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KT Tunstall announces Eye to the Telescope 20th anniversary tour for Australia and New Zealand

Australia’s biggest guitar show is coming to Sydney next year 

Review: Gretsch Synchromatic Falcon

The new Gretsch Synchromatic Falcon aims to provide a top-notch Falcon with upgraded materials and components at a mid-level price point, bridging the gap between an entry-level and top-shelf model.

Catch up on all the latest features and interviews here. 

The result is a stunning guitar that delivers everything one could wish for in a Gretsch, from its dazzling looks to its unmistakable and monumental sound. Taking the mystique and beauty of the venerable Falcon design and placing it firmly in 2025 is no mean feat. Honouring the history of a beloved instrument whilst catering to the needs of modern players is a tricky balance to strike, but Gretsch has nailed it with this guitar.

Originally unveiled in 1954, the Falcon was dubbed by Gretsch ‘the guitar of the future’ as well as ‘the finest guitar we know how to make’. Gretsch, however, initially had no plans to manufacture the model. It was supposed to be a showpiece, much like GM’s Motorama “Dream Cars” of the day, but that quickly changed when the immense demand for the guitar became swiftly apparent. Since then, the Falcon has been immortalised by players such as Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Malcolm Young and John Frusciante, who famously used the guitar extensively on Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Californication.

Combining the full-bodied tone of a humbucker with the top-end twang of a single coil, the Falcon’s Filter’Tron pickups are a perfect match for the warm, airy sound of its large hollow body. This massive yet balanced sound, along with the obvious beauty of the guitar itself, is why the Falcon remains one of the most revered guitars on the planet.

The Synchromatic Falcon arrived in a gorgeous Deluxe hard case with a lovely blue velvet lining. At first glance, the Falcon’s black and gold colour scheme is stunning, with every golden detail sparkling in the light like the contents of a treasure chest.

The Falcon’s body is lined with a textured, sparkling gold binding that ties everything together, and upon its control knobs are tiny red gemstones that almost seem to glow. On the gold plexi pickguard is the iconic Falcon logo, spreading its menacing wings in mid-flight as if to say “don’t mess with me”. This is one serious piece of kit.

The Synchromatic Falcon features a 2.5” deep laminated maple body with Semi-Arc bracing. A modified version of the classic Gretsch Trestle Bracing design, this bracing pattern features two ’feet’ under the bridge while eliminating the additional feet near the neck block that traditional Trestle Bracing has. This results in a ‘best of both worlds’ tone that provides the huge, resonant tone of Parallel Bracing, with the classic ‘snap’ and feedback-busting sustain of 1959 Trestle Bracing.

The Falcon’s maple neck feels incredibly comfortable and has a nicely balanced soft C shape. It has a nice, long 25.5” scale length that feels just right on a larger body style, and its ebony fretboard has a fairly flat 12” radius, which is particularly suited for lead guitar. The neck is also bound in a stunning gold sparkle and is adorned with Gretsch’s classic pearloid thumbnail inlays, 22 medium jumbo frets and a genuine bone nut. The headstock is loaded with gold Grover Rotomatic machine heads, which I have always found to be reminiscent of the shapes found in Aztec art.

This Falcon, like most Gretschs, is loaded with a very versatile control layout featuring a master volume with a treble bleed circuit, a master tone, individual volume controls for the bridge and neck pickups and a three-position pickup toggle switch.

In addition to this, the Adjusto-Matic bridge is secured with an ebony base for optimal stability and, of course, what Falcon would be complete without the iconic B60 Bigsby Vibrato arm? The direct-mounted Hi-Fidelity Filter’Tron pickups found on the Synchromatic Falcon feature Alnico 5 magnets and deliver the sought-after chime, articulation and balance that vintage Filter’Trons are known for. With enough twang for country and enough meat on its bones for hard rock, the Filter’Trons can do it all and sound better than ever in this model.

The bridge position has all the chime and crunch you could ever wish for, and plugged into an overdriven Fender amp, you will be wailing like Neil Young in no time. The neck position is smoother and jazzier but still has enough bite to cut through a mix and sounds absolutely delightful set clean with some reverb and a good amount of bottom end.

Both pickups are well matched, and there isn’t that nasty volume jump between the neck and bridge you get in some guitars. The middle position is particularly useful thanks to the combination of separate volume controls for each pickup as well as a master volume. This means you can create a blend of the two pickups to taste with the individual controls, and then control your overall volume with the master. This layout creates a myriad of tonal possibilities, making this guitar very versatile indeed. The Falcon’s Bigsby vibrato is also extremely effective and, having been masterfully set up, does well not to knock the guitar out of tune even with vigorous use.

Overall, the Synchromatic Falcon is an excellent rendition of a timeless model, with a reasonable midrange price point. It does absolutely everything you want a Falcon to do and looks absolutely stunning with its chic black finish and gold appointments. The Falcon is a big hollow body guitar with a big sound, but thanks to its extremely articulate Filter’Tron pickups, it produces an incredibly bright, detailed and honest tone.

Whilst the Synchromatic Falcon may not be the most exotic iteration of Gretsch’s beloved bird, it is most definitely in full flight here, and as menacing as ever.

Check out the Grestch Synchromatic Falcon here. 

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Prince and the Revolution: Around the World in a Day celebrates 40th anniversary with deluxe reissue

Originally released on 22 April 1985, just 15 days after Prince’s Purple Rain Tour concluded, the album represented a bold artistic gamble that paid off spectacularly. While Warner Bros. wanted to capitalise on Purple Rain’s massive success with a European tour extension, Prince instead delivered a psychedelic, inward-facing collection that defied all industry expectations.

Catch up on all the latest news here. 

Breaking every promotional rule of the mid-’80s hit factory, Prince insisted the album be experienced as one uninterrupted story. This meant there was no lead single, no staged rollout and no hype machine. “Raspberry Beret” wasn’t serviced to US radio until a month after release, yet the album still flew off shelves, selling over two million copies and spawning multiple Billboard Top Ten hits.

Grammy-nominated engineer Chris James has meticulously remixed the album in Dolby Atmos using the original multi-track masters, while Bernie Grundman handled the new stereo remastering. The standard reissue arrives on streaming, download, CD, limited-edition blue marble vinyl, and exclusive picture disc LP through the Official Prince Store.

A deluxe edition expands the experience across 2CD or 3LP formats, featuring extended versions of A and B-sides. Highlights include the digital debut of the “Paisley Park (Remix)” and the nearly 22-minute 12″ version of “America” making its CD debut.

The album’s artwork, painted by Doug Henders between the Purple Rain Tour perfectly captured Prince’s artistic evolution from the stark imagery of his previous release. Characteristically, Prince was already moving forward by release day, returning to Sunset Sound on 21 April 1985 to record “Sometimes It Snows In April” for his next project, Parade.

Around the World in a Day 40th anniversary editions are available for pre-order here. 

‘You really can’t shut me up once I get started’: Stewart Copeland still has stories to tell

You’ve heard all the jokes about why you should never give the drummer a microphone – but in the case of Stewart Copeland, it honestly might just be as entertaining as watching him take to the kit.

Catch up on all the latest features and interviews here. 

The veteran American drummer, who came to prominence in the late ’70s as one third of The Police, has never been backward in coming forward. He’s been brutally and hilariously honest about his time in the band, and about his career at large, which has all led to the creation of Have I Said Too Much?, his first-ever spoken word show.

Set to hit Australian shores in January 2026, the tour will see Copeland in conversation with Perth radio presenter Sarah Tout each night – regaling audiences with all kinds of anecdotes about drumming, dysfunctionality and everything in-between.

“I’ve done this tour once before, in England,” says Copeland, on Zoom to Mixdown from his home studio, The Sacred Grove, out of Los Angeles. “It was just kind of an experiment – I do a lot of talking, and someone made the suggestion that the talking could be turned into a show. I gave it a try across some smaller cities and towns across the country – places like Cheltenham and Chipping Norton.

“They were in very cozy theatres, and they proved to be a lot of fun. You really can’t shut me up once I get started, so naming the tour Have I Said Too Much? proved to be perfect.”

Copeland’s impending return to Australia follows on from his Police bandmate Andy Summers doing so last year with his own show, entitled A Cracked Lens + A Broken String.

A blend of spoken word, photography and music, Summers’ one-man show is decidedly different to Copeland’s – per admission from the man himself. “Andy is a great storyteller,” says Copeland. “He always had such a great sense of humour, and that really shines through when he’s talking about his photographs.

“We’re very different stylistically, though. My show’s not nearly as fancy. That’s just the difference between drummers and guitarists, isn’t it? Guitarists operate on a much higher level in general. They know what key the songs are in – ‘this is in F sharp minor!’ – and I have no idea what any of that means. That’s why drummers need bassists – to translate for us.”

Although only together for less than a decade, The Police remain one of the highest-selling and most successful bands of all time. The trio – Copeland, Summers and vocalist and bassist Sting – were often at loggerheads, with each having a musical style that drastically differed. Somehow, however, it all managed to tessellate in a way that created some of the most distinctive, influential rock music of the era.

One of the key differences that Copeland himself has noted over the years was his free-range, improvisational style in contrast to Sting’s studious, meticulous manner. “We were on different missions,” he says.

“The way he (Sting) would play music, it was all to serve the song. I didn’t know anything about the song – I was just banging stuff, really. Nothing was mapped out – we didn’t even really have time to.

The first album (Outlandos d’Amour) was material we’d toured around the country before recording, but the next two albums (Reggatta de Blanc and Zenyatta Mondatta) were all songs we were recording roughly 20 minutes after we’d first heard them. The other two could redo stuff and layer it 10 times over. My drums were stuck for the rest of my life.”

Copeland is aware of his legacy as an influential drummer. While he remains grateful for the kudos he has been given across his career, he insists that all of his distinctive traits either came about by instinct or accident. Take, for instance, his use of the bell on the ride cymbal when accenting a chorus on hits like ‘I Can’t Stand Losing You’ and ‘Every Little Thing She Does is Magic’.

“That comes from listening out for the vocals,” he explains. “I never really listened to the lyrics, but I was definitely following the rhythm of the vocals and the melody.” As for his use of late or delayed drum fills? “That was because I didn’t know the song!” he laughs. “It was a combination of their impatience and my laziness. We would only do two or three takes, and that was it.

“They worked with whatever you put down. Look at ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’, for example. I didn’t know how to play to it, because he’s hardly singing the lyrics. He’s mumbling, so I had no idea what was a chorus and what was a verse. I would make the change into a different vibe, any old place, not necessarily where the actual chorus is.”

If anything, Copeland thinks that his legacy is one that’s been studied too much. He proceeds to share a hilarious anecdote from an online investigation that read far too deeply into something he had considered completely innocuous. “I once saw a clip on YouTube of this team who were analysing the towel I had taped to the side of my snare drum,” says Copeland – his eyes widening at the absurdity of such a sentence.

“’Here’s the same snare drum. Here’s the snare without the towel. Here’s what it sounds like with the towel. Here’s what it sounds like with the towel attached by gaffer tape. They’re doing this whole analysis of a goddamn towel. I hate to break it to them, but the towel was there because I played in shorts and would always bang my knees up. It had nothing to do with the sound. They didn’t even get the right snare!”

Whether you’ve ever had a burning question about what brand of towel Copeland uses, or just want to hear one of drumming’s biggest personalities shoot the shit, Have I Said Too Much? is the show for you.

Copeland is particularly excited about returning, as it will mark his first time here in 18 years by the time he touches down on Australian soil. “Australians are very cheerful people,” he says.

“We always had a lot of fun playing Australia, because it all just felt immediately familiar. I would say it’s closer to America than it is to England in terms of the attitude. It’s a lot of can-do positivity, which is a little more casual than your Brits.”

Fans will remember the last time The Police were in Australia, back in early 2008, as part of their stadium-filling reunion tour. What many have forgotten, however, was who that tour was with: None other than Fergie, who had branched out into a solo career at the time with her multi-platinum debut The Dutchess.

It was an odd pairing, but Copeland came out of it with an unlikely admiration for the glamorous popstar. “I never took the Black Eyed Peas seriously, but on that tour I saw how hard-working she was,” he says.

“Her band were really great musicians. She’d been around the block a couple of times and had really been dragged through the hedge backwards by the industry. She’d paid her dues; I had great respect for that.”

Find tickets to Stewart Copeland’s Have I Said Too Much? here. 

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Alesis launches the TurboMax electric drum kit for aspiring drummers

Designed specifically for beginners but packed with professional-grade sounds, this compact electric drum kit gives new drummers everything they need without the headaches of piecing together a setup. Another bonus: you won’t give your neighbours a headache, either. It’s perfect for bedroom practice sessions, sharehouses or apartment living.

With four ultra-responsive 8-inch mesh heads the TurboMax has an authentic drum feel to it, so you can easily translate your practice from e-kit to acoustic kit.

Keep up with the latest news here.

The advanced drum module serves up 12 diverse kits and 110 sounds to keep the creativity flowing. Bluetooth connectivity means you can play along to tracks or follow online tutorials without missing a beat. Built-in tempo control and a metronome help develop your timing, while onboard recording lets you capture every time you smash that roll.

Where are they now: the people on the world’s most iconic album covers 

On August 12, 2025, the death of legendary Hollywood stuntman Ronnie Rondell was announced. Film magazines paid tribute to the 88-year-old as being a “one of a kind” mentor.

Keep up with the latest news here.

Rondell had been a stuntman since the 1950s, appearing on films and TV shows including The Karate Kid, Days of Thunder, Waterworld, Predator 2, Lethal Weapon, The Crow, The Matrix Reloaded, Star Trek, Charlie’s Angels and Speed. 

In 1970, he co-founded the Stunts Unlimited talent agency, supplying stunt performers for Hollywood films. But what is so interesting is that Rondell’s death was acknowledged by music magazines and publications across the globe.

This is because Ronnie Rondell featured on the cover of one of the best-known rock albums of all time – Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here – while on fire.

Many of the people who featured on classic album covers went on to find some kind of fame of their own.

PINK FLOYD: WISH YOU WERE HERE (1975)

Behind the concept of Wish You Were Here’s artwork is the idea that humans hide their true feelings in fear of getting burned. UK design studio, Hipgnosis, had previously worked on Pink Floyd’s albums, and this time chose to zero in on Wish You Were Here’s third track. “Have a Cigar” speaks to insincerity in the music business. 

Hipgnosis’ co-creators Storm Thorgerson and photographer Aubrey “Po” Powell were kicking around ideas. Thorgerson suggested, “What about an image of two businessmen, and one of them is getting burned in a deal?” Powell questioned how they were going to do that, and Thorgerson simply replied: “Set a man on fire.”

At Burbank Studios in California, Powell took the shot of two stuntmen depicting businessmen shaking hands, and one of them was on fire. This was a particularly dangerous stunt – usually, a shot of someone on fire is full of action, but Wish You Were Here’s iconic album cover demanded the two men shake hands and be still.

Ronnie Rondell was the man on fire. Since the shot was taken before CGI, Rondell was set alight for real, dressed in a fireproof suit underneath his business fit.. His head was protected by a hood, underneath a similarly fireproof wig. Powell knew the stunt was an unpleasant one, but Rondell agreed to do 14 shots. “We were lucky there was no wind while we shot,” Powell recalled.

Worth noting: Things went awry on the 15th shot. A gust of wind blew the fire straight into Rondell’s face, burning off an eyebrow and part of his moustache. Powell told Rolling Stone in 2017, “his team jumped on him, sprayed him with extinguishing foam and saved his life. He just got up from that and said, “That’s it. I’m never doing this again.” But I had it in the can.” 

WEEZER: HURLEY (2010)

US actor and comedian Jorge Garcia appeared first as Hector Lopez on Becker, and notably as Hugo “Hurley” Reyes on Lost from 2004 to 2010. 

The album cover of Hurley was cropped from a real-life photo of Garcia embracing Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo when they met by chance during a TV taping. Cuomo stated, “No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face.” Fair enough.

Jorge Garcia, now 52, most recently starred in the comedy series Bookie (2023-2025).

Worth noting: At some point, guitarist Brian Bell claimed the album title was a branding exercise for surf clothing company Hurley International, which he said paid for the recording. Bizarrely, later on, Bell said it was “an accident”, even though Hurley International did end up creating a line of Weezer clothing.

LED ZEPPELIN: HOUSES OF THE HOLY (1973)

The striking cover of two naked blonde children climbing up the stones of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s influential 1955 science fiction novel Childhood’s End. The novel was about alien overlords who invade Earth and turn it into a peaceful paradise.

Houses of the Holy’s artwork concept was by London art collective Hipgnosis (who were also behind Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon the same year). The first idea – of a loud green tennis court and racket –  came from Storm Thorgerson, reflecting his tongue-in-cheek comments that Zeppelin’s music was a “racket”. Incensed, Zeppelin sacked him and hired his colleague, photographer Aubrey Powell.

The shoot was a miserable one: it took ten days, from dawn to sunset. It rained throughout. However, an accidental tinting during post-production gave the cover that apocalyptic look Powell had been trying to emulate throughout the process.

Aged seven and five at the time, the cover features siblings Samantha and Stefan Gates. Samantha went on to become a respected actress, appearing in films Edward the King, the Water Babies, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Shades of Darkness.

Stefan became a food writer and a TV presenter for the BBC’s Cooking in the Danger Zone. The show involved travelling to “dangerous places” and trying out their food – including eating rats in India, radioactive soup in Chernobyl, 18-month-old rotting walrus in the Arctic Circle, and sheep testicles in Afghanistan.

Stefan hadn’t listened to Houses of the Holy until 2010, when a BBC documentary crew took him back to Giant’s Causeway and filmed him listening to the iconic album on an MP3 player. He commented, “I found the cover very scary. It was so apocalyptic”. Mission accomplished. 

Worth noting: When Houses of the Holy was released, some stores refused to stock it because of the nudity. Atlantic Records wrapped it in brown paper to cover the image. Jimmy Page couldn’t see the problem. “Children are houses of the holy; we’re all houses of the holy – I don’t see how that’s naughty.”

OASIS: (WHAT’S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY  (1995)

The cover of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory features two men passing each other on the street. If the cover comes across a little mysterious, it’s probably because it came from a quote Noel Gallagher was spouting at the time: “There aren’t ever answers. There are only ever more questions”. 

“The idea was that you had these two guys passing in the street,” cover designer Brian Cannon explained. “You didn’t have any idea who they were, where they were going, what they were saying to each other. 

On the back sleeve, you see one of the guys disappearing, and he’s going: ‘What the f**k? What the f**k did he just say to me? What the f**k was that interaction all about?’

Cannon had met Noel by chance in a lift in Manchester even before Oasis got signed, he recounted to The Big Issue. Noel glanced at Cannon’s Adidas sneakers, which he’d bought in Italy and were not available in the UK, and said “Alright, where the f**k did you get them trainers from?” Gallagher continued and asked Cannon what he did for a living, and was impressed when he found out Cannon was a record sleeve designer and had recently worked for The Verve.

Cannon explained, “So he says, ‘When we get signed’ – not if, mind – ‘you’re gonna design my sleeves.’ Then he got out of the lift, and that was it. That’s a true story.”

For the Morning Glory cover, Cannon wanted to make the first shot at first thing on a Sunday morning at 5am. Probably to no one’s surprise, Noel and Liam didn’t turn up after drinking all night, even though they were supposed to be the feature on the cover.

Cannon had to move quickly into Plan B and ended up playing the guy with his back to the camera. The other man featured on the cover is DJ Sean Rowley, and if you look closely at the background to the left, the album’s producer, Owen Morris, holds the album’s master tape in front of his face.

The street was Berwick Street in London’s Soho district, chosen because there were a lot of record stores there at the time. They took one shot at Berwick Street and wandered around taking more clicks, but that first shot was the one Cannon had envisioned.

Cannon went on to do two more Oasis sleeves (being a North Englishman and sharing their humour, he became close to the Gallaghers) and also worked for an array of acts including The Verve, Suede, Ruthless Rap Assassins and Super Furry Animals. He also managed the Scottish experimental Beta Band.

Worth noting: Cannon’s next Oasis sleeve, Be Here Now, cost $750,000. Getting the Rolls-Royce into the swimming pool took two long days.

BLINK-182: ENEMA OF THE STATE (1999)

Before landing on Enema of the State, Blink-182 were tossing up Turn Your Head And Cough, Vasectomy, Vasecto-you, and Does That Look Infected? for the title. But the idea was always for the album cover to feature a sexy nurse. 

Their record company gave the band a collection of models’ photos and asked them to choose, and ultimately, they went with Janine Lindemulder. She went on to play the nurse on the cover, about to give the band an injection, and also appeared in the music videos for “What’s My Age Again” and “Man Overboard”.

What the band didn’t know was that Lindemulder was a well-known adult entertainment star and had also appeared in the Howard Stern movie Private Parts.

Soon after the shoot, Lindemulder left the industry to raise her son and planned to become a school teacher. What then followed was a marriage in 2022 to West Coast Choppers founder Jesse James – a turbulent one, with accusations of domestic violence, cheating, and a divorce when she was seven months pregnant with her daughter. In between stints in adult entertainment, there were reports of jail for tax evasion and a spell in rehab. Lindemulder has moved to Oregon and is active on social media.

Worth noting: The original pressings of Enema of the State featured a red cross on the nurse’s uniform; however, Red Cross, the organisation, told the band it was illegal for anyone to use it except for them. The cross was dropped from the cover before lawyers got involved.

SoundMerch Australian Music Prize celebrates 21 years of discovering Australia’s best artists and albums

For more information, head here. 

Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and the Cruel Sea headline Red Hot Summer Tour 2026