Industrial Strength: March 29

No lockouts for Canberra…

The ACT Government has again rejected calls to introduce lock-out laws in Canberra bars and nightclubs. The latest was a statement by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr after police released footage of a late night attack in Tuggeranong, Barr reiterated that lock-outs were not seen as a solution to the Government’s strategy last year for violence and anti-social behaviour in the city. He said, “The latest attack was at 12.30 am so lock-out laws would not have made a difference.” He said the impact of the Sydney lock-outs had been felt in other sectors.

The latest rejection was attacked by the National Alliance for Action on Alcohol (NAAA), which last September called for a 1.30 lock out and 3 am close. Its Co-Chair Michael Moore (and also CEO of the Public Health Association) said the ACT Government was going softly in an election year” because they’re feeling vulnerable” and not “take the action that evidence shows is appropriate.”

Currently there are 48 venues which open after 3 am. Nightclub operators have argued that they have a stake in keeping their venues safe, and that better late night transport in the city were more effective. In last year’s review, music venues said they should be exempt as Canberra music lovers were generally well behaved and there were very few incidents.

…more disturbing Sydney lock-out laws figures …

Not surprisingly, lock-outs was a major talking point at the 2016 Pub Leaders Summit in Sydney. On a panel dedicated to the issue, Christopher Cheung of C.inc reported an 80% drop in traffic by 12.30 am at Coogee Bay Hotel. Ben Stephens of Solotel revealed the Kings Cross Hotel dropped 20% overnight, and 40% of trade after it introduced ID scanners.

…while Townsville MP calls for alternatives

While the first part of Queensland’s lock-out laws goes live on July 1, Townsville-based Federal MP Ewen Jones is still trying to urge the State Government to have a re-think. He did an online survey which received 118 submissions. While just 7% supported lock-outs and midnight drinks bans, 83% were in favour of harsher penalties and bans for offenders. He said the new laws would have a severe impact on tourism and increase unemployment in Townsville.

“Instead of punishing the clubs, punish the grubs, who instigate alcohol and drug fuelled violence,” he said. “While I fully understand this is a State Government area, this is something I feel very strongly about. I am a father of two daughters, both of whom work and socialise in the hospitality and live music scene. I want to engage with the community on this issue, because our state government members obviously aren’t interested in listening.”

Moving Pictures celebrate 35^th anniversary of debut album

In the wake of their summer four-month 32 date tour with James Reyne, the reunited Moving Pictures return in May to celebrate the 35^th anniversary of their classic Days Of Innocence album. Released in October 1981, it spent seven weeks at #1 and spawned the massive hit What About Me? which also topped the Australian charts and reached #29 in America. The line-up with Alex Smith and Garry Frost, plays seven dates along the East Coast from May 6 to June 4.

Moving Pictures’ second album Matinee (1982) reached #16 while 2015 saw the release of Picture This, stripped back re-interpretations of past songs.

360 sets up 180 Movement

“If you’ve been paying attention to the music I’ve been releasing recently it’s no secret that I’ve gone through some shit,” says 360. Now the multi-Platinum Melbourne rapper has helped set up a non-profit organisation 180 Movement to tackle mental health, addiction and domestic violence.

He says these issues are still swept under the carpet in Australia, and needs healthy dialogue and action to confront them. Part of his issues, he admits, was he never talked about them with others.

Gympie Muster announces Mates4Mates as 2016 charity

The Gympie Music Muster in Queensland announced Mates4Mates as its official charity for 2016. It does rehabilitation work for current and ex-serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members (especially those in rural and regional areas) who are wounded, injured or ill, and also support the families of these Mates.

The Muster’s Executive Director David Gibson said, “The ethos of Mates4Mates aligns perfectly with that of the Gympie Muster, we are both all about looking after our mates and making a difference.

“Mates4Mates does a wonderful job and like all Australians, our heart goes out to those current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families who are facing some incredibly tough situations. Hopefully our partnership can help make a small part of that journey a little better”.

As Australia’s largest charity festival the Gympie Music Muster has raised over $15 million for charities Australia wide since its inception in 1982. The Muster also gives a multi-million dollar boost to Queensland’s tourism sector every year, providing an economic boom for the region.

The ambassador for this year’s Muster, Beccy Cole, also has strong ties with the armed forces. In 2005 she performed for ADF forces in Iraq. Her award-winning single, Poster Girl (Wrong Side Of The World), expressed her support for the troops, as does current single Broken Soldiers. The Muster runs from Thursday August 25 – Sunday 28 with headliners Kasey Chambers and John Williamson.

Three new festivals: Sunshine Coast, Adelaide, Sydney

The inaugural music, food, beer and lifestyle Sea N Sound Festival in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast announced Pete Murray and Ash Grunwald as its headliners. It is held on June 11 at the Wharf Tavern where the car park will be converted to hold 2000. Venue manager Kerrie Du Preez hopes to make it an annual event.

Adelaide’s Umbrella – Winter City Sounds (July 15 to August 7) is looking for bands, venues and promoters to get involved. They’re promised promotion through a large marketing push lead by Music SA. Details and expressions of interest at www.umbrellaadelaide.com.au.

Sydney recording and rehearsal studio Housefox Studios in Brookvale hosts the boutique Housefox Fest on April 16 at Narrabeen RSL. 400 tickets went on the market for a rock, grunge, indie, blues, funk, punk and metal bill of primarily Northern Beaches acts headlined by The Hard-Ons.

More Festivals Updates: sell-outs, insights, applications

* Two boutique Victorian festivals hit capacity. The weekend’s The Hills Arrive Alive sold out for an eighth year in a row a few days before the 33 acts began.

The food wine and music Peninsula Picnic drew nearly 5000 to the Mornington Racecourse, revealed the Melbourne Racing Club CEO Brodie Arnhold.

* In an interview with B&T, WOMADelaide promoter Arts Projects Australia’s Marketing Manager Nicola Prime revealed that this year’s marketing was done through street marketing to push people to its website, cinema via its partnership with Val Morgan Cinema, social media, radio and sponsors’ channels. Because of the festival’s high profile in hometown Adelaide, some of the marketing budget goes to intestate where 33% to 40% of attendees come from (and 2% from overseas). “We find Sydney particularly hard, any marketing within Sydney is very costly,” she told B&T, adding that Melbourne was an easier market to pitch the festival in.

* Applications have opened for Darwin’s heavy metal and rock TerrorFest (August 6). Since its start in 2009, its promoters have supported the small local heavy rock scene with gigs, design and photography services and networking between musicians and consumers. Details at www.facebook.com/terrorfestaus.

* To mark the beginning of National Youth Week in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, IFYS Ltd.(Integrated Family & Youth Services) is hosting the free Blended Youth Culture, Art and Music Festival on Saturday, April 9 from 2 to 8pm at Coolum’s Tickle Park. The music component for the under-25 crowd will be local bands and singer songwriters on two stages, and broadcast live on 91.9 Sea FM,

* The second instalment of psychedelic, shoegaze and video art Stargazed in Melbourne is held at Shadow Electric on April 9. Its stage will be transformed into a full installation, featuring full scale, multi-channel, video art projections and live visuals with nine visual acts collaborating with emerging bands.

* For the first time since 1999, Toowoomba in Queensland did not have crowds of 20,000 coming for Easterfest, which wound up last year. However, the various churches worked together over the weekend to put on the free Toowoomba Streets and Lanes. Easterfest’s Dave Schenk was a consultant to the event. Jazz, reggae, RnB and pop sounds mixed with family entertainment and stalls in various venues and laneways. Final attendance figures were not available as yet.

* The good news for Dubbo, NSW’s DREAM festival’s quest to get four years of funding from Dubbo City Council. The council’s Finance and Policy Committee has recommended it, moving the issue to council’s Operational Plan and Budget. The bad news is that Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson warned that even if it was accepted, it would be null and void if talks with Wellington Council come to fruition, as the proposal would have to start again from stage one. DREAM began n 2011 with council support. Last year it drew 13,000 with tourists injecting almost $380,000 to the local economy. But the event also lost $13,000.

* Buloke Shire Council in regional Victoria is contemplating legal action against the promoter of the cancelled EDM/ lifestyle Maitreya. A spokesperson told the Bendigo Advertiser that although the promoter was ordered off the site by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal by March 4, this was allegedly not done. Hundreds of ticket holders still turned up at the Wooroonook Lakes site and, allegedly caused significant damage to the site included “the almost complete removal of undergrowth” and “the loss of a significant number of trees and habitat.” It’s intending to recover costs as a result.

* WOMAD New Zealand has struck a deal with WOMAD UK to stay on in New Plymouth until at least 2019. This year’s event was just “only a few tickets short” of reaching its 12,000 sell-out, and the third largest in its history.

* The Queenie Muster, the small Queenstown, Tasmania version of NSW’s Deni Ute Muster, was one of seven regional events funded by the Tasmanian Government as part of its Regional Events Start-Up program set to bring nearly $10 million into regional economies across the state. The Queenie Muster, which began in 2014, is next held in August.

Pierce Bros head back overseas

Immediately after their Bluesfest appearance this week, Melbourne’s Pierce Bros head back overseas again. They join The Cat Empire for theatre runs in the UK in April and Australia in May. They then start their own run of festivals and headline shows across Europe / UK in June, July and August with more international dates to be announced.

Aussie punks highlight West Papua genocide

Punks For West Papua is an Australia wide movement, and the brainchild of Jody Bartolo of the band Diggers With Attitude. Its aim is to raise money and awareness for the Free West Papua cause, over the hushed-up genocide of the indigenous population over the past 50 years by the Indonesian military.

A 45-minute documentary Punks For West Papua is screened at Wayward Brewery in Sydney on Wednesday April 6. It was made by Sydney film maker and social justice activist Anthony ‘Ash’ Brennan in the wake of a seven-city 50-band tour to raise funds. It includes interviews with Australian and West Papuan activists, media and social justice figures. It won the Award of Merit, Documentary Feature at the IndieFest Film Festival in San Diego. USA.

Australia Council gives Ruby Boots a Nashville residency

WA’s alt-country act Ruby Boots heads off to Nashville to write songs for her second album and increase her US contacts and profile, courtesy the Australia Council. Her debut album Solitude this month entered the US Americana Airplay chart. Boots aka Rebecca Chilcott, was one of ten international residency programs. The others covered art forms with residencies in Berlin, London, Paris, the United States, Rome and Helsinki. The program received 315 applications.

Boots was quite the hit at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. When the power went out mid-song during a Song Catchers collective segment with Archie Roach, Graham Connors, Sara Storer, Emily Lubitz and Suzannah Espie, Boots continued singing without amplification. Touring Irishman Luka Bloom was so impressed that he asked her afterwards to open for his Fly By Night in Fremantle, show while Canada’s Steve Poltz invited her to join him to close his set.

NZ jazz wins

At the New Zealand Jazz Awards Concert last Saturday night, Phil Broadhurst Quintet’s Panacea was announced Best Jazz Album. The inaugural APRA Best Jazz Composition went to Callum Allardice’s 10-minute Sons Of Thunder.

Private support for arts doubles in ten years

Private support for the arts has virtually doubled in the past ten years, increasing by 98% to $221 million, according to Creative Partnerships Australia at its 2016 awards at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Private support now accounts for 10% of all arts funding in Australia with cultural and creative activity contributing $86 billion (6.9%) to the country’s GDP every year.

School of Music continues search

The Australian National University’s School of Music in Canberra’s search for a new Head will continue. After months of negotiations, the troubled school was to announce his name. But at the last minute, the US musician and academic received a better offer from an international university.

Venues Update: sales, funding, attacks

* The Gold Coast building leased by the Sin City nightclub changed hands for $5.2 million, after a Melbourne investor beat out four other bidders. Sin City recently signed a 10-year lease.

* ACT Minister for Small Business and the Arts Dr Chris Bourke announced that seven organisations and activities will be supported at Canberra’s Llewellyn Hall in 2016. The CAT (Canberra Area Theatre) Awards will receive $5,000 for the Gala Awards presentation.

Other recipients are Canberra Symphony Orchestra ($102,000 for its concert series), Music for Canberra ($22,148 for three Canberra Youth Orchestra concerts), National Capital Orchestra ($12,000 for two concerts), The Llewellyn Choir ($9,800 for a concert) by the choir, Musica Viva ($8,800 for two shows) and Australian National Eisteddfod ($18,000 for the Bands and Orchestras section).

* Staff at the live music showcasing Varsity Lakes Tavern on the Gold Coast were closing up at 2.40 am when four men burst in, forced them on the floor and made off with cash. They were arrested a short time later.

Number Crunching

$20,000 raised by Nova Entertainment for the Good Friday Appeal telecast,

$1.4 billion poured into the US music industry by large corporations in sponsorship last year.

160 countries represented in APRA AMCOS’ Australian membership.

Vale

Ronnie Ryan was a presenter of Sydney community radio station WOW FM 100.7’s three-hour Friday night Make Mine Country with his wife Shirley. His impeccable taste in country music was broadcast over the Penrith Valley, Western Sydney and the Lower Blue Mountains. His funeral is held on Wednesday March 30 at 2.30 pm at Pinegrove Cemetery, Minchinberry.

Metui Finau was a member of New Zealand’s seven piece funk, soul, blues, R’n’B and reggae outfit Spacifix. In 2006, its single Sunshine Day went to #11. Part of Auckland’s Tongan community, he was believed to be in his late ‘20s.

And A Few Other Things …

Pulling in co-founder duties for the inaugural Legion festival has forced LA band The Devil You Know drummer John Sankey to sit out the band’s upcoming US tour as he’ll be working on the festival in his native Australia.

Music NT will announce in mid-April that the 2016 NT Song of the Year Awards will have new categories as well as 50 people on the judging panel.

In the wake of DJ Tigerlily’s Snapchat drama, she has turned it into a positive by beginning fund-raising $5000 for youth mental health and well being foundation Headspace. The blue-haired 23-year old had an online issue. A month ago in Munich, she was coming out of her hotel bathroom in a robe and found her tour manager filming her on her phone. She laughingly flashed the camera, and her tour manager posted it on Snapshot after speeding it up and covering her privates with emojis and squiggles. But someone used an editing app to remove the emojis and slow it down and posted it on a blog as a nude feature. An enraged Tigerlily called it a “sex crime” and told her 490,000 Facebook followers, “Can’t believe how disgusting people are to violate your privacy.”

Outpatients: The Australian’s entertainment columnist Iain Shedden broke a shoulder playing football, and was forced to fulfil his commitments in his other life as a drummer, playing at Blue Mountains Music and Bluesfest one-handed.

Michael Schack of Victorian country band The Dead Livers is recovering at home after a liver transplant.

In the latest round of budget slashing, Screen Australia, the agency supporting film and documentary makers, must find ways to cut costs amounting to $10.3 millionby 2018/19. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia must also make $3 million worth of cuts within four years.

Radio and TV identity Jules Lund says his social media / brand influencing Tribe start-up has had had 1000 transactions since launching last November.

Following Lorde’s tribute to David Bowie at the BRIT awards in London (which his film maker son Duncan Jones called “beautiful”), his long-time pianist Mike Garson revealed that Bowie regarded Lorde as “the future of music and they had a few wonderful moments together.”

In the meantime, Iggy Azalea says collaborating with Lorde is on her bucket list. They almost did so on her new album Digital Distortion on a song Ig wrote and needed a female voice. “I sent her the song and it didn’t get done in time.”

Billboard reported that two years ago, Jason Derulo sent 5 Seconds Of Summer a direct message on Twitter, “Hey!” They responded excitedly, “Hey man! Whatsup?” but got no response after that. Recently, during a visit to Singapore, Calum Hood spoke directly to Derulo via Asia Pop 40, “Hey Jason, I remember the morning you DM’d me. It was a cold London morning and I was walking into the van and I saw your DM and it just brightened my day. It just hurts that you haven’t replied.”

Michael Clifford butted in, saying, “I’m sorry. Calum’s my best friend and I just want to let you know, Jason, that Calum’s waited every day for the past two years. He’s looked at his phone every day and he hasn’t stopped — It’s not fine. If you’re watching, please have a heart.” A few days later, Derulo send them a message saying, “check your DM’s.”

Cairns multi-instrumentalist 21hundred aka Michael Casey is currently walking from the NSW border to Cairns to raise money for mental-health charity R U OK? and child-access support Australian Brotherhood of Fathers. He walks 18 to 42km each day (this week he had made it to Coolum, 1578.5 kms from the finishing post), playing gigs on the way and documenting the trip at hashtag #21HundredKMwalk. He is expected to arrive in Cairns on June 22 and will do a celebration gig two days later. 21hundred was motivated after a dark period in his life when his wife left him last year and he hasn’t seen his two children since.

Noel Gallagher & High Flying Birds had to blow out their sold-out show in Auckland when storms over North Island delayed their equipment which was being flown in from South America.

Madame Tussands in Orlando has added a waxwork of Cody Simpson – which the 19-year-old says “is cooler than the real (me).”

Musician and Canberra Times music critic, the (Bill) Hoffmann OAM, is among six names added to the ACT Honour Walk at end of April in Civic’s Ainslie Place.