STACK #256 February 2026

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# 1 MY FIRST ALBUM

Which recent album do you currently have on repeat? Currently I have The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess on

The album was Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet . The cassette. I think I was 12. The song that got me was Livin’ on a Prayer . Those were great days where you literally listened to the same album all day long. And it was one of those first real albums where you weren’t listening to your parents’ music, you weren’t listening to your older brothers’ or sisters’ music. You were actually listening to something that you liked, and that was a revelation. It’s funny, there’s this one fan in America who’s like a total trainspotter in my career, and somehow, he found out that was my first album. So, every time I see him, he gives me the album in a different format. I haven’t listened to it in ages; I’ve probably grown out of it, but anytime I hear it on the dancefloor at a pub, I’m fist in the air: “ Oh, halfway there! ” I’ve never met Jon Bon Jovi, though many people have called me John Bon Jutler! JOHN BUTLER

repeat, as a person who typically listens to punk and hardcore, I love me a bit of pop here and there. What’s your all-time favourite album and why? It would have to be Sempiternal by Bring Me the Horizon. This album would have to be my gateway into

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the heavy music scene and I have not looked back since. Do you have a vinyl collection? If so, how did it begin, and expand? I currently have 92 records in my collection. Collecting started in 2016 as a friend introduced my to Currents by Tame Impala and I thought the psychedelic sounds might mix well with my record player at the time. I had a Flea Market one and the grainy sounds from the inbuilt speakers added a haunting sound that I totally got behind. What do you enjoy most about working in music at JB? When I was in media, all I wanted to work in was the music department. I loved sorting the records (probably to do with my OCD). I also loved talking about music and finding new music to listen to from fellow staff and customers.

’ s ROVING REPORTER

Image credit: Kane Hibberd

TRENT TAYLOR @ JB Castle Towers, NSW

What’s an early, cherished music memory? I went to a Foo Fighters concert in 2011 and Tenacious D were support. I remember saying to Mum how this is the best gig ever (even though it was my first) and saying how it’s so cool to be in the same room as Jack Black.

PRISM by John Butler

is out now via MGM

In the hotseat this month is DARREN CORDEUX, the singer in Melbourne band Kisschasy, who are releasing their first album in 17 years.

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my school report said every year. What would be your Hard Quiz expert subject? “Books by Denis Johnson” or “Music in the power-pop genre”. Song you wish you’d written? The Everly Brothers’ Cathy’s Clown , Judee Sill’s Jesus Was a Cross Maker , Fountains of Wayne’s Radiation Vibe , The Beths’ Expert in a Dying Field , The Motels’ Total Control .

What’s the most ridiculous item you’ve ever put on your rider? An Elvis commemorative plate (pre-army). Your funeral song? Don’t Worry Baby by The Beach Boys. Happiness is… a hot black coffee, a good book, and a dead phone.

Five words to describe yourself: Curious, restless, frantic, sentimental, indecisive. Your all-time favourite album? Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub. What did your most memorable school report say? “Darren is still to meet his full potential, and he is a distraction to others.” Memorable because this is what

If you weren’t a rock star, what would you be? Probably something as financially precarious as music (my teachers always thought I’d be a writer). Last album you bought? Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby . Aside from yourself, which musician would you most like to be? Paul Westerberg. He has the kind of voice I could only dream of possessing.

The Terrors of Comfort by Kisschasy is out Feb 13 via Community Music

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