Industrial Strength: 19 June
VELVET WINTER JOINS TMN TEAM
This week sees Velvet Winter joining The Music Network team as a staff writer. The Nick Cave and playlists tragic was most recently Queensland digital editor for The Music.
Before that, she worked in journalism (AAABackstage, Scenestr) digital (Mucho Bravado, Margin Media), as a broadcaster (Guvera Music, Rabbit Radio) and at festivals (Montreal’s Just For Laughs, Splendour In The Grass).
And some nights you might see her up onstage at an open mic comedy night…
Velvet will also be writing across the board with TMN’s sister site Radio Today. Both are owned and operated by Jaden Social.
CALL FOR GOLD COAST MUSIC MEMORABILIA
The newly opened Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast is looking for items for an exhibition Let There Be Rock which stages from December 8 to February 17.
It’ll have photographs, playlists, posters, tickets, and more from the 1970s to 1999 heyday when the region exploded with venues like The Playroom, Bombay Rock, The Patch, Jet Club and Fisherman’s Wharf, which hosted the best of Australian, international and local acts.
“But we need you!” HOTA says. “We would love to hear your stories and see what treasured mementos you have tucked away.
“Were you in a Gold Coast band and still have the drum kit, or guitar you played? Was your T-shirt signed by Kurt Cobain or Dave Grohl? Were you at the AC/DC concert at Miami High?
“Stashed in boxes, and hidden in garages, we hope to unearth three decades of rock souvenirs of a night out at one of the Gold Coasts’ live music venues.”
Submit here and their curator will contact you.
All enquiries at: rock@hota.com.au or 07 5588 4024.
SONY TO SPLIT SPOTIFY PROCEEDS BY AUGUST
Following Sony Corp.’s April sale of half of its stake in Spotify, Sony Music Entertainment has emailed indie labels confirming that it will share its US$761 million proceeds with “eligible artists and participants as soon as possible,” with a target of August.
The payment will be made without recovery of outstanding advances and any other recoupable sums. “We hope that this is perceived as a gesture of goodwill to our music creators,” the company said.
Sony has no obligation to pay out as it’s been ascertained that the Spotify shares were bought with its own money,
But aside from the goodwill, the payment gives it the sort of reputation which will help its case when artists and indies set up long-term licensing deals in the future.
The spotlight now turns to Warner Music Group, which in May made $400 million after jettisoning 75% of its Spotify holdings and promised to share with its artist and label rosters.
Universal Music has not sold any stocks, not with plans for an IPO reportedly in the works.
SAVAGE GARDEN: TO THE BAR AND BACK
New high-end London bar Savage Garden has aroused the ire of the Aussie duo of the same name, which emerged from Queensland and went on to sell 23 million copies of its two albums.
Attaching a link to a review of the bar, the band tweeted, “Yo @Gorgeous_Group – did ya do a basic Google search to see if the name Savage Garden had been used in a pretty public and global commercial way before you named your bar the same name?”
The Aussies named themselves from a line in Anne Rice’s novel The Vampire Lestat, ‘The mind of each man is a savage garden.”
GANG OF YOUTHS TO OPEN FOR FOOS IN US
Gang of Youths are opening for seven Foo Fighters‘ dates in America later in the year.
Between October 8-18, they play Phoenix, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Paul.
In the meantime, the London-based Sydney band has also added an eighth Melbourne show after youth group The Push started a petition pleading for the band to do an under-18 show.
The new show – their eighth in Melbourne on their tour – is at the Forum on Wednesday, October 31.
The band posted: “Thank you for caring young people. We heard you and we listened. See you on the 31st October at The Forum.”
The Say Yes To Life Tour has already sold 33,000 tickets across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth.
It is promoted by Handsome Tours and $1 from every ticket goes to Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).
‘SHOWMAN’ SOUNDTRACKS BREAKS RECORDS O/S
The soundtrack of the Hugh Jackman-starring The Greatest Showman has broken records in the US and the UK.
It has become the first album to sell a million copies in the US this year.
In the UK, it is the longest reigning soundtrack to stay at #1 in 50 years.
It’s stayed for 19 consecutive weeks topside, toppling Saturday Night Fever which was #1 for 18 weeks in 1978.
Showman has a long way to go before it catches up with The Sound of Music, which spent 70 weeks at number one between 1965 and 1968.
GURRUMUL DOCO, ALBUM GETS US RELEASE
Gurrumul Geoffrey Yunupingu’s Gurrumul documentary and final album Djarimirri Child Of The Rainbow have got North American releases.
The album is out on July 13. The Paul Williams-directed doco is finalising a release date.
It got a standing ovation at its NA premiere at the AFI Docs Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, followed by press screening in New York City on June 19.
SYDNEY LIVE MUSIC VENUE SITE SOLD
The Peachtree Hotel in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith, which stages live bands and club nights, has been sold.
Hotelier Jason Marlow has bought it for $16.5 million.
He plans to turn it into a family-friendly venue that will focus on food and entertainment.
“We’re not in the nightclub business and want to ensure that it stays this way,” he said.
“We’re dedicated to providing the community with a family-friendly hub for socialising, not simply a local watering hole.”
AIRWAYS BACK IN THE CLOUDS
Melbourne pop-rock band Airways, who went on hiatus in 2010, have released the first new material since. Four tracks from the upcoming second album Light Of Day were posted online, while the band marked their launch with a show a MEMO Music Hall.
During the break, co-founder Dan Hall released a solo album under the name South Side Rebel and toured with his first band Taxiride on some high profile tours including the Red Hot Summer tour in 2017 with John Farnham and Daryl Braithwaite.
Hall tells Industrial Strength that the recording of Light Of Day began last year but was a slow process due to “a shoestring budget. We finally finished it with the help of some generous fans!”
Plans are to hit the road along the East Coast in spring and then to the West Coast and Adelaide in summer.
SHOW TO GO ON AT LA MAMA
The Victorian government has thrown Melbourne theatre venue a funding lifeline after fire destroyed the Carlton landmark on May 19.
It has been given $180,000 to start work on restoration, including additional staff and advice from heritage and project management experts. The rebuild is expected to take 18 months.
US COMEDIAN CHRIS HARDWICKE LOSES SHOW
US comedian Chris Hardwick has lost his cable show and been dropped from September’s Californians festival KAABOO Del Mar after a former girlfriend of three years, Chloe Dykstra, alleged sexual and emotional abuse.
Hardwick said he was blind-sided by her accusations and that while their relationship had not been perfect, he had supported and loved her.
SPINNING ME AROUND
ABC Radio reported that one of Australia’s largest private record collections is up for sale.
It belonged to a Gold Coast miner Ken Perkins who left behind a collection of 80,000 to his granddaughters in his will.
He spent 50 years building it up and some of the records, 78s from 100 years ago, are in mint condition. It’s hard to put a price on it.
However, despite some media claims, it’s not necessarily the largest in Australia. It is believed that the collections by broadcaster and writer Glenn A Baker and the late Adelaide DJ John Vincent numbered more.
STUDY: 3.5M AUSSIES LISTEN TO PODCASTS
Nova Entertainment has released Australia’s first Podcasting Intelligence Report, which shows that the amount of Aussies listening to podcasts has risen by 21% in the last 12 months.
The total listenership is 3.5 million aged 16—64, making it the fastest growing on-demand audio medium.
49% of podcast listeners have a higher discretional spend on key categories such as retail, travel and entertainment.
SYDNEY FESTIVAL TO HOST EMMANUEL TRIBUTE
The Sydney Guitar Festival in August which booked Phil and Tommy Emmanuel has reported that Tommy will perform and will change their slot to a “special tribute” to his late brother who died of an asthma attack last month.
Latest additions to the event can be found here.
TRIPLE J UNEARTHED HIGH RETURNS
triple j is bringing back Unearthed High for its 11th year, scouring the best original high school act in the land.
Deadline is midnight Monday, July 30.
The winner will be flown to triple j to record, mix or master their music, which will be played on triple j and triple j Unearthed. They’ll also receive music industry advice and triple j will visit their school.
Last year’s winner, Arno Faraji, was an unknown rapper and producer from Perth’s Shenton College, in Year 12.
As part of his prize, he had his dream come true – he was flown to Melbourne’s House of Beige studio to record a track with Remi & Sensible J.
The result is uploaded on triplejunearthed.com to coincide with the opening of entries.
WA RAPPER SHOOTS VIDEO IN JAIL
The video for WA rapper Dallas Woods’ debut track ‘9 Times Out Of 10′ was filmed at the Castlemaine Gaol in country Victoria.
It has a cameo appearance by his best mate Baker Boy and comes with the blessings of ex-Don Dale detainee Dylan Voller.
On the track, the 24-year-old Noongar man raised in the EK (Wyndham – East Kimberley) region raps about the power trip police have in remote Aboriginal communities and how their overt presence is a normal occurrence to him and the residents living there.
A break dancer at school, he became a mentor at the Indigenous Hip Hop Projects, and won the East Kimberley Young Achiever Award at the age of 15 in 2009.
In 2016 he was on the songwriting team for the NIMA award-winning track titled ‘Break The Silence’ raising awareness for White Ribbon.
Since this time Woods has visited over 250 communities and earned a feature role on Move it Mob Style [ABC 3].
PATRICK DONOVAN LANDS PROF ROLE
Patrick Donovan, CEO of Music Victoria, has been appointed as an Adjunct Professor at RMIT’s University’s School of Media and Communication.
Donovan was main entertainment writer at The Age and wrote the scintillating weekly column Sticky Carpet before he left to run the association.
GM FOR SYN MEDIA
Campbell McNolty has begun as the new general manager at Melbourne youth radio station SYN Media.
He was previously 3½ years its education and training manager.
Acting SYN president Rachael Dexter said, “SYN is on the cusp of an exciting period of change, not least in its move to a brand new, state of the art HQ in RMIT.
“As the organisation works to bring even more young people to quality content-making in the digital age, Campbell’s clear strategic vision and deep knowledge of SYN means we are in good hands.”
NEW OWNER FOR LOVE NIGHTLIFE
Popular Broadbeach nightspot Love Nightlife has a new owner. 25-year-old Elliott Wicks says he’s achieved a long time dream of owning a nightclub, after Tony Regis and Louise Huxham decided to leave after seven years.
COURTNEY BARNETT BACK TO EUROPE
With the release of her Tell Me How You Really Feel album in the UK last month, Courtney Barnett has announced a fresh batch of UK and European tour dates.
Between November 1 and 21, she’ll do 15 mostly-theatre shows.
The cities include Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Paris, Dublin, London, Oxford, Cardiff, Glasgow and Birmingham.
POW! NEGRO CALL IT QUITS…
Perth band POW! Negro revealed that a recent hometown show was their last – at least under that name.
“We are in a state of metamorphosis. Pow wasn’t meant to be anything more than a couple of gigs.
“A few boys who made music for themselves turned into POW! Negro playing music around Australia.”
However, the band has had greater success than what some members could cope with, including overseas interest, BIGSOUND showcases, and opening for Midnight Oil.
… SO ARE BOYZONE
The Ronan Keating-led Irish band Boyzone are splitting this year after a final album Thank You & Goodnight and a farewell tour furrowing through England and Ireland in November.
“We all feel that we should now call time on our lives together as Boyzone and go out on a real high,” they said.
Formed in 1993, the group had UK number ones with such hits as ‘Words’, ‘No Matter What’ and ‘All That I Need’.
Upcoming is a single ‘I Can Dream’ which features the late Stephen Gately, who died in 2009.
He had recorded it for a solo album. Boyzone found it and added their own harmonies to his lead vocals.
NEWTOWN SURVEY
Newtown Precinct Business Association is holding a survey (here) to ensure that the groovy Sydney suburb’s offering of food, music, people and culture is being sustainable for everyone involved.
That includes local residents, visitors to Newtown, governments that regulate it, businesses that make up the offerings and services that support it.
REGIONAL ARTS SETS UP NETWORK
Regional Arts Australia is launching the Regional Arts Network, offering professional development and connectivity through networking and support to regional, remote and rural artists and arts professionals.
The network will launch next month with a series of free webinars which it says is being “developed to be thought-provoking and practical”.
Webinar 1 – Wednesday, 4 July at 11am AEST – Networking and Engagement featuring Wesley Enoch, Sydney Festival director and Simon Spain, Regional Arts Australia chair, and practical information about funding applications from Mary Jane Warfield, Regional Arts fund manager with Regional Arts Australia.
Webinar 2 – Wednesday, 8 August at 11am AEST – Addressing bullying and harassment in the workplace with Kim Tran, director, policy and governance at Live Performance Australia
Webinar 3 – Wednesday, 12 September at 11am AEST – Social media basics with Erika McInerney, director, Mac & Ernie Social Media Training and artist Helen McCullagh.
Webinar 4 – Wednesday, 7 November at 11am AEST – Introducing the Regional Engagement Guidelines with Rod Ainsworth and Natalie Fisher, Regional Engagement Guidelines development team
In addition to the webinar series, the network will be offering ongoing opportunities to connect with other artists and arts professionals around Australia through a range of events, initiatives and programs.
TOTALLY UNICORN LAUNCH WEB SERIES
Sydney outfit Totally Unicorn have launched a weekly web series Magical Animals.
These include compilations of Instagram stories, iPhone recordings and in-crowd footage of their adventures from the first half of 2018.
Singer Drew Gardner takes viewers on a stroll; around the Secret Garden festival, resplendent in tie-die undies with later episodes on their visit to Japan.
ST PAUL CREATIVE CENTRE LOOKING FOR TENANT
Adelaide music, tech and business cluster, St Paul’s Creative Centre, is looking for a new tenant.
Managed by Arts SA through the Music Development Office, its tenants work in music, 3D printing, non-profit arts, 360 film, graphic design, VR and content strategy.
It comes with Gig City wifi, a variety of meeting spaces, and a Great Hall perfect for functions.
30 SECONDS TO MARS LOSE GUITARIST
After weeks of speculation, 30 Second To Mars guitarist Tomo Miličević confirmed that he is leaving the band.
“This is the best thing for me in my life and also for the band,” he said.
Miličević was noticeably absent on a couple of recent European concerts.
ALPHA WOLF BACK WITH NEW LINEUP
Melbourne hard rock band Alpha Wolf are back following a hiatus with a new lineup, Lochie Keogh (ex-Earthender) is their new vocalist, Mitchell Fogarty (ex-Iconoclast) their new drummer.
Keogh, in fact, was in their road crew and was offered the role a few years ago. But he was working on his own project and turned it down.
The Wolf went on to record Mono, “one of my favourite albums to date”. Earlier this year they sent him a link to their new single, a superheavy ‘Black Mamba’ and invited him again.
Alpha Wolf play a launch show on August 3 at Workers Club, and then hit the road on the Death Dealers Tour with Thy Art Is Murder, Antagonist AD and Exile.
MUSO SUES EX FOR SABOTAGING CAREER
A young Canadian clarinettist won C$350,000 in damages after suing a former girlfriend for sabotaging his career.
20-year-old Montreal-based Eric Abramovitz applied for a scholarship in 2014 at a conservatorium in Los Angeles, desperate to be in the course because it was headed by one of the world’s greatest clarinet masters, Yehuda Gilad.
After a live audition, he got the scholarship, worth $50,000 a year.
But he never got the good news email. Thinking she would lose him, his then-girlfriend accessed his laptop, replied to say he was turning down the scholarship, and deleted all evidence.
Abramovitz sussed the sham when he met Gilad years later, and the maestro asked why he turned down the offer. He currently plays with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
THE SUPERJESUS WRESTLE WITH ‘SUMO’
20 years ago, just before the release of The Superjesus’ debut album Sumo, Warner Music Australia’s then A&R chiefs Michael Parisi and Mark Pope gathered a number of Melbourne media folks – including this columnist – for an advance play in a major recording studio of the album.
They cranked up the volume, and Sumo turned out to be so powerful that it blew out the studio’s playback speakers!
It went on to reach #2 on the ARIA chart and received platinum certification.
On August 17, they re-release a 20th-anniversary edition of Sumo, with bonus tracks from triple j’s Live At The Wireless archive and a cover of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Confide In Me’.
Later in the year, between September 29 to November 17 they do 19 shows around the country to celebrate.
Singer Sarah McLeod says, “[When Sumo came out]…everything went big time.
“It was terrifying and exciting all at once. We worked so hard on that album.
“To be sitting here talking about it 20 years later, knowing that it was an important part of Australian music history and affected so many people along the way… it feels like an incredible achievement.
“We had no blueprint of how we wanted to sound – of course, we had our influences, but it was the combination of those influences that made us become The Superjesus.”
TIM ROGERS, BERNARD FANNING AT BYRON WRITERS FEST
This year’s Byron Writers Festival (August 3—5) includes a number of rock’n’roll types in its program as 140 writers, thinkers and commentators converge in Byron Bay.
Tim Rogers and Bernard Fanning will open up their songbooks while musician and broadcaster Richard Fidler will, the blurb goes, “take his turn in the hot seat with Saga Land co-author Kári Gíslason transporting us on a Viking journey to the edge of world.”
On the comedy side, Kitty Flanagan comes clean about Bridge Burning and Other Hobbies, Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs perform the smash hit that inspired their book Women Like Us, The Chaser’s Andrew Hansen will impart why comedy is the most addictive thing you’ll ever do and Future Tense presenter Antony Funnell reveals his comedic side with So Far, So Good.
Danger Music author Eddie Ayres will talk about how her travels through Afghanistan teaching the cello to children led to a self-discovery almost too hard to bear.
PUSH TO BYPASS VIAGOGO IN UK
Secondary ticketing companies in the UK are getting tough on practices.
Two months ago, they formed themselves into an association called Fair Ticketing Alliance (FTA) in a bid to trade fair and clean up their image with consumers.
Its new code says that its members must not use any secondary platforms that do not comply with the UK’s consumer and market regulations.
This is clearly a move not to use Viagogo, which is currently under investigation by various authorities for its practices including ticket price transparency.
Since the government crackdown on secondary ticket sites, all the others have hastily cleaned up their acts.
FAIRGROUND FESTIVAL NAMES DATE
Fairground Festival in Berry, NSW, announced it returns for the fourth time this year between Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1.
The first lineup is unveiled in early July, Berry is a two-hour coastal drive from Sydney.
18-YEAR-OLD RAPPER FACING JAIL OVER SONG
A high school student in New Jersey, Michael Schmitt, is under his house arrest and faces 10 years in jail on the account of a rap he recorded and posted online in February.
The track was the usual loudmouth nattering about getting oral sex and “you’re gonna get cracked on the head like an egg, bitch.”
However his line about his school James Caldwell High School – “u lil sluts @ jchs i love u all even tho yall hurt me and i forgive u. i would never hurt” – got him in rap hell.
A student saw the line, contacted authorities. They dialled the police who sent a swat squad straight to the campus and nabbed him, accusing him of wanting to blow up the school.
We understand he didn’t crack anyone’s head “like an egg, bitch” when they cuffed him.
AUSSIE PROG ROCK INVADES EUROPE
Come October and November, three Australian prog rock bands – Caligula’s Horse, Circles and I Built The Sky – are invading Europe.
The shows include the ProgPower Europe, Euroblast, Very Prog and AMFest festivals.
SECOND ARTIST ROUND FOR BBQ & MUSIC
The second round of acts for Adelaide’s Beer & BBQ (July 6—8) includes The Grenadiers, Horror My Friend, K21, Neon Tetra and Burnside Mums.
VALE ALAN CLEMENT
Although best known as a country radio broadcaster in three states, Alan Clement’s involvement in the Australian country music sector went deeper down.
He threw himself into events organised by the Capital Country Music Association and was part of the production team that staged the first Australasian Country Music Awards.
He also helped develop the first country music festival at Port Pirie, South Australia.
He was inducted into Country Music Capital’s Hands of Fame in January 2013.
Alan Clement died following complications after lung surgery.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…
We tipped you off two weeks ago that Kate Ceberano was splitting from manager Ralph Carr. Now we hear another major singer is also making a similar move.
Is the Gold Coast to get its own comedy festival?
Lily Allen says that while on Big Day Out Australia and New Zealand, in 2006, “I was drunk for three weeks straight.”
Singer Taylor Henderson is the victim of a social media conman who set up a fake Instagram account with his name to fleece money from young fans.
Now with The Voice over for the year, Delta Goodrem is scooting off to Los Angeles to record. Her powerhouse Irving Azoff is based in the city of angels. Delts will team up with Kelly Rowland a duet if they can find the right song.
The announcement that Bon Jovi’s Queensland show in December is at QSAC in Brisbane has fired up a long-simmering feud. The costs of hiring regional facilities as Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast is so exorbitant, complains Gold Coast Suns chairman Tony Cochrane, that music promoters don’t consider anything but Brisbane on international tours.
Blink-182 had to reschedule shows in Las Vegas last weekend because drummer Travis Barker was suffering from blood clots in both arms.
Dua Lipa‘s ‘New Rules’ has tied for longest run on the US pop song charts, with 41 weeks.
When it came to doing a video for his new single ‘Cool With It’, Melbourne multi-instrumentalist Melbourne’s Tyler Millott – aka The Terrifying Lows – opted to head to Luna Park with fellow video directors Lewis Mitchell and Willy Pleasance. Millott, seen wandering the site and playing the attractions, in the video explains: “I really didn’t want to make a narrative video about some guy (ME) arguing with his romantic partner. Instead, I wanted to support the nostalgic feeling of the song with an equally as familiar visual aspect.”
Adelaide cabaret artist Hans (aka Matt Gilbertson of the Advertiser’s Confidential celeb column) is competing in the current series of America’s Got Talent – to an American audience of 12 million. Hans was one of 30,000 applicants for this season, and if he wins gets $1 million and a headline show in Las Vegas. The show is screened locally on Fox8.
As I Lay Dying are explaining their controversial decision to bring back frontman Tim Lambesis – after he was jailed for six years for plotting to have his wife killed. The hitman he offered $1000 to do the deed turned out to be a cop.
Three musicals are heading to Sydney – the return of Chicago and the Australian debuts of Saturday Night Fever and Waitress. NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin, when making the announcement, said the three would draw 60,400 tourists from outside Sydney and pump $28.8 million into the NSW economy.
Dubbo musician Lindy Blekemore is putting together a new lineup of Harmony Singers getting back to gigging after a cochlear implant 12 months ago proved successful and restored her lost hearing.
New York-based Greta Gertier Gold returns to Sydney to work on a musical and attend a high school class reunion – and will play a one-off show in the old hometown on September 13 at Leadbelly (Newtown) as part of Sydney Fringe. She’ll be doing excerpts from her past and future musicals and solo albums like The Universal Thump.
While there are plans to purpose-build a new home for the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, it’s about to start major renovations at its current building in Acton, covering sandstone, waterproofing and conservation works.
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