Industrial Strength: April 19
Sydney, Adelaide, represented at Music Cities Convention
Australian music cities continue to be highly regarded by the global community when it comes to discussing the relationship between city planning, strategy, development, policy and the music industry. Among the first round of speakers for the third Music Cities Convention (May 18, Brighton, UK) are Kerri Glasscock, Executive Director of Sydney Fringe and 505 Club, and one time Adelaide artist manager Joe Hay, who is now adviser to the South Australian Government.
They join a list including Amsterdam Night Mayor Mirik Milan, as well as entertainment, government and media executives from New York, San Francisco and from around the UK.
The conference is the brainchild of Glastonbury booker and The Great Escape co-founder Martin Elbourne, a former Thinker in Residence for the South Australian Government. Names from Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra have spoken at the two earlier meets. The first, in 2015, was in Brighton and drew 120 attendees from 20 countries and 50 cities. The second, in the US, had 170 attendees from 60 cities.
Support Act honours Paul Kelly
Support Act Ltd will present Paul Kelly with its charity award at the Music in the House lunch on Wednesday May 18 at The Ivy Ballroom in Sydney. The focus of Music in the House is to honour members of the music biz who’ve made a difference with their charity work. Previous recipients were Jimmy Barnes, Glenn Shorrock, Don Spencer, Richard Clapton, John Paul Young, Russell Morris, John Butler and The Sapphires.
Andrew Denton will host the lunch. Julia Stone, Thelma Plum and Urthboy will perform as will Kelly.
Joanna Cave, CEO of Support Act said: “Support Act receives no government funding and we must raise every dollar we need to help music pros in crisis. Demand for our help is unprecedented and increased by 500% last year alone. Music is the House, our most important fundraising event, will be very special this year featuring the legendary Paul Kelly with performances in his honour from some of Australia’s most exciting young artists.”
Bookings atwww.supportact.iwannaticket.com.au.
New category, sponsors, for Gold Coast Music Awards
After a successful inaugural Gold Coast Music Awards, the second serve has expanded. A new category Music Video of the Year is introduced thanks to the Gold Coast Film Festival. Live precinct NightQuarter has come on board as a sponsor for the Song of the Year category. Bluesfest ran a busking competition with the winner opening for its Delta Stage next year. A team-up with Q Music sees winners get the chance to showcase at BIGSOUND.
Nominations for all seven categories close April 30 at www.gcmusicawards.com. The event is held at Burleigh Brewing Co on June 16.
Last year saw 30,000 People’s Choice Awards votes, 241 nominations from artists, 25 creative partners, a sold-out awards ceremony and major label interest for best emerging act winners Hanlon Bros who head to the US in May for a college run.
Three labels get grants for A2IM Indie Week
Three Melbourne-based labels Hope Street Recordings, Cooking Vinyl Australia and Zero Through Nine will attend the A2IM Indie Week in New York City in June courtesy Creative Victoria’s $50,000 worth of Quick Response Grants. The labels received grants ranging from between $4370 and $3146.
In the meantime seven acts also got funding to perform at festivals and on tours abroad, promote upcoming releases and be involved in workshops. Topping the list were City Calm Down who get $10,000 to play The Great Escape in the UK and additional shows across the UK/Europe. The other acts able to go abroad were Broadway Sounds, David Chisholm, King, Northeast Party House, DJ and performer Laila Sakini and multimedia artist Andrew Watson.
Foxtel Arts vamps up music content
Foxtel Arts has acquired broader appeal music related content and through May has these offerings:
Season 7 of Live From The Artists Den (Thursdays at 8.30 pm) has Phoenix (May 7), Sheryl Crow (12) Sara Bareilles (19) and Vampire Weekend (26).
Episode 2 of Later With Jools Holland on May 12 at 9.30 pm, features Duran Duran.
Music acts on The Jonathan Ross Show (Saturdays 6.30 pm) include Tom Jones (May 7), John Newman (14), Elvis Costello (21) and Ariana Grande (28).
Sinatra 100: An All Star Grammy Concert is on Sunday May 29 at 7.30pm featuring Usher, Tony Bennett, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, Carrie Underwood and Garth Brooks.
Two music venues for sale
Two music showcasing venues, on both sides of the country, are for sale.
The Indian Ocean Hotel, in the Perth suburb of Scarborough, is on the market after 30 years. Its 175-capacity Indi Bar has showcased predominantly blues and roots music since 1987 and built up the careers of the likes of John Butler, The Waifs and Dave Hole before their break-throughs, and holds regular acoustic and blues nights.
Melbourne’s 400-capacity Forester’s Hall in Collingwood, which has regular live music, has also found itself on the trading block.
Meeting over Northbridge noise issues
A City of Perth committee is tonight (Tuesday April 19) meeting to consider how to address an issue with the inner city Northbridge entertainment strip. Its population has risen 21% in the past five years but noise complaints escalated by 30%.
The inner-city suburb’s residential population has jumped 21% in the past five years but the number of noise complaints has risen even faster at 30%. Venue operators in the area have suggested options as turning Northbridge into an entertainment precinct like Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley where higher noise volumes are allowed, or an Agent of Change like Melbourne’s where new arrivals to a neighbourhood with established venues cannot complain, and developers have to take responsibility for sound proofing their new apartment buildings.
More Venue Updates: closures, upgrades, pop up toilets
* Served with temporary closure orders were Sydney karaoke bars Queen KTV in Ashfield (six months) and K1 in Haymarket (72 hours) after authorities allegedly discovered illicit drugs and “serious” liquor law breaches. The K1 could be closed for longer as police are applying to the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority.
* Premier Mike Baird announced that future responsibility for future stadium policy will be with Infrastructure NSW. Work will start in three years to make ANZ Stadium rectangular-shaped at a cost of $700 million, while Allianz Stadium at Moore Park will be refurbished. It was a blow to Sports Minister Stuart Ayres, who with the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust has campaigned for a brand new stadium for Moore Park. In addition, Parramatta Stadium will be rebuilt in the next three years, at a cost of about $300 million.
* Kew RSL in Melbourne will feature live music for all five Sundays through May. The Kew Call-Out is to raise funds for drummer Dave Folley (Chicken Walk, Roving Commission, The Killjoys) and partner Rachael Tidd whose 3-½ year old son Frankie is diagnosed with cancer.
* Local nightclub operators are not happy after Gold Coast Council voted to put a pop-up toilet on Orchid Avenue next to Sin City in November. The Urilift Combi, a Netherlands-made device that rises out of the ground at midnight and can handle three people at a time, costs $390,000. Sin City GM Tim Martin called it “the most moronic decision we have come across from this council” saying Sin City does not have a pee problem as the club has toilets, and that the pop-ups should be down the road at the arcade where irritating drunks currently splash away to their heart’s content. Other club owners suggest a more practical option to the problem: the introduction of rules where all new development must have public toilets on their ground floor.
* A report by the Australian Financial Review that SkyCity Darwin is for sale caught its acting GM Callum Mallett by surprise. He hadn’t hear of any such talk but admitted that could change if a buyer turned up with an offer “too good to be true.” In its first half earnings released in February, the Darwin casino posted a modest 6.9% growth to $23.1 million.
* Two Melbourne live music spots, the Prince of Wales Bandroom in St. Kilda and the Tote in Collingwood, both unveiled new kitchens. The Tote’s new head chef Brian Edwards used to, among other things, cook for Bon Jovi on the road.
* Mackay’s McGuires CBD Hotel has kicked off a new series called Reggae Riddimz. It is an initiative by Mackay club DJ and mixer Propa T to bring reggae acts from down south to the city for the first time.
Tim Rogers, Jen Cloher, join Mumbrella360
Tim Rogers and Jen Cloher are added to Mumbrella360. They join the session Keeping The Band Together: The Creative Marriage Of Music And Advertising. The pair swap tips with Google Play’s marketing head Sophie Hirst and The Royals partners Andrew Sirka and Dave King on keeping creative partnerships enduring.
Return of WA’s Disconnect Festival causes fury
The announcement by WA’s Disconnect festival that it’s returning for a second year caused a social media furore – but of the wrong kind. Artists, staff and suppliers screamed blue murder they were owed $100,000 and claimed they had received no communication from the festival promoter for four months. Half of this sum was for audio and security firms. Chris Knight of Spring Fever Events told The West Australian they would be paid off within three weeks.
The first instalment of Disconnect was held December 11-13 at Fairbridge Village in Pinjarra with a bill that included America’s Father John Misty, Neon Indian and Mercury Rev with local DJs and acts as POND, City Calm Down, Meg Mac, Flight Facilities, Abbe May, Timothy Nelson and Felicity Groom. But only 3,000 showed up, not helped by Chet Faker cancelling four days out. Knight has been talking to investors to rejuvenate the festival’s fortunes. The irony is that Disconnect received rave reviews for its organisation, vibe and music. Festival veteran Knight previously co-ran Altered State, which operated the WA end of the now defunct Soundwave festival.
Leaps and Bounds unveils impressive program
Melbourne’s Yarra City Council announced that the 4th Leaps and Bounds Music Festival takes place July 1 – 17 in 50 venues in Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond, Abbotsford, North Carlton, Clifton Hill and North Fitzroy. There will be 300 events featuring around 900 performances.
Among curated events are: a Living Legends tribute night to Deborah Conway and Phil Kalkulas of Blackeyed Susans picked by Triple RRR’s Jonathon Alley; the inaugural Soul Fiesta on Brunswick Street; an extended Bus Tours with Bruce Milne; a live recreation of nine classic ‘90s albums; a shoegaze versus psyche-up face-off between ‘90s acts and current day; Bakehouse Studios Silver Jubilee Concert Series of reunions from different decades, and a Music Victoria panel on grants and funding.
More Festival Updates: sexist slogans, applications, closures, relocations
* Splendour In The Grass has taken a stand against Wicked Campers, whose rented campervans come with slogans as “a blow job a day beats an apple” and “In every princess, there’s a little slut who wants to try it just once” tend to be polarising. The festival has suggested on its website in a guide to patrons, “And if you’re booking a campervan, please steer clear of sexist slogans!” Two years ago the company apologised and promised to clean up the slogans after 110,000 people signed a change.org petition.
* Artist applications have opened for the 2017 Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria until Sunday July 10. It runs March 10 to 13. Next year’s festival will “present the diversity and discovery of folk, roots and world music live on stage” with 100 local and international acts. More info at http://www.portfairyfolkfestival.com.
* After six years, Angove Street Festival is taking a break this year and returns in the autumn of 2017. “The vast scale of Angove Street Festival means that we need a well-earned break,” admitted Ida Smithwick, Chair of organisers North Perth Local. It will instead focus on smaller events with more community involvement. The first of these is the inaugural Community Car Boot Sale Sunday May 22 from 7am – 10.30am at North Perth Plaza. More details at www.northperthlocal.org.
* The decision by Halls Gap Jazz Festival to move to Port Fairy in Victoria next February and rebrand itself as Port Fairy Jazz Festival is getting love from the region’s tourism bodies. Jazz lovers are already booking local accommodation. The local community is hoping that it will fit in with the current folk and spring festivals and put greater focus on the region. The new festival drew 5,000 a year at its former location, which it abandoned because of regular bushfire risks.
* This weekend’s 10 Days in the Towers in Townsville has a twist for its talent competition on the Saturday and Sunday. The judges then have to go on and perform themselves. Between April 22 – 24 there are street parades, and busking, and is incorporating the Gold City Country Music Club’s Red Rooster All Australian Jamboree. The headlining slot by Georgia Fall sees a return to the city by former local girl Mellissa Baker while Evelyn Bury played at the jamboree’s first staging in 1992.
* The liquidators of the cancelled Echo in New Zealand say it owes almost NZ$900,000 and the 700 ticket holders will not be refunded.
New vinyl store for Adelaide
Adelaide has a new vinyl-only store Underground Records, launched appropriately enough last Saturday on Record Store Day with 2,000 titles. Store owner and mad metal, space rock and psychedelic jams fan Craig Radcliffe used to hump records in crates at record fairs and decided it was time for a bricks-n-mortars location at 9/47 The Parade, in Norwood (“a barren wasteland mainly known for a bunch of fucked up murders”) to foster a vinyl community. Radcliffe plans to launch a record label this year.
New radio station for Dubbo …
Test broadcasting on the weekend was community radio station DCfm on FM 88.9 MHz in Dubbo, NSW. It is run by Orana Broadcasters from its new location at Apex Cottage. President Doug Pryor said an official launch is planned, funding is being applied for, and that many of its supporters previously worked on commercial radio.
… and Wellington
Wellington, NZ, got a new station yesterday after NZME extended its Mix93.7 to cover the city in addition to Auckland and Christchurch. Its format covers ‘80s and ‘90s hits and rarities. NZME Group Director – Entertainment, Dean Buchanan, commented, “We identified a clear gap in the market in Wellington for listeners who love music from the 80’s and 90’s without all the talk and hype of the other stations.”
Aussies Abroad: Dead Daisies, Avalanches…
* Australian/US collective The Dead Daisies will open for Kiss’ Freedom To Rock arena tour. It takes in 20 cities between August 10 to September 10 and will put the band in front of an estimated total audience of 160,000. The band drops its third album Make Some Noise in the northern summer.
Source: Facebook
Daisies drummer Brian Tichy said, “There’s never anything wrong with playing drums in a cool rock band, with your buds, in amphitheatres, in the U.S., in the summer, opening for one of the world’s greatest live bands!”
The Daisies have already opened for Kiss in the US, UK and Australia and performed twice on the Kiss Kruise, They’ve also toured America incessantly, with ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Def Leppard.
* The Avalanches’ return to live action after 15 years will, aside from Byron Bay’s Splendour In The Grass, also include the festivals Primavera (Barcelona, June 3, 5)) and Field Day (London (June 12)). Only two of the original lineup remain. It’s not known if the long awaited second album will accompany the live dates.
* Sydney instrumental rock quartet sleepmakeswaves are doing 50 shows in North America and Australia, toting new guitarist Daniel Oreskovic. The North American shows, their first since 2012, is with US prog-rockers The Contortionist and UK heavy rockers Monuments to May. The Australian run, also with The Contortionist includes Perth piano-driven Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving. From July to September they join one of their inspirations, a reunited COG, for sold out shows.
Last year, sleepmakeswaves played 55 dates over 22 countries behind their second album Love Of Cartography which broke into the Top 40 and notched up ARIA, APRA and J award nominations.
* Tired Lion are confirmed for 15 European and UK festival appearances between June 24 to July 17. They include Germany, UK, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Netherlands.
Seven back with AACTA Awards
Seven Network will screen the 6th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) this December for a second year. Last year’s telecast drew 411,000 viewers, after the previous years telecast on Ten managed to get just 297,000 tuning in for the 45 winners. Presto will again sponsor the Industry Luncheon, on Monday December 5 at The Star Event Centre in Sydney. This year event has a new category, for Best Hair and Makeup.
Number Crunching
$250 million donated by Napster co-founder Sean Parker to streamline cancer research.
50 couples have already registered to re-wed as part of a mass wedding ceremony presided over by an Elvis Presley impersonator at June’s retro Cooly Rocks On festival in Queensland.
59 weeks in total at the top of the US charts achieved by Rihanna with new single Work is the second highest alongside The Beatles. The most time at top spot is Mariah Carey with 79 weeks.
71% of Australians access news media content on digital platforms as desktop, smartphones and tablets according to Enhanced Media Metrics Australia data.
$14.5 million convent in LA can be bought by Katy Perry, a judge ruled after fierce opposition from nuns who wanted it to go to restaurateur Dana Hollister.
Vale
Long time indigenous broadcaster and civil rights campaigner Harold James Phillip “Tiga” Bayles started out in the music business. He was manager of Murri Jama music productions. But realising that the indigenous mobs around the country needed a unified voice, he turned his attention to the media. In the early ‘80s he helped set up Radio Redfern in Sydney. He later moved to Brisbane to set up the Brisbane Indigenous Media Association (home of 98.9FM) and the National Indigenous Radio Service.
He was served as a Chair of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council, the current Chair of Murri School in Acacia Ridge and played a key role in the protests at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games protests, and 1988 Bicentennial celebrations in Sydney. Tiga Bayles died at 62 after a battle with cancer. “He was a man much admired in his broadcasting and political career by just being Tiga,” summed up Wiradjuri News. Troy Cassar-Daley called him “a man who shone light where there was darkness, a leader and visionary.”
Bill Joseph was an artist manager (The Valentines and early AC/DC) and booker in Melbourne from the 1960s and is considered the founder of the pub-rock scene. When Victoria extended its drinking hours, Sri-Lankan born Joseph had the smarts to put bands in pubs before 18+ aged music fans. It created a successful scene which helped the development of Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Daddy Cool and Spectrum. At one point, Joseph booked 38 pubs and 14 nightclubs, an astounding figure. His AMBO (the Australian Musicians Booking Organsiation) agency discovered future entrepreneurs as Michael Gudinski and Michael Browning. Joseph had been in ill-health since a stroke some years before and cared for at home by Nancy, his wife of 64 years. Nancy and the couple’s surviving seven children were present when Joseph passed on. His funeral is on Friday at 1pm at the Southern City Church in Skye.
Bek Moore was a musician, writer and promoter of Brisbane’s underground punk scene over 20 years. She co-founded the Brisbane bands Clag and Scrabbled, worked at 4ZZZ and penned a column for Collapse Board. Clag’s approach was to unsettle audience expectations with a mixture of surrealism and confrontation, playing a wide array of styles, performing in masks or hospital gowns and daring the crowd to take them on. “Half the audience would get aggressive because they didn’t understand what was going on,” she once chuckled. “Once we had to do a runner from a club in the Sunshine Coast, this guy was jumping on our car.” 23 of their tracks were issued through Melbourne label Chapter Music in 2012 as Pasted Youth.
Dublin-born Denise Carter arrived in Australia on a working holiday visa in 2001 and moved to Cairns were she studied journalism. She was an arts and entertainment writer at the Cairns Post. She passed away from a “medical condition.”
And A Few Other Things …
Lorde made an unexpected appearance with Disclosure at the Coachella Festival, later posting a photo on Instagram with the caption “cottonmouth!” One of a couple of poolsides pics came with the message, “Pool girl sleepy from last night’s dancing.”
So much for the rumours that Seven was resting X Factor this season. The network just announced that auditions will begin over the next five weeks.
In an interview with Spirit Radio Karratha’s breakfast host Pablo Newton Farley, PM Malcolm Turnbull revealed his first concert was being taken to see The Beatles as a kid, and his first show as a young adult were The Rolling Stones at Soldier Field in Chicago in the mid-70s. As for his favourite Australian band, “I’m very sentimental about The Mentals, sentimental as anything, perhaps.”
While US rapper Tyga was in Australia, an auto repossession company was trying to repossess his 2013 Lamborghini Aventador in America.
Clubber of the week has to be a man at Adelaide’s Rocket Bar nightclub on Hindley Street, who after a hefty night of golden ambering, went into the toilet and drifted off to sleep. He woke at 6.30 am to discover the place was closed. Of course, it was a rooftop bar so the fire service came with a crane to get him out.
In its submission to the NSW Government’s lockout inquiry, the Australian Hotels Association suggested the lockouts be dumped and the 3am last drinks rule be changed to a “no new patrons” rule. This way the NSW Government could adopt the approach of the Newtown Liquor Accord where patrons could book ahead if they were arriving after 3 am. It’s a “sensible and pragmatic alternative to a lockout,” urged the association’s NSW Director of Liquor and Policing John Green. “Existing patrons can leave to have a cigarette or obtain food whilst other persons can pre-plan their attendance and notify the premises, with that position in the venue held for their arrival.”
WA Opposition Leader Mark Mc-Gowan told a Perth tourism breakfast that if he took power, future liquor licence applications would have a greater say from the tourism sector and cut out police input which he said was a waste of time and resources.
A Dubbo radio station may have tongue-in-cheek started off a campaign for TV’s Logies awards to be held in the NSW country town’s RSL. But the call has been taken up by local Dubbo MP and NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant who wrote to the awards to consider “something new and different”. The response from the TV luvvies wasn’t immediately forthcoming. But TV names as Andrew O’Keefe, Scott Cam, Samantha Jade and Steve Peacocke have apparently thrown their weight behind the move with hashtag #BringTheLogiesToDubbo. T-shirts have been printed, and a smiling Carter appeared on Ten Network’s The Project yesterday to assure everyone that a good pub-style dinner of chicken parmigiana would definitely be available.
John Farnham returns to Darwin after 15 years to perform at the V8 Supercars at Hidden Valley on Sunday June 19. Taylor Henderson will open.
Three of Karnivool’s four shows at Perth’s Badland next week have sold out, as they road-test songs from their 2017-due fourth album. The band then heads to play South Africa.
An Adelaide court dismissed charges against a senior manager at Adelaide’s SkyCity that he allegedly forced a junior colleague to have sex with him.
Australian EDM duo Bombs Away, who’re about to drop their Ghettoblaster EP next week, now have 300 million global views of their tracks.
It’s not just Jessica Mauboy who was the musician onsite when the new Seven’s new drama series The Secret Daughter began shooting around NSW this week. Cast member Terry Serio was a singer of Perth blues band The Elks in a previous life.
Another independent music store is closing due to the sign of the times. After 33 years, Port Macquarie’s Park Beach Music will go dark at the end of June.