Industrial Strength: Here’s what went down in the music biz this week
OCEAN ALLEY, KWAME, FOR MTV’S TRL
Sydney-based triple j champs Ocean Alley and hip hop protégé Kwame are the first guests on TRL (Total Request Live) when it premieres on Friday, March 8 on MTV and MTV Music on Foxtel, Foxtel Now and Fetch.
TRL is hosted by Ash London and Angus O’Loughlin, DJ Flex Mami and MTV.com.au editor and on-air presenter, Lisa Hamilton.
Fans can also engage with TRL online at mtv.com.au and across social on YouTube (@TRL Playlist), Instagram (@mtvaustralia #TRL) Facebook (@TRL Australia) and Twitter (@mtvAustralia).
Each episode of TRL will be filmed in front of a live studio audience at MTV HQ in Sydney with new episodes premiering every Friday at 6 pm (AEST).
GREATEST SHOWMAN SEQUEL?
Hugh Jackman, who opened the BRITs with ‘The Greatest Show’ from The Greatest Showman soundtrack, has sparked off rumours that a sequel is grinding on its way.
“For an actor, I’m a bad liar,” he told the BBC. “I have heard talk about it but I don’t know.
“Honestly, that [the original] took eight years and you can’t underestimate how hard it is to write a new musical….
“At the same time, you’re talking to the guy who made nine Wolverine movies.”
NEW JAZZ FESTIVAL FOR MELBOURNE
Melbourne gets a new jazz festival in April. Jazz Roots is an initiative of the Paris Cat Jazz Club as a tribute to International Jazz Day on Tuesday, April 30.
The jazz event is on Sunday, April 28 at the Coopers Malthouse Courtyard with names including The Black Jesus Experience, Emma Donovan & The Putbacks and The Toshi Clinch Big Band.
SEVEN SCREENS MICHAEL JACKSON INVESTIGATION
This weekend’s Sunday Night: True Stories on Seven includes an investigation on what went on behind the gates of Michael Jackson’s Neverland estate.
The testimony comes from a former Neverland worker and one of the singer’s alleged victims.
GOLDEN STAVE TICKS OFF DATES
The music industry’s charity The Golden Stave –which has raised over $15 million and supported over 50+ children’s charities in NSW – has released a number of its fundraising events.
The 28thaAnniversary Golden Stave Golf Day featuring the David Gilchrist Ambrose Challenge will be held on Friday, March 15 at the Beverley Park Golf Club in Sydney.
The 41st anniversary Golden Stave Lunch will be held on Friday, October 18 at the Four Seasons Hotel.
If you have any questions or wish to become a sponsor, email Larry Warren (general manager) at [email protected]
MUSICAL CHAIRS
The Association of Independent Music (AIM) announced Ninja Tune MD Peter Quicke as its new chair, replacing Tim Dellow of Transgressive.
Dan Bradley, PD of Hot Tomato on the Gold Coast moves to Melbourne to pick up his new role as content director of Triple M Melbourne.
Melbourne-based biennial festival Next Wave appointment of three new associate producers – Alec Reade, Nikki Lam and Emily Sweeney.
Will Brewster is the new digital editor at Furst Media’s muso title Mixdown, taking over from Jessica Over.
Sue Gilbert is appointed station manager of Sunshine FM104.9 on the Sunshine Coast. She was at 4CC/HOT FM Gladstone.
Destination NSW’s new director of PR and visiting media Kristy Meudell was previously head of consumer PR at Res Publica.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY
Empire of the Sun celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Walking On A Dream album with a special transparent blood orange vinyl version (with unreleased track ‘Chrysalis’) and a run of 15 club shows between May 30 and July 9, most in the US but also in London and Paris.
MELBOURNE ARTS PRECINCT GETS REDESIGN
The Melbourne Arts Precinct is to get a redesign which includes an elevated inner-city park and new pedestrian connections into and throughout the area, enabling visitors to move seamlessly from Southbank and the Yarra, through Melbourne’s iconic St Kilda Road cultural institutions.
Melbourne design practice HASSELL, in partnership with New York’s SO-IL, will do the honours.
FIVE YEARS OF LOCKOUTS REMEMBERED
To mark five years of Sydney lockouts and its effect on the rest of NSW, Keep Sydney Open is holding a series of events across the state.
Sydney, Friday Feb 22, Freda’s
Wollongong, Sunday Feb 24, (in partnership with Yours & Owls), 4—9 pm, North Gong Hotel.
Byron Bay, Friday March 1 (in partnership with Jono Ma) at
Locura
Bathurst, Monday March 4 (in partnership with DK Pool Club) at Oxford Hotel.
123 COUNT UP TO SEVEN
123 Agency’s latest signing is Melbourne seven-piece The Seven Ups.
They follow the deal with national shows that start in their hometown before heading to Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and regional Victoria.
LYRICFIND FINDS NEW WORDS
LyricFind, which has lyrics to 5,000 publishers, has expanded its services in Southeast Asia and the Middle East with new offices in Morocco and Vietnam.
In Vietnam, a local team covers Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Bahasa, and Malay language lyrics.
The office in Tangier, Morocco, is home to a local team covering Arabic and Turkish languages.
FLAME BREEZE
A 44-year old performer who used a flamethrower as part of a fire dance at the Dystopia festival in Nelson, New Zealand – despite a fire ban in the region – was arrested and faces court on two charges under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act.
SPOTIFY ANNOUNCES FIRST NATION PODCASTERS
Spotify Australia unveiled the first four recipients of its inaugural Sound Up Bootcamp for aspiring First Nation podcasters.
It was announced last October with the specific notion that experience was not needed, just a passion to be a voice on an issue or issues.
The four are Stephen Bungabee Watt, Bogaine Skuthorpe-Spearim, Nicole Hutton and Rowdie Walden.
The prize includes $5,000 towards a podcast, an editing webinar and mentoring sessions on podcast creation, story development and understanding their audience.
GETTING THE MUNCHIES
A 44-year-old is contemplating his diet habits in jail after he allegedly bit a cop on the leg at SummerSalt in Coffs Harbour.
He’d been given the heave-ho by security from the event “due to his level of intoxication” but didn’t intend to exit stage right.
A couple of blueys were called, and he drew blood with a chomp when he was being handcuffed.
ANOTHER VIC EVENT SAVED FROM SCALPERS
Another Victorian event has been saved from ticket scalping.
The government has slapped a “major event” tag on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which means it’s now covered by state law which forbids any of its tickets from being resold for over 10% of its original price.
The hardy-ha-ha fest draws up to 770,000 chucklers each year, making it Australia’s largest ticketed cultural event.
The government said, “Major events are crucial to the state’s economy, generating around $1.8 billion each year and bringing visitors from across Australia and around the world to our state.
“The Labor government has invested an extra $4.5 million in the Major Events Fund to help ensure Victoria’s major events calendar remains one of the best in the world.”
NUMBER CRUNCHING
350,000+ Elton John tickets already sold in Australia and New Zealand
8 times that Tom Walker used the word “absolute” in his acceptance speech at the BRITs
$500,000 what 50 Cent claimed on The Late Late Show that President Trump offered just to turn up and be seen at his
2017 inauguration.
$331 million, record earnings in first half of the financial year for the Star Gold Coast, with net profit at $149 million.
50,000 fans that NZ band Six60 will play tomorrow at Western Springs Stadium in Auckland – the first Kiwi act to sell out.
$155.9 million, what Metallica’s WorldWired tour has grossed, after launching in 2016.
$32,465 raised for Rural Aid at January’s Tamworth country music festival, according to figures released this week.
1 million YouTube views for Farruko, Nicky Jam, & Amenazzy’s ‘#Baby Passing’.
SCOUTED RETURNING
Adelaide’s indie music showcasing Scouted will return on Friday, July 26 as part of Umbrella: Winter City Sounds.
Expressions of interest have opened for acts wanting to showcase.
DJ PHIL K FUNDRAISER
A fundraiser is held at La Di Da on March 30 for veteran Melbourne club DJ Phil K.
His year-long battle with bladder cancer has worsened in the last six months, despite surgery in December.
“Even though the doctors call me ‘terminally ill’ (isn’t life itself a terminal illness?) I consider myself a very lucky person,” he said.
“I may end up going a bit earlier than other people but through positivity and being positive I want to hang on for as long as I can.”
A crowdfunding campaign launched at https://www.gofundme.com/support-phil-k to raise $100,000, and as of last night had reached $38,408 in its first week.
CHANGES TO KATHERINE RADIO
Listeners of Katherine (Northern Territory)’s commercial radio station Hot 100 (8HOT) on 765 kHz AM may soon have to change their dial if the ACMA accepts a proposal by the station.
The proposal would see 8HOT swap from AM to FM transmission in Katherine. Darwin listeners already enjoy 8HOT in FM.
FIRST SYNTHESISER CONFERENCE
Los Angeles’ first-ever synthesizer festival SYNTHPLEX is held March 28—31 with a trade show boasting a full range of synthesizer gear, educational & technology based seminars, master Q&A sessions, DIY synthesizer build workshops, a pop-up synth museum with rare instruments to play and sample, synth and DJ live sets and a gala dinner which will honour Thomas ‘She Blinded Me With Science’ Dolby for his contributions.
LGBTI AWARDS RETURN TO SYDNEY
The 2019 Australian LGBTI Awards are back at the Star Sydney on March 1, with2,000 people nominated across 18 categories.
The shortlist for the Music Acts includes Cub Sport, Mojo Juju, Kira Puru, Bec Sandridge, Alfie Arcuri, Maria Temelkos of The Frocks, Mama Alto, Greg Gould, Damien Mancell and Harley Mavis.
Tash Sultana and Troye Sivan are up for Local Icons and the Australian Institute of Music in the Organisations list.
Elton John, Cher and Boy George made it to the International Icon category.
Full details at www.australianlgbtiawards.com.au.
SA HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
The next AMC South Australian Music Hall Of Fame on March 24 will see the induction of Frank Castel, sound engineer/designer, production, F.O.H. and roadie for nearly 40 years.
Appropriately his induction takes place at the Roady4Roadies event at the Entertainment Centre.
LITTLE STEVIES BACK AFTER SIX YEARS
Between 2005 and 2013, sisters Byll and Beth Stephen, aka The Little Stevies released three triple j loved studio albums, an EP, a live album and played over 400 shows across Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand, and landed a record deal and a booking agent in North America.
When Byll became a mother, they turned to making kids music.
As Teeny Tiny Stevies, they wrote music for Sesame Street in the US, licensed their animated music videos to ABC KIDS TV (going on to become the second highest rating Australian program on ABC iView in 2018) and were nominated for last year’s Best Children’s Album ARIA.
Now they’re back with a new ‘grown-ups’ album, Stopped Wishing I Was Somewhere Else, which will be released on February 28.
They’re also hitting the road, both as The Little Stevies and Teeny Tiny Stevies.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…
Which upcoming international tour is making plans for one of the members to mime because he’s lost his voice?
Will Stereolab’s reunion tour, announced for North America and expanding to Europe, also take in Australia?
Instagram pix show The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr in the studio with Natalie Imbruglia, in Rockinghorse studios in Byron Bay, with Strokes producer Gus Osberg.
Maniac Netflix Teaser, soundtracked by Gordi’s ‘Heaven I Know’, has won ‘Best Music Supervision in a Television Promo’ at the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards.
Slipknot’s Corey Taylor reckons Imagine Dragons have replaced Nickelback as the world’s most hated band.
Splendour and Falls Byron Bay will know in the next week or so if they get to stay on permanently at their North Byron Parkland site.
Australian Radio Network has ended its 10-year relationship with media agency GroupM’s MediaCom and shifted to Initiative Sydney.
Apparently leaked Rhianna tour dates sees her doing dates around the US from April… alas, nothing on Aussie shows.
Word is Daniel Johns is about to watusi down the aisle again, this time with former model Michelle Leslie. She was previously hitched to one time The Music Network publisher and Big Day Out CEO Adam Zammit.
The West Australian reported that the album artwork for the new Methyl Ethel album Triage is the work Age of Reason by Sydney-based artist Loribelle Spirovski. The 2017 Archibald Prize finalist used her husband, concert pianist and “frequent muse” Simon Tedeschi as its subject.
Funnily enough, Troye Sivan was photographed standing in front of a Spirovski painting at an exhibition in Los Angeles, and everyone assumes he posed for it. “The hilarious thing is that it’s actually inspired by the actress Saoirse Ronan, who … has a striking resemblance to Troye.”
Perth songwriting duo The Opposite Kids aka Rob Agostini and Denny Thakrar have written global music star Dido’s new single ‘Give You Up.’
Former Hi-5 star turned TV presenter Charli Robinson and her racing driver partner Liam Talbot have had a baby.
Don’t be expecting a Savage Garden reunion in a hurry. One half of the duo, Daniel Jones told 97.3’s Bianca, Mike & Bob, he and Darren Hayes don’t see each other. The last time was a few years back at their ex-managers wedding, and “just acknowledged each other”. He added, “There’s no wrongdoing. It’s just different directions and different people. We just don’t have a friendship anymore or working relationship.” Things got tense there for awhile when Hayes announced the band’s split without informing Jones first.
At the funeral of chef to the stars, Justin Bull, his best mate David Campbell and his daddy-o Jimmy Barnes did a rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
Talk about bad timing. Just as Bring Me The Horizon’s global popularity goes through the stratosphere with their new album, they’ve had to cancel US tour dates after Oli Sykes ruptured his right vocal cord
Fresh Prince star Alfons Rebeiro lost his court bid to sue two video game makers for using his dance routine as shaking his hips and swinging his arms and clicking his fingers. A judge said, hey dude, you can’t copyright dance moves.
After a bad period of ill-health, Stan Walker is about to unveil a number of projects. “Something big, something you won’t expect, it is going to be my biggest year of music yet”
Melbourne-based mastering engineer Tony ‘Jack the Bear’ Mantz is launching his new career as a keynote speaker and industry mentor. On March 16 at The Cave in Abbotsford, he will share stories from his personal and professional life. It covers fighting anxiety, drug addiction, massive weight release, divorce and ups and downs of business.
Press Club head off in March and April for their first ever tour through the UK and Europe. After a so long, farewell bash at Melbourne’s Old Bar on Friday, March 15, they do 16 shows between April 16 and May 8.