STACK #263 September 2026

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JACK GRAY # 1 MY FIRST ALBUM

Which recent album do you currently have on repeat? My current on repeats are new releases by Boundaries Yearning: The unbeautiful after , which includes some features from Australia’s very own Make Them Suffer, and Bring Me The Horizon’s Count Your Blessings: Repented . I just went over to the UK to see BMTH, as they did an intimate concert to celebrate 20 years of CYB, a defining album in their career. The live show and re-edition of the album takes us back to the 2000s! What’s your all-time favourite

My first album was Busby Marou’s Farewell Fitzroy . I was a massive fan since hearing Biding My Time . And it’s funny how life works – I’m now really good friends with Tom Busby. My management own a caravan on a beach in Fingal Head, near the NSW and Queensland border. Tom owns the caravan next to it, and my manager’s husband Robert, who’s my A&R, is best friends with Tom. So, I hang out with Tom a lot. Back in the day, I was a proper fan-boy: bought the record, slammed it every day. Yeah, they were a big inspiration for me, for sure. And Tom’s such a great guy – it’s all about music and family for him.

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album and why? This is a really hard one, but I would say it’s between Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park or A quiet place to die by Alpha Wolf. Hybrid Theory was my favourite childhood album, and the first CD I ever bought. I had to keep replacing the CD from how much I’d spin it in the car. Alpha Wolf have also been making waves and putting Australian metal music on the map for some years now, AQPTD was their debut studio album during the first waves of COVID – it’s definitely an album I find myself revisiting, it’s an absolute banger start to finish. Do you have a vinyl collection? If so, how did it begin, and expand? My first ever physical media purchases were actually at JB as a kid, this was before the vinyl revival so I’d bought CDs from bands like Linkin Park, Green Day, and Bring Me the Horizon! I like to collect pieces from merch at concert or signings, and have picked up quite a few pieces from JB over the years. I got some really nice coloured and marbled Knocked Loose, Diamond Construct, and Bad Omens vinyl at JB. What do you enjoy most about working in music at JB? I worked at a JB store before moving to the Support Office, I miss keeping the store music section organised and putting out all the new releases fresh off the press! I had an eye for finding things, so I was always finding a specific CDs/vinyl for customers. Now that I work online, I enjoy getting to speak with customers occasionally about our music taste, and helping coordinating customer enquiries with the music team!

’ s ROVING REPORTER

JASMINE KOUVARAKIS @ JB Support Office

What’s an early, cherished music memory? Definitely my first concert! I was eight years old and my mum surprised me after school that we were going to see Linkin Park that night. I was so excited, singing all the lyrics, jumping off the arena chairs until it flipped upwards and mum had to catch me so I didn’t fall! I got to see Linkin Park again recently, it was so amazing and nostalgic reliving those childhood memories as they were my first concerts in 2010 and 2013 – I got to high five Mike Shinoda, meet the drummer Collin, and get a setlist signed!

Swimming in Jeans by Jack Gray is out Sep 11 via Island

STACK

In the hotseat this month is VERA BLUE, who has just released her third album.

Photo credit: Dave Jenkins Jr

Aside from yourself, which musician would you most like to be? Oh, gosh! Hard to pick just one. Björk has created an entire universe around her art where every song, visual, and performance feels like part of the same story. I really admire artists who build worlds rather than just release music. What’s the most ridiculous item you’ve ever put on your rider? It’s always just been what we truly need, so nothing has ever been ridiculous. For my next tour I am going to request

Five words to describe yourself: Curious, extremely sensitive, imaginative, determined, hopeful. Your all-time favourite album? OMG, hard one! I’d say Enya – Paint the Sky with Stars . What did your most memorable school report say? It always went along the lines of, “Celia has a wonderful imagination but is easily distracted.” Looking back, that feels pretty accurate as I am constantly daydreaming (hello, ADHD).

What would be your Hard Quiz expert subject? Harry Potter. Or dachshunds. Song you wish you’d written? Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek or Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You . If you weren’t a rock star, what would you be? Probably working with animals. Or, random, I almost followed the path of being a professional 100m sprint track star and long jumper. Last album you bought? FKA Twigs’ Eusexua . Literally obsessed.

a framed image of my dachshund Texas. He gives me so much joy. Your funeral song? I’d need more time to think about this before I go! But Landslide and Songbird by Fleetwood Mac are beautiful songs that mean a lot to me. Happiness is... many things! Feeling completely present with the people you love, laughing until your stomach hurts with friends and my siblings, being out in nature, and coming home to my dachshund, Texas.

Modern Rituals by Vera Blue is out now via Island Australia

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40 SEPTEMBER 2026

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