Industrial Strength: Parkway Drive, MTV, Eurovision, Bluesfest and a few other things…
PUBLIC RALLIES AS EMILY WURRAMARA “LOSES EVERYTHING” IN FIRE
The public has rallied around Brisbane singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara whose apartment in Vulture Street in the West End caught fire yesterday morning.
She posted: “My family and I have literally lost everything.
“We practically have to start from scratch- my manager has started this page for any donations to help my daughter, mother and brother get our life back on track.”
Lost in the blaze were Wurramara’s instruments, baby daughter K’iigari’s things, clothes and mementoes of her grandparents.
The initial target of $10,000 in a crowd-funding campaign was reached within the first five hours.
But Wurramara says there were also other tenants in the heritage-listed buildings and is planning a benefit concert for them.
PARKWAY DRIVE PICK UP NOMS FOR UK METAL AWARDS
Australia’s own Parkway Drive are multi-finalists for the third Heavy Music Awards, held in London on August 22, alongside Iron Maiden, Bring Me The Horizon and Twenty One Pilots.
The Aussies are up for best album for Reverence (Epitaph Records), international band and live band.
New Zealand’s Maori metal outfit Alien Weaponry are in the running for international breakthrough band.
YO! MTV RAPS LOOKS AT AUSSIE HIP HOP
MTV Australia is screening a one-off local version of YO! MTV Raps on Friday, May 17 at 6pm AEST.
Hosted by triple j’s Hau Latukefu and sponsored by Jack Daniels, it features REMI, Camouflage Rose, Tasman Keith, Okenyo, Kobie Dee, Sophiegrophy, Shadow, Rop$1 and MTV presenter Flex Mami as resident DJ.
YO! will also feature a round table discussion with some of the artists and open up a forum to discuss the current state of hip hop culture including the music, the talent, the fashion and local representation.
WATERLOGIC JOINS RECLINK COMMUNITY CUP AS SPONSOR
High-tech eco-friendly Waterlogic has come on board this year as a national sponsor for the Reclink Community Cup as it travels to seven cities.
This year’s theme is ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’, based on the Paul Kelly-Kev Carmody classic.
The first game is in Melbourne, where the idea started 25 years ago, on Sunday, June 23, at Collingwood’s Victoria Park.
The Megahertz (Community Radio Triple R 102.7FM & PBS 106.7FM) take on the ESPY Rockdogs (musos).
The first acts announced are Magic Dirt, Baler Boy and funk synthesist Harvey Sutherland.
The Melbourne event draws 12,000 people and raises above $150,000 each year to support Reclink Australia’s work with disadvantaged communities.
THE VOTE THAT ROCKED
This week’s hottest election stories involving music folk:
* Labor senator Senator Kristina Keneally arrived in Newcastle with the party’s Big Red Bus and with federal Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon announced a $350,000 funding to local live music hub Atwea College if it took office.
The money will improve its rehearsal and live spaces with soundproofing as well as the recording studio at The Creative Arts Space on Beaumont Street in Hamilton.
* The Greens introduced a Living Arts Fund that will guarantee creative people a “liveable wage” (that is, above the poverty line which most seem to live under) without having to go on the dole.
Those signed up to the fund will have “an income subsidy equal to the difference between their other income and a living wage.
“The fund would own a share in their work, which will make the fund more self-sustaining, with artists supporting artists.”
* Victorian rapper Briggs popped up on ABC-TV’s The Weekly to announce he was doing his bit for the election.
He spotted a Pauline Hanson billboard in his hometown of Shepparton declaring “I’ve got the guts to say what you’re thinking.:
“Which is a polite way of saying I don’t mind being racist,” Briggs told Weekly host Charlie Pickering.
“These billboards are everywhere and I got worried that Pauline didn’t know what I’m thinking, so I did something about it.”
He erected his own billboard near that of One Nation’s, complete with a back shot of Hanson where he declared. “I’m thinking I can’t wait to see the back of Pauline Hanson.”
JURY DUTY FOR SBS EUROVISION
Electric Fields will announce Australia’s votes to the world, after SBS Eurovision dubbed them official jury spokespeople.
Their duty is to announce Australia’s allocation of points via satellite to those gathered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and to 200 million Eurovision viewers worldwide.
The two were runners-up in the Eurovision – Australia Decides semi-finals and lost out to Kate Miller-Hedke.
Michael Ross and Zaachariaha Fielding said: “Eurovision (is) the music event that brings millions together for a huge camp party, right up our ally.
“Kate is absolutely stunning live and we know she’ll deliver a powerful performance.”
The Australian jury members for 2019 are comedian Mark Humphries, singer-songwriter Christine Anu, triple j presenter Lewis Hobba, composer Alice Chance and broadcaster Mark Cummins (chairperson).
Viewers in all 41 participating countries in the 64th Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel can vote for their favourite songs in the semi-finals and grand final by televoting.
This makes up 50% of the total vote.
The other 50% is decided by a national jury in each country, made up of music/entertainment figures with extensive experience in the industry and a passion for Eurovision.
To vote, the Australian public has to tune into the live broadcast of semi-final 1 on Wednesday, May 15 at 5am (AEST) and the grand final on Sunday 19 May at 5am (AEST) by texting the numbers that appear on screen during the live broadcasts on SBS and at SBS On Demand.
AUSTRALIANS CONTINUE WINS AT ISC
Australians always fare well in the US-based International Songwriting Competition (ISC), and the 2018 edition is no different.
The comp received almost 19,000 entries from 140 countries.
The EDM section was strongest, with The Presets and Wax Motif, both from Sydney, taking first and second spot.
Robbie Melville (Melbourne) took first place in Instrumental.
Taking second place were The Rubens for Pop/ Top 40 and
Pete Denahy (Victoria) for Comedy/Novelty.
Third place getters were Casey Barnes (Gold Coast) for Country and John Walsh (Sydney for Lyrics Only.
A number of entries from these shores also got Honourable Mentions in their respective categories.
These were from Missy Higgins, Bobby Alu, Sahara Beck, Georgi Kay, Nick Payne, Fiona Boyes, Whitefield Tenielle Neda, Melanie Dyer, Angus Lee Murphy (Amastro), Milton Man Gogh. Shane Timmo, David Taylor & Robbie Walcott,
Nick de la Hoyde, and Wren & Michael McGlynn.
For full list of winning writers and their songs here.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
$15.6 million record gross revenue for Bluesfest 2019, beating the previous high of $13.5 million in 2014.
240 days of community service for US rapper Soulja Boy for probation violation.
$7 billion to be spent by Amazon this year in video and music content.
36% estimated market share of indie labels in the US, measured by label ownership. The top 12 had a total revenue of $2.3 billion in 2018..
62 in global broadband speed rankings for Australia, down three spots.
4,000 tracks (almost) now being added to Spotify every day.
13—15% of country radio airplay in the US is for females, a new study found.
ARN EXTENDS iHEARTMEDIA DEAL
Australian Radio Network has extended its iHeartRadio license in Australia until 2036.
iHeartRadio Australia already has over 1.34 million registered users and offers Australia’s largest podcast library, local and international live radio, personalised artist radio stations and unlimited genre-based stations.
It is integrated into over 65 devices in Australia including Google Home, Amazon Echo & Alexa, Telstra TV, Sonos, Waze and Android TV.
COUNTRY MUSIC’S EKKA SHOWDOWN RETURNS
Queensland country music competition Ekka (Royal Queensland Show) Showdown returns with a total prize pack of $20,000.
Musicians aged 12+ perform two songs to Ekka crowds at the XXXX Stockmen’s Bar and Grill on Saturday, August 17.
New this year is the introduction of digital heats, as well as an extra performance opportunity for the Junior category, with the winner to sing the national anthem in the Main Arena during EkkaNITES before 20,000 people.
Also on offer is a recording package, cash and a scholarship to the Tamworth Academy of Country Music.
Video applications to be submitted here.
TONYS ON FOXTEL ARTS
Foxtel Arts will broadcast Broadway’s night of nights the 73rd Tony Awards streamed live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Monday, June 10 from 10am and encored at 7.30pm that evening and also available On Demand.
The Late Late Show host James Corden will host.
Of nominations in 26 competitive categories, Hadestown, the folk music retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth with a jazz/blues score, led the nominations with 14 nods including one for Best Musical, followed by Aint’ Too Proud- The Life and Times of the Temptations with 12 and Tootsie with 11.
Australia’s Eddie Perfect who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Beettlejuice is up for a Tony award for Best Original Score, with the musical scoring eight nominations in total including Best Musical, Best Book Of A Musical, Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Sound Design and for lead actor Alex Brightman for Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role In A Musical category.
For the full list of nominations visit TonyAwards.com.
SPIN OFF SOLD OUT
The 4th edition of Adelaide’s Spin Off sold out in two weeks, a record for the event, organisers said.
A Splendour In The Grass offshoot, performers from the Byron festival heading to Adelaide Showgrounds on Friday, July 19 include Childish Gambino, Ball Park Music, Ocean Alley, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Kwame, Mallrat and Wolf Alice.
Although this year’s capacity is already doubled, organisers are reportedly working at expanding it even further.
FESTIVAL PROTECTING INDIGENOUS CULTURE
Mowanjum Aboriginal Arts and Culture Festival will return on Friday, July 12, giving the public a rare opportunity to experience the vibrant, living culture of the Ngarinyin, Worrorra and Wunambal peoples.
With dance, song and visual arts creating a historical record of the past and future, Mowanjum is an opportunity to honour and celebrate Indigenous culture just 10km outside of Derby in WA’s Kimberley region.
The event will begin with workshops to teach Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences the skills that local ancestors used in day to day life, such as ochre painting, boat carving, and bush medicine from the Nikita Ladie.
Then after sunset, a ceremonial welcome will take place and a series of traditional dances will begin as a show of unity between the many Indigenous communities of Australia.
SHAYNE CARTER VS NEIL FINN
Dead People I Have Known, the new autobiography by New Zealand musician Shayne Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer) has one chapter where he reveals all of a long time feud with Neil Finn.
According to the book, as per the Herald On Sunday, it began when Finn was playing with The Party Boys and Carter’s post-punk sensibilities were offended by a band playing covers and sponsored by a big corporation.
Blind drunk he staggered backstage and offered to fight each member of the band … and was thrown out of the backstage area.
Down the track he offended Liam by saying his music sounded just like Neil and Tim’s, and the younger Finn later got his revenge in an interview before the Silver Scrolls awards for which both were nominated.
Carter wrote that Liam hoped Dimmer wouldn’t win as Carter sounded “really gay”.
“‘Get back to me when you’ve written a tune, Shorty’, I should have replied, but didn’t,” Carter wrote.
When Neil and Carter were both in the backing band for a Bic Runga tour, Carter apparently annoyed Finn by playing a Dimmer demo at “obnoxious volume” in his hotel room in Nelson.
He admits that throughout the feud, “Neil was always magnanimous and never confrontational”.
However, he did relate of the time a fellow band member “performed an act of self-expression” in the shower of Neil Finn’s house, “hoping to clog his drains”.
Herald On Sunday spoke to Finn about the claims. Finn recalls Carter wanting to fight him but “then he was slumped up against the wall and fell over”. He doesn’t recall the hotel incident.
As for the shower story, Finn replied: “His bandmate was just another in a long line of wankers who wanted to block my drains.”
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd’s restaurant in Tauranga, New Zealand, Phil’s Place, is closing its doors n May 5, and returns under a new owner as Salinity Restaurant And Bar. Rudd opened it in September 2011 wanting to stir the economy of Tauranga where he lives. The restaurant closed for a time in 2012, during Rudd’s infamous legal problems. Apparently he’d asked the restaurant staff to send a plate of antipasto to his yacht. His bodyguard suggested it should be sent instead to his aircraft hangar. A hungry Rudd turned up enraged at Phil’s Place and, the story goes, kicked the backdoor in, called the staff “useless” and sacked them.
Wollongong’s Yours and Owls festival, which sold out last year, returns in 2019 to Stuart Park on October 5 and 6.
Hellions founder member Matt Gravolin has quit, and will play one last time wit them on their Rue Album Tour across Australia which kicks off in Adelaide tonight . The band said, “(It) will be the last time you will see Hellions in its current form. Following these shows, we will be taking a break to re-group and re-set.”
Triple M’s national Sunday night’s show Homegrown has been rebranded to Triple M Aussie and hosted by Chris “Becko” Beckhouse.
This year’s judging panel on Seven’s Australia’s Got Talent are singer and former Pussycats Doll Nicole Scherzinger, actor Lucy Durack, My Kitchen Rules’ Manu Feildel, and actor Shane Jacobson. A host and return screen date are yet to be announced.
Bluesfest will from next year be allowed to charge for parking, saving itself $300,000. It was to have taken place this year but an error in its development application (DA) continues to state that paid parking must be included in the ticket price. But will Bluesfest stay long in Byron Bay? We hear head honcho Peter Noble has been holding talks with interested parties in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to hold it there. Interestingly, the governments of these states are willing to financially support their festivals.
This year’s Adelaide Guitar Festival has extended its Guitars In Bars has been extended to four weeks, from two, in July. Organisers are also encouraging non-bars to also put their hands up to host live shows. Applications so far have included a guitar store in Port Lincoln, a brewery on Yorke Peninsula, and a distillery in the Riverland.
Gaana, India’s first music app to reach 100 million monthly active users, says that Australia is one of the countries where usage is increasing.
The two-bedroom Paddington, Sydney terrace house at 6 Wentworth St, once owned by Michael Hutchence until 1995 is on the rental market by its new owner, who bought it in March for $1.72 million.
Chvrches have been forced to increase security at gigs after receiving rape and death threats from Chris Brown and Tyga fans after the band criticised them for alleged sexual assaults.
A woman in China was forced to get hospital treatment after viewing Avengers: Endgame caused “uncontrollable sobbing.”
The first two shows of Screaming Jets’ Dirty 30-anniversary tour, tonight and tomorrow at Wests Cardiff, will see their former drummer Craig Rosevear join them for the good old times. These days he’s a music educator, running Rosie’s School of Rock in Newcastle.
The Chills, the rockumentary on the legendary New Zealand band that popularised the Dunedin Sound, had its world premiere this week in Dunedin. It was directed by Chills fanatic Julia Parnell who took on the job of documenting the band which went through 21 lineups and 32 members.
On their next tour in June, Clowns have hidden a bottle of their Clowns Hot Sauce each in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast. Hints will be given, and the winner from each city gets free tickets to Clowns shows for a year and $100 worth of merchandise.
On Shannon Noll’s next trek, a fan and a friend from each city will be given the prize to have a drink with Nollsy after the gig.
The Queensland government has greem-lighted Bazz Luhrmann’s next project, a movie about Elvis Presley, made at the Village Roadshow studios on the Gold Coast. Luhrmann met state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in London last month. It is expected to inject $100 million into the Queensland economy. Tom Hanks has signed on to play Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker.
California’s Northern Nights festival is allowed to sell weed on site.
Detroit rock promoter Russ Gibb, better known as the one who started the “Paul is Dead” rumour in the mid-60s, has died at 87. He started the yarn that Paul McCartney had died in a car crash in the mid-60s and The Beatles replaced him with a look-alike, and left clues on their songs and album covers.
Musician and singer-songwriter Melissa Black, who’s just dropped her The Eden Project EP is also a part of a new short film Merging With Takayna out in July, It is part of the Tarkine In Motion project coordinated through the environmental action group of former Greens senator and environmentalist Bob Brown.
After five years, Perth band Some Like It Yacht are calling it quits (or “on indefinite hiatus”) and doing shows around town from this month until a grand finale at Badlands Bar on Saturday, June 8.