Aussies abroad: Six for The Great Escape; now 55 for SxSW

Five Aussie acts were among the 100 announced early this morning to showcase at England’s The Great Escape Festival in May: Hermitude and Ginger and the Ghost from Sydney, Melbourne’s Courtney Barnett and Money For Rope, and Brisbane-based Dune Rats and The Creases. More acts are expected to be announced over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, a record 55 Aussie names have been confirmed to play South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. This is the largest amount of Australian acts in the United States at any one time. The number could rise to 61, if all the six Aussie acts from a field of 80 go on to confirm.

Up to 750 Australians are expected to sign on as delegates for the music, film and interactive components, SxSW reported. There were 658 attendees last year, joining 15,000 from around the world.

This is a far cry from 2002 when five Australian bands and 20 delegates attended the event – which was launched in Austin 28 years ago. This year there were 220 applications to showcase from Australian bands, up against a total of 7500 applications from around the world. Altogether, 2000 artists from 55 countries will play over 100 venues.

SXSW Australian, New Zealand and Hawaiian representative Phil Tripp states: “We have so many bands because Australian music is performance-based live at the crash barriers, not cloned in auto-tune studio cubicles.  Our film makers are world class and our interactive software and online entrepreneurs are in high demand overseas.  SXSW has been the catalyst for this Australian Invasion of talent for over a decade of momentum and we’re ready to explode in 2014.”

The 55 acts, in alphabetic order, are (deep breath) Angus and Julia Stone, Boy and Bear, Chela, Cooper, Dirty South, Dog Trumpet, Dub Fx, Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays, Favored Nations, Gang of Youths, George Maple, Glass Towers, Gossling, High Highs, High Tension,Indian Summer, Jonti, Josef Salvat, Jungle Giants, Kid Mac, King Parrot, Kirin J Callinan, KLP, Lime Cordiale, Mia Dyson, Miami Horror, Money For Rope, Mt Warning, Oh Mercy, Owl Eyes, Panama, Peking Duk. People of Letters, Reptiles, Rufus Du Sol, Seekae, Sheppard, Strange Talk, The Chevelles, The Creases, The Delta Riggs, The Griswolds, The Growl, The John Steel Singers, The Kite String Tangle, The Preatures, The Swiss, Thief, Touch Sensitive, Vance Joy, Vancouver Sleep Clinic, Wave Racer. Wax Motif and What So Not.