With his no nonense and back to basics approach, Memphis punk Jay Reatard is attracting plenty of attention after nearly a decade of making music. Having fronted bands like The Lost Sounds, The Final Solutions and The Reatards, he's been a solo artist for a couple of years now. He signed to Matador Records this year and is planning to record and release six 7 inch singles over the next six months. After that will come an album compiling those singles, then a full album of new material by March 2009. He spoke to Richard Kingsmill recently about whether he reckons he's at a turning point in his career now.

The Sydney trio took four years to follow up their debut album Peapod. The rigours of touring and working on close confines nearly split the band. But as singer Sarah Kelly explains to Richard Kingsmill, the band remained united and came up with a strong follow-up in The Shiralee.