What do you get if you put unemployed arts graduates in a room together? Well in this case you get Stereo of the Insane.
Stereo of the Insane is our creative outlet. It’s a place where we can share our love of music, music culture, travel and film. It’s a place where we can get creative, share our thoughts and bond with fellow minded music junkies.
As well as interviewing established artists our aim is to provide a platform for emerging and independent acts from across the globe to share their music and tell us their stories. From random street buskers to festival headliner – we love them all.
Of course it’s not just interviews- we’ll also be bringing you an eclectic mix of album/gig reviews and plenty of sweet pics for you to enjoy and with half of our crew (Anne & Emma) currently backpacking across the world we are sure to find some musical gems along the way to share with you all. While the rest of our crew will be working hard to find you all the best Melbourne has to offer.
We are still finding our feet so please let us know what you like and don’t like about the site and we will do our best to take your opinions on board. If you want to get to know us a little more you can check out our bios below.
Thanks for visiting- Tell your friends!
ANNE NEIL – PRODUCER (presenter/reviewer/photographer)
Rock mixed with folk, add alternative to the glass, pour in some indie, flavour it with punk and metal with a pinch of pop 
and you are close to a carbon copy of me, Anne – ‘Blondie’ or ‘Annabelle’ as some call me. I believe I was born in the wrong time, my heart lies with music from the 60s and 70s – I’m someone who actually loves the fact that I was forced to listen to my parents’ music. Although my true love is music from earlier generations, I still love music from today and don’t discriminate when it comes to genre.
I am a total concert and gig junkie, attending live music events is my drug and favourite thing to do in the whole world. When I go to a gig, hear an artist/band live, I become so lost in the music that I forget everything else, I am in total bliss – a feeling I hope to pass on through this website via filmed interviews, footage of kick ass gigs, sweet photographs or rad reviews.
A lot of you are probably thinking what the #%@! does a Producer do? Well I make shit happen. Everything on this site I organise from start to finish and then some, which takes a lot of time and effort but it is always worth it and working with the best crew in the world makes the job a whole lot easier.
Having worked in the music/film industry for a few years now covering all kinds of awesome artists in Melbourne I am taking the next big step and back-packing overseas, camera in hand ready to capture music from as many places I can reach that this world has to offer (and one of the first stops will be Woodstock).
RAJIV PANDITA – CAMERAMAN/EDITOR/PHOTOGRAPHER
Over twenty years of a growing, living and learning on this wonderful messed up planet of ours I’ve only managed to conclude two things:
1) Like more and more people I seem to meet, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.
2) I fucking love music.
I don’t own much in this world but most of what I do is in musically shaped form and taking up more and more shelf space in my bedroom; there’s never a moment in my life that I’m far from a stereo or mp3 player and the closest JB Hi-Fi is usually first port of call on pay day. I live my life in anticipation of tearing off that security wrapper and giving an album its first run through, I revel in the hidden internet gem found late at night flicking through MySpace bands, I make it through the winter months by planning and dreaming for that beautiful embrace of festival season to visit us once more.
But my obsession for experiencing art knows no bounds and if “Professional Appreciator” was a real thing I’d be set for life. Books/Films/Music/Paintings/Photos/Videogames if I can experience it I’m there and I’m loving it; smash that together with my slightly erotic love of technology and it’s no real surprise to anyone that I’m most comfortable with my face in a viewfinder my mind in the realm of the shot composition.
When I’m not slaving away for STI I am known to pimp myself out to anyone in need of a man and a lens, and if you find yourself with some strange urge to be exposed to the crazy film review based ranting that goes on inside my head I have been known to publish a wayward blog. Go Forth; Experience, and Comment.
MARY JANE NEIL – PHOTOGRAPHER/REVIEWER/FIRST AD
So I’m Mary, or MJ as some have come to call me, or Mary Jane when a family member wants to show their displeasure with me. I just scraped into the 80′s being born in 1989 but the music from that decade is my kind of scene. Rock and alternative and 90′s pop
(Yes I still go off on the dance floor whenever I hear the Spice Girls – sue me!) are what I listen to the most but something that has been drilled into my head is never limit yourself, be open to new things and you may be pleasantly surprised. That’s exactly how I am with music.
When I was 6 I loved the Beatles and boasted that I wanted to marry John Lennon, my mum had the unfortunate task of telling me he was assassinated nearly a decade before I was born. I don’t think I have ever cried as hard as I did that day, I was so devoted to him! But that devotion is now to all music and the power it can have over a person and transform aspects of their lives.
I’m one of those people that if I want to see a band I love I’m willing to line up at 4:00am for tickets (even although I am NOT a morning person!) and when at the concert expect people to rock out instead of being glued to their seats. I’m also a MASSIVE geek, particulary when it comes to anything Joss Whedon and may have the biggest collection of merchandise from his TV shows (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse) that a poor university student can afford.
This year I’m completing my Media Arts Degree (what’s that you ask?) at RMIT, majoring in stop motion animation. And if you haven’t worked it out I share the same Last name as Anne – yes I’m her little sister! I look forward to being a fully-fledged member of STI and hope everyone enjoys what we produce.
DALE BENNIE – VIDEOGRAPHER
Dad listened to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Mum listened to Talking Heads, The Cars and Eurythmics.
Along with endless lounge room sessions listening to constant repeats of my parents’ vast collection of albums, I grew up favouring late-’70s / early-’80s punk + hardcore, the first wave of hip-hop, early electronic music and anything else that piqued my interest. This led to my interest in making music and sound in general, which led to listening to more bands for inspiration and ideas, and the vicious cycle repeats. 
I’ve never been genre-bound, but I know what I like and what I don’t…I can’t stand some of the most “popular” music, and some of my favourite music is definitely what others would call “noise” or “unlistenable”.
As my folks will testify, after spending way too many hours in front of the TV growing up, it was only natural that I end up studying Film + TV, which I did along with Anne and Emma. We’ve spent many a late night together in pubs, house parties and edit suites. Now that they’re living at the antipodes, I’m helping to hold down the Australian side of the operation.
When I’m not building gear for my music studio or annoying the neighbours with that same gear, I’m doing the freelance videography thing as a job, and sometimes being “forced” to attend concerts and music festivals to shoot footage for Stereo Of The Insane.
ROCHELLE FLACK – REVIEWER/PHOTOGRAPHER
Hey there! My name is Rochelle Flack or, Chelle for short. I’m a self confessed music fanatic with a penchant for procrastinating (Not the most helpful trait when completing your final years of high school) Yes, I’m a young’un! At the tender age of 16 years old, i’m already working towards my massive dreams and aspirations, whilst juggling school, studying and all of those uninteresting things.
I’ve always been a bit of a creative type, the kind that worried my teachers and destroyed things for ‘art.’ But i managed to find a good channel for this creativity by combining the three loves of my life… Music, writing and photography. I love live music, I cannot think of a better place to be than a hot and sweaty barrier right in front of a stage. The atmosphere is second to none and i think i will always be chasing that feeling and energy as long as I live.
Being involved with Stereo of The Insane is my stepping stone into the music industry. An industry I hope to be involved in throughout the rest of my teenage years and as a career – after I make it out of year 12 in one piece.
JORDAN READMAN – REVIEWER
Hey there, Jordan here.
For the past sixteen years I’ve been on Earth I’ve been surrounded by music, I was force fed some of Britain’s best; The Cure, Joy Division,The Beatles and The Smiths by my parents and I am forever thankful for it. From about the age of five I was singing along to the sweet sounds of Coldplay and from 2006 I’ve been a lover of bands such as Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks and The Wombats. Since moving to Australia (currently in Brisbane) in the middle of 2006, the music industry has been opened up to me and since then it’s been a huge interest and passion of mine. Indie, rock, folk, pop, some heavy rock, electro and punk, get it in ya!
A sixteen year old doing band reviews, who would want to read that? I would! (We’re not all bad) Working with Stereo of the Insane is helping me get a step in to journalism and the music industry whilst still in high school! To me it’s a huge opportunity, it’s pretty insane.
DANIEL WILLS (WILLSY) – REVIEWER/CINEMATOGRAPHER
I was born in a little cottage in the mid 1980′s – my father a bearded man of pasty complexion brought me up on the sweet sounds of 60′s and 70′s rock. My mother a short round women, very loving and caring filled my ears with 60′s and 70′s pop/folk. A man of many unnecessary talents I find myself writing a blurb about myself which to be honest I hate – writing is not a strong point for me.
Music wise my interest are all over the shop like trying to piss into the bowl when your blind drunk its everywhere! From 60′s and 70′s to 90′s grunge to punk and hardcore, metal ,folk, indie, alternative and all sub genres (so many these days) im a fan of them all!!!! I have this thing that if I like an album a lot I have to get in on vinyl – not good for the bank balance!. Currently living in Toronto and being a fellow Aussie, a post by Anne on a facebook page for Aussies in TO wanting to meet someone to go to music gigs with brought us together, we got a chatting and found out that we are from the lovely bayside area of Melbourne, have friends in common (small world) and the rest as they say is history!.
Im looking forward to my time at Stereo Of The Insane and learning more about the industry.
