Author Background

The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop Second Edition

Ian McFarlane is an Australian writer, researcher and music journalist. He has been writing about Australian music since 1984. Over the years he contributed to a number of music publications and newspapers (Juke, Hot Metal, The Edge, From the Vault, The Australian, Rhythms, Australian Musician, Freedom Train, Prehistoric Sounds). In 1992-93 he was label manager for the Australian office of international record label Roadrunner. He has also worked in the publishing industry and as part of the multi-media unit at William Angliss College (1993-1996). He researched, wrote and worked on the original edition of The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop between 1996 and 1999. From 2000 to 2016 he was project manager / licensing co-ordinator for reissues specialist label Raven Records. He has written authoritative liner notes for over 180 CD reissues, not only on Raven but also the Aztec, Sandman, Vicious Sloth, Spin, RPM and Playback labels. He contributed articles to web site addictedtonoise.com.au and currently contributes the regular Sounds of the City section to renowned roots music publication Rhythms.

The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop was originally published by Allen & Unwin. Ian has completely revised and updated the content for the Second Edition, to be published in 2017.


Third Stone Press

Third Stone Press is an independent publishing company dedicated to documenting the history of Australian rock and pop music.