You can’t avoid the fact that the one-man-band that is Muscles courted a fair bit of controversy at the end of 2008. He’d had a hugely successful 18 months in the leadup that saw him release a massive smash of a debut album Guns, Babes & Lemonade, and a touring schedule that saw him supporting the likes of Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and Soulwax, as well as playing mainstage at the Good Vibrations Festival. It all came crashing down though when he began blasting his beloved hipster record label Modular on his blog after allegedly being dropped from the Nevereverland lineup. However, in the tail end of 2009, Muscles is tying up the loose ends, kissing and making up, and preparing to rock again in 2010.

“At the moment I just feel very blessed to be making music, let alone being signed to an amazing label, and them supporting me and wanting to help me with my music career,” Muscles told ITM recently. “It’s all in the past and I’m really excited about the future, there are a lot of exciting creative and amazing things.”

And any ‘bad blood’ that might have existed between him and his record label? That’s a thing of the past, baby. “There was not so much bad blood really, but just a misunderstanding that got blown out of proportion. Everything is all good and ready to go, and I can’t wait to get out there and start playing shows again.”

He’s got a new album Manhood nearly ready to go for 2010, and he’ll be debuting at least a few of them when he plays a handful of gigs over the New Year period. Here he talks to ITM’s Angus Paterson about making amends, cleaning up those loose ends, and looking forward to what the future has to offer.

Muscles tour dates:

Thu 31st Dec – Cargo Bar NYE, Sydney
Sun 3rd Jan – Solar Festival, Victoria