BREE Rusev might have graduated from the Hunter School of Performing Arts in 2021, but the wide-opened optimism and uncertainty of leaving behind one's childhood is central to her new single One Last Dance.
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The song was originally written as a composition assignment for her HSC, which scored "18 or 19 out of 20".
But the uplifting slice of indie-folk continued to resonate with Rusev, so she decided to release the track as a single in the lead-up to her 20th birthday this weekend.
"I wrote it about the concept of living in the present, because sometimes you can get a bit caught up with things," Rusev said. "It's just about being in the moment and enjoying everything as it happens before time gets away."
One Last Dance was recorded in October last year by producer Mitta Norath at Newcastle's Tommirock Studios.
It'll be the seventh single Rusev has released since kicking it off with Coastline in 2020 while still at high school.
Her ethereal voice and enchanting melodies have propelled her to shares stages with Jack Botts, John Butler, Pete Murray, The Pierce Brothers and Jordy Maxwell, who she'll support again at Sydney's Chippo Hotel on July 14.
JETS FAREWELL
IF there's one band that symbolises the live music history of the Cambridge Hotel, it's The Screaming Jets.
The Better and Helping Hand hit-makers played countless shows at the venue in the '80s and '90s as they cut their teeth as one of Newcastle's greatest ever bands.
With the Cambridge scheduled to close next month and be redeveloped into high-rise student accommodation, Dave Gleeson and the boys are expected to announce a farewell show for June 16.
GODLIKE DEBUT
NEWCASTLE fans will be among the first to hear material from the forthcoming sixth record from western Sydney death metal stalwarts Thy Art Is Murder.
The band will release Godlike on September 15, their first 100 per cent independently-released record worldwide.
The album's first single, Join Me In Armageddon, was unveiled on Tuesday and continues Thy Art Is Murder's explosive and nihilist brand of metalcore and death metal.
Thy Art Is Murder kick off their national tour with special guests Justice For The Damned next Thursday at Gosford's Drifters Wharf, before they return to Newcastle's Cambridge Hotel on Friday May 19.
DOUBLE SHOT OF COX
COUNTRY rocker Brad Cox is expected to announce a second Cambridge Hotel show for Wednesday June 21, after strong demand for his initial show on June 22.
Cox was back in Newcastle on Wednesday for a listening party at the Hamilton Station Hotel to promote his new album Acres.
BIRDMAN AXEMAN
FOR the first time since 2017, former Radio Birdman, New Christs and Screaming Tribesmen guitarist, Chris Masuak, is heading back to Australia.
The Australian Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and his band Dog Soldier will perform at Mayfield's Stag and Hunter Hotel on June 2 with Joey's Coop, who features Died Pretty guitarist Brett Myers.
The Canadian-born Masuak left Australia for Spain eight years ago where he continues to tour around the European Union regularly and release new music, including his latest single Tract Home Chippy.
Masuak was famously not included in Radio Birdman's 2014 reformation due to his longstanding animosity with vocalist Rob Younger.
HERD IN ALL AGES
BRITPOP revivalists Herd Immunity will headline the fourth edition of Adamstown Arts' All Ages Gigs on Saturday.
The Newcastle three-piece of brothers Tim and Tom Toft and Zane Carolan will be joined by fellow Newcastle bands Locust and Rock Revolution.
The alcohol-free show begins at 7pm at the Adamstown Uniting Church. Tickets are $10 pre-sale or $15 at the door.
PIANO VIRTUOSO
THROUGHOUT his 50-year career Garrick Ohlsson has been described by critics as "a marvel of virtuosity" and a "titanic force at the keyboard".
Novocastrians can witness the 75-year-old classical piano master for themselves when he performs at Newcastle City Hall on June 10.
Ohlsson, who rose to fame by winning the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition at 22, won a Grammy Award in 2008 for Best Instrumental Soloist and has performed with the London Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The upcoming recital tour will feature two programs with Romantic and Impressionist works by Chopin, Liszt, Schubert and Debussy. It'll also feature a new work, Convocations, by emerging Australian composer and Melbourne-based music journalist, Thomas Misson.
