How many great things have sustained since the beginning of the 21st century? New Estate burst on the Melbourne music scene of two decades ago (and quickly became regulars at the Punters Club, the Tote, the Builders Arms, the Old Bar, and so on). Created from the ruins of another much-loved band, Sleepy Township, who had relocated from Perth in 1995, New Estate retained singer-songwriter-guitarist Mia Schoen and drummer-sometime-singer extraordinaire Chris ‘Larry’ Gorman, and added a third musical genius in Marc Reguiero-McKelvie – already a solo star under the name Popolice, and between 2010-15 also a member of Teeth and Tongue. A succession of bass players, each important in their own way, gave way to the final piece of the puzzle in the one true fourth New Estater in Toby Dutton in 2009. 

The group got to work quickly with the debut album Considering… in 2003, released in the US and Australia to much acclaim over the ‘three vocalists, three songwriters, a singing drummer who's never heard of the Eagles and a sound like no other.’ It was followed by Is it Real? (2007) and Out of the Ground (2008). Recovery – not a reference to the mid-90s ABC music show, though it could have been – emerged in 2011. An average of an album every two years as well as singles, videos, two semi-official albums (one live, one a compilation of inexplicably discarded tracks) and many, many live shows across Australia. 

Then, you may have noticed, it was quiet for a while, because people had other things to do. 

But it’s hard to suppress anything really good and worthwhile. The classic New Estate line-up – somewhat geographically scattered, but united in purpose – reconvened in 2020, got temporarily thwarted by covid, then got it entirely together. They have created their fifth album, 5, out now on Kasumuen Records. 

Like most of their albums it’s a self-produced affair, with classic Mia Schoen cover art. It entirely deserves to sit alongside the pantheon of excellence for which the group is justly famous. Schoen and Reguiero-McKelvie predominate as songwriters in that classic Pete Shelley-Steve Diggle or Grant Hart-Bob Mould or Corin Tucker-Carrie Brownstein kind of dynamic – complimentary, not competitive, but very distinct, and the rhythm section keeps it more than respectable at every turn. It’s extremely hard to resist 5, and it’s extremely hard to see why anyone would want to. 

New Estate  launch 5 at the Brunswick Ballroom October 7th; a Matinee show 1pm - 4pm with amazingly great guests Summer Flake and Tam Vantage

BRUNSWICK ARTISTS' BAR // FREE ENTRY // KITCHEN & BAR OPEN 4.00PM

The electrifying, hip-shakin', vintage rock'n'roll goodness of Riflebirds comes to Brunswick Artists' Bar on Saturday October 7.

Get set for a mixed bag of soulful tunes, rich lyrics, psychedelia, dance-rock beats - and maybe even a keytar solo or two.

Featured on Double J, RRR and PBS, high praise for the band's latest album 'Keep It Together' continues... "The band have broken open this new chapter with confidence and catapulted right back into our music-loving hearts with Keep It Together. Riflebirds are a band at the peak of their creative and musical prowess."