it demands attention and is not afraid to tell it as it is. So listen up to what he has to say! -------This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.
Melanie C , best known as Sporty Spice from the Spice Girls, is one of the most recognisable voices of a generation, she redefined pop music and global fame in the late ’90s. In this episode, Melanie takes us back to growing up just outside of Liverpool, being handed a flyer to audition for what would become the Spice Girls, and her first impressions of the group that would change her life forever. We get into the early days of the Spice Girls, the rapid rise to global superstardom, and the reality of navigating that level of fame at such a young age. If you want to hear the blow-by-blow of global domination, you're in the right place! Post-Spice Girls, Melanie has carved out her own path as a solo artist and DJ, it's a side to her that feels like a true return to her younger rave and dance roots. Now, with her new album Sweat on the way, she opens up about this chapter, the music and the upcoming tours.
Vanessa Amorosi had one of the most explosive starts to a career in Australian music history. Within a year of releasing her debut music, she was performing on one of the biggest stages in the world - opening and closing the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. But the story started long before that, years of dedication and grinding. In this episode, Vanessa takes us back to growing up in a very musical household, to being discovered singing in a Russian restaurant, and navigating the industry as a young female artist in the early 2000s. We talk about the whirlwind of early fame, the expectations that came with it, and her decision to move to the US and exploring new sounds in gospel and blues. Throughout this chat, two things really strike home: her strong sense of self from such a young age, and the quest to always be growing and challenging yourself. This is a bit of a longer one, but lets indulge - she's an Aussie icon!
Canadian rock band The Beaches have spent years building their story from teenage bandmates to one of the most exciting names in modern rock. In this episode, sisters Jordan and Kylie join the podcast to take it all the way back to their first band Done with Dolls , and the early years of growing up making music together. We talk about navigating the music industry as a female rock band, the moment they walked away from a team that didn’t understand their vision, and the viral success of their breakout track Blame Brett . The conversation also dives into the balance between writing deeply personal songs and sharing those stories with the world, and how that changed their perspective during the making of their album No Hard Feelings .
Sydney psych-rock project Velvet Trip might feel like a new name on the scene, but the journey behind it is anything but conventional. In this episode, Zeppelin Hamilton takes us back to the beginning, growing up surrounded by some of the world’s best blues musicians in his family home, and nearly taking a completely different path as a professional skateboarder. From hitchhiking from Sydney to Darwin, to early internet fame as part of the viral Facebook creators Urmumsyadad, Zeppelin’s creative life has taken plenty of unexpected turns. We also dive into the musical chapters that came before Velvet Trip, including a metal band with Jules from Parcels , time in a seven-piece psych rock group, and the moment he realised he needed to start something of his own. Velvet Trip is quickly becoming a well known name in the Australian scene, and with the release of his new album Glimmers Continued , Zeppelin is on the path to "world domination".
Meg Mac has been one of Australia’s most distinctive voices for over a decade. From her breakout track Known Better , which exploded on triple j Unearthed, to fan favourites like Grandma’s Hands and Roll Up Your Sleeves , she’s built a career defined by powerful vocals and deeply personal songwriting. Her 2019 album Matter of Time even debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts cementing her as a staple of the Australian music landscape. In this episode, Meg takes us back to the beginning: growing up in Sydney, studying music at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), and the moment Known Better changed the course of her life. We talk about the challenge of being known for the songs that introduced you to the world, how her songwriting has evolved over 15 years, and the creative process behind her new album It’s My Party .
Wisp's breakout single Your Face exploded online and pulled her straight onto the global stage, almost overnight. But behind the viral moment is an artist who grew up immersed in discipline and craft. Raised in San Francisco, Wisp trained as a ballerina and violinist before stepping into shoegaze - a genre known for both devotion and scrutiny. In this episode, we talk about what it really means to have a song take off before you’ve fully found your footing. The pressure of being labelled the next generation of shoegaze, and how she navigated it all in such a short amount of time. ------- This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.
Cavetown grew up uploading songs to YouTube at 14, building a global audience before he’d even finished school. What began as bedroom covers and self-produced tracks quietly turned into billions of streams and one of indie pop’s most devoted fanbases. But growing up online comes with its own challenges. In this episode, Cavetown reflects on evolving in public, from being known for the songs he wrote as a teenager to wanting recognition for the craft he’s building now. We talk about navigating identity, finding your sound, and what it’s like to mature alongside the audience that first found you. We also dive into his album Running With Scissors , the sonic risks, the growth in production, and the intention behind creating work that feels honest to who he is today.
Hazlett didn’t grow up chasing music, nor fame and fortune. He started his solo career at 26 after years of playing bass and a stint in advertising. In this episode, Hazlett reflects on what it really means to back yourself later than most, the leap that took him from Australia to Sweden, and the creative partnership with producer Freddy Alexander that helped shape the sound he’s now known for. We talk about going from pub gigs to touring internationally, writing songs that feel quietly devastating, and the making of his new album Last Night You Said You Missed Me . -------This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.
Ranking source
Apple Podcasts rankings via the Mato Topic Intelligence Platform.
Observed September 17, 2026. Cached outside the daily freshness window; the positions keep the date they were taken on.
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