Finalists announced for 2015 Queensland Music Awards

The Grates,Eves The Behavior, DZ Deathrays and The Medics are among the nominees up for Queensland Music Awards.

The Grates are up against The John Steel Singers, DZ Deathrays and Halfway in the Rock category for their track Holiday Home. Speaking to TMN, frontwoman Patience Hodgson said: “It's awesome that pregnancy didn't steal any of our/my rock edge. As proven with this rock nomination. The songs we wrote felt best once we cut the breaks and opened the throttle, we weren't 'trying' to write rock, but it's a good destination to arrive at!”

Hannah Karydas aka Eves The Behavior has been nominated in the Pop category for her track Zen.She's up against Sheppard, Airling andMosman Alder.“The first time Iapplied for the QMusic awards I was 15 and in thehigh school sector,” she told TMN. “The recognition and encouragementQMusic gave me back thenwentsuch a long way, andit's really rewarding to now be a finalistin the pop category.”

Chosen by a panel of 40 judges, the nominees across 21 categories hail from the state’s metropolitan and regional areas including Cooktown, Cairns, Innisfail, Townsville, Rockhampton, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Mackay, Moura, Tarzali, Kingaroy, Gayndah and Gladstone.

Hodgson told TMN she’s impressed with the caliber of acts in the local scene. “They're not waiting around for recognition, radio or record deals, they're fully seizing the moment and creating their own hype using whatever tools are available. And they're helping each other! There's a cool cross-pollination that's been going on in Brisbane for a while now that I don't reckon was happening as much 10 years ago.”

“A lot is happening,” added Karydas. “I'm seeing the work ofBrisbane artistsstretch rightacross theAustralian sceneand theinternational scene too. It's exciting to be a part of it.”

The awards will be hosted at new venue the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre on March 30 and hosted by triple j’s Sarah Howells and Fred Leone aka Rival MC from Impossible Odds Records.

Performers include 4x ARIA Award winner Katie Noonan with Brisbane producer cln, Airling (aka Hannah Shepherd), Tjupurru and the Bulldawadda, Brisbane four-piece Blank Realm, AIR country album of the year winnerHalfway, electro-soul band MKO, folk artist Sahara Beck and Plus One Records signing We All Want To.

The awards will also see the winner of this year’s Billy Thorpe Scholarship announced; the four finalists are Babaganouj, Ayla Scanlan, Moses Gunn Collective and Sahara Beck.

2015 QUEENSLAND MUSIC AWARDS FINALISTS

The 2015 Queensland Music Awards presented by BOQ and Hutchinson Builders is produced by QMusic with support from APRA|AMCOS.For more details visit the QMA website.