In our 10 Musicians to Meet series, taken from 10 Men Australia Issue 25 (out now), we meet some of the most exciting, talented musicians rising up in Australia right now:

The band is back. After a decade where solo artists were at the forefront of music culture, rock bands are taking over the sound waves again and Sonic Reducer are the ones to blast. The four-piece punk group from Canberra have spent the past few months shaping their guitar-led sound, refining their live show opening for Royel Otis in Europe and creating exhilarating music we can’t get enough of. All ears are on Sonic Reducer.

‍When did you fall in love with music?

Ryleigh Hilton: My mum is a big music fan so I was pretty much always around a lot of different music from a super-young age and just became obsessed from there. At 13 I started playing guitar and going out of my way to fi nd music, getting into a lot of funk and hip-hop.

‍Describe your approach to making music.

Ryleigh: Most of our songs come from us just jamming at practice. Usually someone will bring a riff or an idea to practice and we’ll just play around with it until it feels right.

‍What’s the one song that will always inspire you?

Ryleigh: I Am the Resurrection by The Stone Roses.

‍Which artist is your North Star?

Cormac McKahey: It can change day to day but I’d say Terry Hall. The Specials’ [self-titled] fi rst album was a truly life-changing thing for me as a teenager. He’s defi nitely someone I aspire to be like as a singer and writer.

‍What makes a great song?

Cormac: Theremin.

‍What’s a project you’ve worked on that you’re most proud of?

Lachlan Grinbergs: It would have to be our single Dip Me in Honey. It was one of our oldest tracks and I always wanted to see it come to fruition as a full and complete song. It was such a pleasure getting it to that point.

‍Dream collaboration?

Lachlan: It would have to be working with someone from Sonic Youth. Kim Gordon would be pretty awesome, she’s got this real energy that just feels unmatched, cooler than cool.

‍The ultimate venue or festival you’d love to play at?

Louie Hanna: It’s far-fetched but if CBGBs [in NYC] ever came back that’d be an obvious choice. That or the 100 Club in London. Both venues have such a rich history of music that I really like.

‍What’s inspiring you right now?

Louie: I’m really inspired by the fi lms of the unfortunately now late David Lynch – I like how he expected us to fi gure out his art for ourselves using our intuition and come to our own conclusions rather than have him explain it to us. I’ve also been really liking the poems of Arthur Rimbaud and Sylvia Plath.

‍What’s next?

Louie: More music, more shows, more Sonic Reducer.

Photo by Kurt Bingham.‍

Listen to Sonic Reducer HERE.

@sonicreducer.band