First five acts announced for ARIA awards

The first five Australian acts to perform at the ARIA awards were announced this morning

GANG OF YOUTHS

Sydney’s Gang of Youths are up for eight – Apple Music Album Of The Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album, Best Video, Best Australian Live Act, Producer Of The Year, Engineer Of The Year and Best Cover Art.

It’s been a hectic year for the London-based band. Their album Go Farther In Lightness reached #1on the ARIA chart, was named triple j’s feature album, and also led to their 16-date tour around the country selling out.

The album was last month released in the UK and Europe, which they followed with dates across the territories.

Their cover of the David Bowie classic ‘Heroes’ featured in the trailer for Justice League.

When the nominees were revealed, the band responded, “There is no greater honour to us than to be respected and considered worthy of good repute in our beloved home country.

“We love Australia, we love the people in it and although we feel undeserving, we’re extraordinarily grateful.”

A.B. ORIGINAL

A hectic year for A.B. Original saw them play dynamic sets on every festival going, as well as a highly acclaimed set at the National Indigenous Music Awards where they brought on other stars of indigenous music to make a compelling statement.

The ‘January 26’ track from the Australian Music Prize-winning Reclaim Australia album, helped spread the movement of changing Australia Day while they were called on by TV current affairs shows as spokespersons for Black Australia.

Briggs and ARIA-winning producer Trials, respectively coming from the Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri tribes, are up for six ARIA nominations this year.

They are Apple Music Album Of The Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist, Best Urban Release, Best Independent Release and Producer Of The Year.

They also received 4 nominations for The Age/Music Victoria Awards.

JESSICA MAUBOY

Jessica Mauboy is up for six possible wins – Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release, Best Video, Best Australian Live Act, Apple Music Song Of The Year, Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album/

In another busy year, she became the first Indigenous woman to debut and achieve three consecutive weeks at #, and reached platinum.

The second season of The Secret Daughter returns on Melbourne Cup Day on Channel, she collaborated with British grime star Smallzy and she’s talking about making an old-skool country music record.

PEKING DUK

Peking Duk’s global rise continues since they expanded their DJ sets with a live band with riotous festival appearances including stand-outs at Splendour In The Grass and Coachella, and a return to the U.S. in early 2018.

They’ve knocked up 130 million streams and found a new bestie in AlunaGeorge who responded in a day or so to their totally unsolicited request to collaborate with them

In the meantime, their fan base is distinctly getting weird: from those copying their tattoos on their own bodies, the

Tazos Lady comes to every show and throws tazos at them and a story we heard is that a girl jumped onstage with them just to shit on it.

PNAU

Pnau is up for two ARIA nominations this year – Best Dance Release and Apple Music Song Of The Year – both for ‘Chameleon’, their first single in four years.

It went on to gain triple platinum status (for over 200,000 sales) and generated 30 million streams, as well as hitting #1 on the ARIA Australian Artists Singles Chart.

The ARIA awards performance starts a new cycle for the duo, as their album Changa gets released on November 10.

The Go Bang Tour kicks off in late December.

Meantime the two recently provided an insight to what makes them tick.

“The thing with music is that it is a communication tool, more than ever now, it is so important to put positive energy into the world.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about politics but you can do it in a positive way, in a way that can help to change, and….as long as you have a good message, the song will follow—even if that is just pure energy.

“There are moments when all you need is energy; just bring that energy and positivity to the music.”

The ARIA awards with Apple Music are held on Tuesday, November 28 at The Star in Sydney.