"Birthday is a great song. Succinct, emotive and one of those rare songs that seems effortless, disarmingly simplistic. It is full of lush echoes of the eighties and brought up to speed by the sheer clarity of production. In days when bands cling to genre, 'Geisha' seem beyond that contemporary landscape. Fewer and fewer artists are capable of producing such an accessible emotion these days. Perfect, really." - Mick Middles (The Guardian - UK)

"Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"

Geisha (Diamond Dog Records)

"Australian rock band Geisha has been around for donkey's years and though several band members passed through and out of the band, lead singer Chris Doheny reckons he's now found the perfect rock partner in music journo and musician Joe Matera. After hitting the scene in the 1980s, Geisha gained eight top ten hits between the years of '85 and '87 from two albums, and now this new album mashes together the old hit singles with some fresh songs and rarities. Hit songs such as Fool's Way, Rainy Day, Girl Like You and the number one hit Kabuki are all gathered to give a history of the band, while new singles Birthday and Mystery Writer sandwich the greatest hits section. The songs have been brilliantly remastered and the more recent tracks build excitement for new material, which the band is currently working on. Keep an eye out".

4 ****

Chloe Warburton (Shepparton News - AUS)

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Joe's many interviews and features have appeared, and continue to appear in, countless music magazines around the world. From Australian Guitar and Rolling Stone in Australia to Classic Rock, Guitar & Bass, Acoustic, Metal Hammer, Performing Musician, Total Guitar, Kerrang! and Record Collector in the U.K. From Guitar World and Goldmine in the U.S to Snaggletooth in Canada. From This Is Rock and Guitarra Total in Spain to Chitarre in Italy. He also supplies exclusive interviews to Ultimate-Guitar.Com, and has contributed to UK's Guardian Series Newspapers' Limited Edition magazine as well as Fairfax Newspapers' M magazine, The Sunday Age in Melbourne.

In his capacity as music journalist, Joe has interviewed a who's who of the music world as well as spent time on tour with numerous artists. Artists the calibre of Aerosmith, Guns & Roses, The Sex Pistols, Foo Fighters, Matchbox Twenty, Kiss, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Steely Dan, The Doors, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Queens Of The Stone Age, Korn, Motorhead, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Marilyn Manson, Cheap Trick, Hinder, Tool, Triumph, Stone Temple Pilots, Ratt, The Cars, The Smashing Pumpkins, Queen, Nickelback, Alice Cooper, Slayer, Foreigner, Blondie, Yes, Megadeth, HIM, Linkin Park, John Mayer and many, many others.

As a guitar player, Joe plays lead guitar in legendary Australian pop-rock outfit GEISHA with Chris Doheny - one of Australia's finest singer/songwriters - at the helm. The group recently released a new studio album titled, 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow'. Prior to joining Geisha, Joe was a 20 + year veteran of countless original and covers outfits. His impressive playing CV includes being the lead guitarist in the orchestra for award winning stage productions of Les Misérables and Chess. Aside from Geisha, he performs shows around Melbourne, playing and performing with the likes of Tim Watson (Taxiride), Ash Naylor (Even, Paul Kelly), Tim Henwood (Rogue Traders, The Superjesus) and others. He also appears as guest guitarist on legendary UK metallers Atomkraft's scorching cover of Thin Lizzy's 'Cold Sweat'. One of his original guitar instrumental compositions, 'Starry Night' also appears on the soundtrack to the upcoming Australian movie Ricky!, due for release sometime in 2010.

Revitalised Melbourne 80s band Geisha has compiled their greatest hits together with some new songs and covers for a new album.'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow'. The album features the eight singles the band had between 1985 and 1987 from their two EMI albums 'Geisha' and 'Midnight To Down'. In addition, the album features the two new songs 'Birthday' and 'Mystery Writer' and covers of The Beatles 'Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' and The Small Faces 'Tin Soldier'. Founding member Chris Doheny carries on the Geisha name today with Melbourne guitarist Joe Matera.

'Birthday' is a mid tempo rock ballad featuring killer hooks and the powerful vocals of founding member Chris Doheny.

'Birthday' was produced by legendary US producer Tom Werman who is noted for his work with Cheap Trick, Motley Crue, Ted Nugent, Twisted Sister, LA Guns, Stryper etc. Werman offered to produce when he heard a demo of the track in early 2008. "When I heard the demo I knew the band had a chart hit on their hands... It took me back to those crazy days of working with Cheap Trick. I thoroughly enjoyed producing the track & I'm very happy with the end result".

Geisha enjoyed tremendous success in the mid eighties with numerous chart and radio hits including 'Kabuki', 'Part Time Love Affair', 'Rainy Day', 'Fools' Way', 'Calling Your Name' & 'A Girl Like You' The group produced two albums; the critically acclaimed self titled Geisha in 1985 and Midnight To Dawn in 1987 - The band sadly disbanded in 1988. With a stack of new songs under his belt, vocalist and founding member Chris Doheny teamed up with noted guitarist and rock journalist Joe Matera at the tail end of 2007 to begin the next exciting chapter of the band's career. The aptly titled 'Birthday' is the first single off Geisha's brand new forthcoming album. In July, 2009 the band hit the road for the first time in 22 years!