Industrial Strength: May 30
Image: Michael Gudinski
ASH, HANDLIN, GUDINSKI IN INTERNATIONAL POWER LIST
Three Australian-based executives were in Billboard’s 53 International Power Players list.
In a ranking topped by XL’s Richard Russell(who signed Adele), there was George Ash, President, Universal Music Asia Pacific; Denis Handlin, Chairman/CEO of Australia and New Zealand and president of Asia, SME; and Michael Gudinski, Chairman, Mushroom Group of Companies.
Also included was Charles Caldas, one-time Melbourne-based Shock Entertainment CEO, who is now based in Europe as CEO of digital rights collection society Merlin.
SYDNEY’S CLUB 77 RAIDED, POLICE DENY TASERING
15 police officers from the Kings Cross Local Area Command raided Club 77 in Darlinghurst, Sydney, last Saturday night.
Angry ownerMatt Bicketposted on Facebook that “one kid was apparently tasered in the back alley for not complying and multiple were searched in inappropriate places in front of people … police then visited our humble venue again, sitting at the front door intimidating and acting as RSA marshals telling us who were [sic] intoxicated and dragging people out of the club yet again.”
In a statement, police denied Bicket’s claims of tasering and that “0 arrests were made, 0 drugs were found”. They say there were 13 drug detections, nine of which have to face court for possession, and three issued a cannabis caution.
Bicket was right when he said that the headliner DJ from Melbourne was kicked out of the club and prevented from playing his set.
DJ Handsdown said he was asking one of the people being searched if he wanted his girlfriend, who worked in the club, to be informed. He was grabbed by the neck, taken out and searched, and told he would not be allowed back into the club because he’d been “mouthing off” … which the DJ denied he was.
AIR AWARDS NOMS OUT TOMORROW
The nominations for the 11th AIR independent music awards will be announced tomorrow. It will be the first time that these will be held in Adelaide (Ion July 27) as part of a here year deal with the South Australian Government.
The awards, with 13 categories, will be part of a new two-day music industry conference, also to be organised by AIR.
LIGHTHOUSE AWARDS SHINE LIGHT
APRA AMCOS’ The Lighthouse Award has announced Melbourne based music manager Charlotte Abroms as the 2017 recipient.
Established in memory of artist manager Linda Gebar, the awards provide $5000 to aid the career of a female manager or self-managed artist. Previous recipients include Jen Cloher, Bonnie Dalton and Bernadette Ryan.
Abroms guides the careers of Haarlo, Ainslie Wills and Gretta Ray.
With a background in digital strategy and content production, she co-founded Large Noises – a music blog dedicated to filming live videos with a focus on emerging Australian artists.
HAILEE STEINFELD ON PROMO VISIT
Universal Music Australia has singer/actress Hailee Steinfeld on a promo visit in early June behind her single Most Girls. She will pop up on The Voice.
Releasing her first record in 2015, Steinfeld won Top Covered Artist (fan voted) at the May 21 Billboard Music Awards.
BLUESFEST GROSSED $13.3M
This year’s Bluesfest Byron Bay grossed A$13.3 million – or to be more specific, $13,324,514.61 – over five days.
Its US dollar figure of $9,909,630 was enough for the festival top the June 3 world listing by Billboard’s Boxscore ranking. Bluesfest drew 105,123 this year, close to its 112,500 capacity.
It was the second time it topped the list, the first being in 2015.
Bluesfest Director Peter Noble said, “Second time for us at Bluesfest, what a thrill. Our 2017 festival was truly a great one, and now we are full on working on our 2018 edition next Easter.”
The festival’s touring arm, Bluesfest Touring, had a further mention on the list.
Patti Smith and her band listed at #36 for the three-night run at the Sydney State Theatre drawing 5,905 fans a night and grossing a total of US$652,337.
At #51 was Smith’s two-night stint at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall which grossed $556,491 and pulled a full capacity 4,714 each night.
Her sold-out show at Melbourne Festival Hall, with a pull of 3,447 and gross of $338,546, ranked at #84.
At #65 was the MJR Group’s presentation of Hans Zimmer at Perth Arena on May 10, which drew 4655 and grossed $453, 740
REVAMPED RETURN FOR LITTLE BIGSOUND
A revamped Little BIGSOUND – a one day experience for 15–25-year-olds looking to find their way into the biz – returns on Saturday July 29 at the State Library of Queensland.
Facilitated by QMusic and Brisbane City Council, booking agents, record labels, artists, venue owners, producers and digital marketers help participants get their first gigs, publicise their music, improve their songwriting/music production and build relationships in the music industry
Music software company Ableton has come on board to provide access to a suite of the latest technology to experiment with on the day, along with tuition to test drive the tools, which will play a big part in the future of live music.
MORE ELTON TICKETS?
More Elton John tickets could be announced by Chugg Entertainment, after its production crew visited the sites of the September run to see if a configuration could squeeze more seats in.
There seems to be quite a few overseas fans who’ve already grabbed tickets. 5000 at the Mackay and Cairns shows are from outside Australia, while 1000 bought tix for the Wollongong show. About 20% of the latter show also has fans from outside NSW.
KING GIZZARD WIN SOUNDKILDA, HEAD BACK TO US
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s clip for People-Vultures, directed by Danny Cohen & Jason Galea and produced by Ruth Morris, took out Best Music Video at SoundKILDA. The band also announced a return North America with 13 shows, from Sept 26 to the famous San Francisco Fillmore on Oct. 10.
Electronic pop act Millington’s Being (dir. by Darcy Prendergast & Josh Thomas, pr Christina Remnant) got two, for Audience and Best Editing.
Other wins were Fires’ Life Is Better Blonde (dr: Natalie Erika James & Ben Morgan, pr: Logan Davies & Emma Haarburger) took Cinematography, Sage Francis’ Dead Man’s Float (dir. & pr. David Karacic) won Craft while Judges’ Commendation went to RÜFÜS’ Be With You dir. by Daniel Daperis & Jared Daperis and pr. by Chris Hocking.
NEW RECORDING STUDIO IN CANBERRA
A new $1 million state-of-the-art recording studio has opened in Canberra, within the Australian National University (ANU) grounds.
Designed by the ANU’s School of Music’s head Prof. Ken Lampl and Prof. Samantha Bennett (with acoustic by audio veteran John Sayers), it includes a Neve 48 channel control panel (among the biggest in the world), custom crafted plywood flexible acoustics, two post-production rooms, a voice isolation studio, a huge collection of mics, and allows for flexible analogue, digital and hybrid recordings.
It’s for use by music students for their degrees (it’s not an audio course) and for Australia’s first film and video game composition program, which will be launched in 2018.
Record producer and audio engineer Mark Opitz will join the school as a visiting fellow in second semester, and help with tweaking the studio. “I’ve worked in many studios around the world,” Opitz tells TMN. “This is equal among them.
“The ANU should be congratulated for this 21st century approach to recording for their students. It can be used for everything from a solo folk track to a full scale orchestra.”
TROYE COLLABORATES WITH GARRIX
Perth-based Troye Sivan’s latest release is a collaboration with the world’s #1 DJ, Martin Garrix. They both wrote the track There For You (Garrix produced) and debuted it at America’s Coachella festival earlier this year.
An accompanying docu-style video was shot in San Francisco by Taylor Cut Films and takes a look at both their lives.
Garrix said, “I’ve been a fan for ages and he had an idea for this record, sent it over and the rest is history. He’s a true artist and on top of that, a good friend.”
WA’S BARKER CRACKS UK CHARTS
WA singer-songwriter Emily Barker’s decision to record her new album Sweet Kind Of Blue over a year at Sam Phillips’ legendary studio in Memphis with crack session players (“one of the highlights of my life”) has paid off. Just released this month, it’s charted in the UK, where she’s long had BBC airplay. It came in at #83 on the Albums Chart and went to #2 on the Record Store Chart which is collated from physical counter sales in bricks and mortar stores.
NZ’S GREATEST SONG?
As part of New Zealand Music Month, the NZ Herald asked its readers to choose NZ’s greatest song from froma field of 13. According to the paper, 7000 responded, and the winner will be announced tomorrow (May 31).
The top 4 finalists are Dave Dobbyn’s Slice of Heaven and Loyal, Patea Maori Club’s Poi E and The Exponents’ Why Does Love Do This To Me?.
Apparently Lorde’s Royal, despite its immense success, only managed 1% of the vote.
NEW ORGANISATION TO SUPPORT WOMEN IN HOSPITALITY SECTOR
A new national not-for-profit organisation, Women in Hospitality (WOHO) launched in Sydney yesterday. Chaired by founder and sector pioneer Julia Campbell, it will champion and support women in the sector.
WOHO says that statistics show that women make up 51.8% of the sector but only 15.4% of CEOs.
HIP HOP ACT ANCESTRESS GETS DREAMING AWARD
Queensland act Ancestress (aka Teila Watson) won the Dreaming category of the Australian Council’s National Indigenous Arts Awards held at the Sydney Opera House.
She will use the $20,000 prize to make an album of poetic, soulful hip-hop, pop and RnB songs that discuss global issues like climate change and forms of social governance from a Murri cultural perspective.
The daughter of the late Dr Ross Watson, political activist and the founder and editor of Black Nations newspaper, Ancestress grew up with a strong cultural and political grounding.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum and the 25th anniversary of the Mabo land rights decision, two $50,000 Red Ochre awards were presented. They were to a female (actress Lynette Narkle) and a male (multi-disciplinary arts perpetuator Torres Strait Islander Dr Ken Thaiday Snr) while theatre actor and writer Lisa Maza received the $40,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait and Islander Arts Fellowship.
STIGWOOD FELLOWSHIP RETURNS
The Robert Stigwood Fellowship has returned to support South Australian musicians and music industry entrepreneurs. Deadline is June 9 via Arts SA.
Recipients receive tailored funding and hands-on mentorship and activities provided during the program include songwriting, production, development of business skills, marketing and publicity, as well as attendance at conferences and high-level industry meetings.
YOUNG WOMEN’S JAZZ WORKSHOPS
Applications have opened for the 15th Young Women’s Jazz Workshops. The eight-week course is held in Sydney, Canberra and Perth, and developed by jazz performer Sandy Evans OAM with the Sydney Improvised Music Association.
The pioneering program develops skills and confidence in improvised music, and has had a direct impact on the number of women studying jazz at conservatoria across the country.
The experience will take place in Sydney at the Conservatorium Open Academy, in Canberra at the ANU School of Music and at the Street Theatre, and in Perth in partnership with the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
Registrations close on Saturday June 17. Auditions begin on June 24. Workshops run between Saturdays July 22 to September 16.
Final concert is on Wednesday September 20. Full details at sima.org.au.
VALE ALIA DANN SWIFT
Alia Dann Swift was long time producer of the UK-based International Live Music Conference (ILMC). Her tenure saw the launch of f IQ Magazine.
Before that she worked in tour management, production coordinator and artist liaison for artists including Paul McCartney, David Gilmour, Sparks, UB40, M People, Peter Gabriel and REM.
Swift was part of the team that brought Roger Waters and David Gilmour together for Live 8 in 2005, and she played in a key role in the inception of Lord of the Dance, which toured successfully worldwide for nearly two decades.
She stepped down in 2014. She was living in Melbourne when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer this April.
Swift was 57.
CANADA HONOURS RITCHIE YORKE
Canada is honouring the late Brisbane music journalist and broadcaster Ritchie Yorke, with a gathering on June 6 in Toronto.
An announcement will be made concerning “a very special media event in Ritchie’s honour” to take place at the end of 2017.
Yorke, who died in February, spent 20 years in Canada as a journo. He was involved in the music industry’s issues, including getting the Government to introduce a radio quota for Canadian acts, and also helped the peace efforts of close friends John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The Queensland music industry honoured Yorke’s career achievements by awarding him The Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award at the March 27 Queensland Music Awards.
BROTHER LOVE AT PACIFIC MUSIC AWARDS
At the Vodafone Pacific Music Awards on June 1 in New Zealand, Brother Love aka Rahui Vaka will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement. The Bro is best known for his 1996 classic ‘Ruketekete Te Mamae (The Roimata Song).
He will perform at the awards, as well as Aaradhna, Kings, Kylie Auldist, SWIDT, Tommy Nee, La Coco and Three Houses Down.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…
- Bernard Fanning’s Brutal Dawn tour in October sold out last Friday in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. Over the weekend, Adelaide and the second Brisbane show also hit capacity, so extra dates were added. Each state will have a different female fronted act open.
- Byron Bay’s In Hearts Wake called on followers in a number of Australian cities as part of their We Are Waterborne initiative to clean up waterways. The one at Sydney’s Bondi Beach collected 5000 pieces of marine debris.
- The Australian Financial Review estimated that Keith Urban is worth $100 million while wife Nicole Kidman was crowned Australia’s richest actor, with an estimated wealth of $347 million.
- Tim Freedman of The Whitlams and Brian Mannix of The Uncanny X-Men have joined the cast of Music Theatre Melbourne’s four-show concert performance of Paris A Rock Odyssey at the Melbourne Recital Centre. It is a tribute to Jon English, who penned it with producer David Mackay as a love story in Greek mythology
- Tasmania’s Dark Mofo is reissuing all 1000 tickets to Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch’s bull slaughter art piece, after it heard that some of the ticket buyers were animal activists who planned to disrupt the three-hour show.
- Tonight (May 30) as the Queensland Music Festival unveils its 2017 program in Brisbane, it will also announce the emerging female singer-songwriter winner of the inaugural Carol Lloyd Award. The finalists are Leanne Tennant, Emily Wurramara, Ancestress (aka TeilaWatson), Georgia Potter and Angela Toohey,
- Getting sent back to Australia after a difference of opinion over visas with US customs officials (which he called “getting Mem Foxed”) saw singer-songwriter Darren Hanlon try out a couple of piano ballad shows in Sydney and Brisbane, which he’d done earlier in Melbourne and loved. With the visa sorted out, Hanlon is in the US to complete the tour with Chastity Belt. The eight-date tour begins in Washington DC on Friday June 23, takes in cities including Atlanta, Nashville and St. Louis and winds up Saturday July 1 in Minneapolis.
- Brisbane alt/prog rock band Silence The Sunare delaying their June tour and album release to Sept/Oct after their guitarist Ben Davis broke his wrist mountain biking.
- Sydney singer and violinist Lara Goodridge smashed a Newtown suburb record when her three-bedroom Victorian terrace went for $3.8 million.
- The Dynamic Hepnotics are going ahead with two shows (June 12 at Sydney’s Factory, and June 23 & 24 at Melbourne’s Memo Music Hall) to launch their live CD/DVD – which they now dedicate to their drummer Robbie Souter who passed away on May 11. “During his final weeks Robbie was very keen for the reunion shows and album launch to go ahead and it’s only fitting that the CD and concerts are dedicated to his wonderful legacy as both a dear friend and great drummer,” the band said.