Album Notes

Self titled debut record released in November 2003. Includes 7 songs plus 2 poems by resident Gethsemane poet Stephen Davis.

It's ludicrous to think that Gethsemane would go out and play anything less than modern rock.

But the Sydney group's influences are as diverse as Ben Harper, Jeff Buckley, INXS, U2 and 1920s country blues icons such as Mississippi John Hurt and Fred McDowell.

For Gethsemane - the band named after the biblical garden where Jesus was betrayed - it's all a matter of having a rock n roll heart (to paraphrase Lou Reed).

And the emphasis is as much on heart, as it is rock n roll.

Just as the garden was associated with pain and betrayal, Gethsemane's music bares pain, and anger, yet tinged with hope.

"Life's tough, so what? I'm alive," says Gethsemane vocalist Mathew Beltran . Gethsemane's music is honest. It reflects the course of Beltran's life and he has few regrets despite its difficulties.

"Music is a great communication," Beltran says.

"It's like painting or great novels. It's a way of letting people know your ideas, and the way you feel about things. Sometimes you'd like them to be able to hear a song, or read a book of poetry, and get an idea of what they are like as well.