The Minutes Podcast with Patience Hodgson and Mel Buttle

If you are up for some fun talk radio to listen to, check out The Minutes podcast which is produced every 2 weeks by the lead singer of one of my favorite bands The Grates, Patience Hodgson and comedian Mel Buttle.  Patience and Mel are a couple of ladies from Australia who talk about interesting stories that happen to them and just about anything else that is on their mind.  They both have great personalities and they are fun to listen to.

So far they have uploaded 4 episodes.  Being an American, you notice that even thought they speak English in Australia, there are a lot of different words they use for things as well as different expressions and sentence structures.  I have already learned several Australian words by listening to it.

The shows are about an hour to an hour and a half long.  They start and end with a custom theme song they made that is short but catchy.  You will hear entertaining stories about their childhood growing up and what they are up to these days.  Check it out!

The Grates - New Highly Recommended Band!

A few times a year I discover a new band that is really good; one that has not just one good song, but a lot of good songs.  An example of this would be last year when I discovered Fitz and the Tantrums.  It is a great feeling when you discover a new rising talent.  The other day I was reading a music blog called One a Day and I found a song by a band called The Grates.  Immediately I liked the song and started looking into them.  I found that they had a lot of other great songs.

So who are these guys?  The Grates were a trio, now a duo from Australia.  They have just released their 3rd album and are on tour in their home country.  They haven't made it big yet, but with the right promotion, they could develop a huge following within the next year or so. 

Sadly, their drummer Alana Skyring apparently left the band early this year to pursue interests in culinary arts.  This is unfortunate because she was a one of the things that made this band interesting. So now they have Patience Hodgson, that is her name, how cool is that? on vocals and John Patterson on guitar.  They get some help on drums, bass, and keyboards from other musicians.

Their sound can be described as upbeat indie rock with a little bit of electronic influence.  What I love is the diversity of their songs.  They all sound different.  Patience is an amazing singer.  Her voice sounds great on the studio tracks and even better live.  Check out this video they recorded for LaundroMatinee.  It's one of my favorites called Burn Bridges:

The Grates - Burn Bridges from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

The band is a nice group of people.  Patience has an amazing personality.  Check out this fun interview they did while playing a game:


The Grates have a bunch of excellent songs, but their videos are kind of strange.  To me they don't always fit the style of music, but at least it helps spread the music to more people.  Here is the video for their newest single "Turn Me on".  Enjoy!