Industrial Strength: Sept 18, 2013
Vance Joy hits double Platinum
Vance Joy’s Top 10 single Riptide has gone double platinum. After his sell-out Australian tour, Joy is currently playing Canada before a month-long US run opening for Tom Odell and then UK dates. His debut EP God Loves You When You’re Dancing, which is close to gold in Australia, was released in the US and Canada through Atlantic, and is out in the UK in November via Infectious Music home to The Temper Trap and alt-J.
More certified…
Pink’s The Truth About Love notched up its 8th Platinum certification as she wound up her tour and returned to America … X-Factor judgeRedfoo’s Let’s Get Ridiculous went gold as it debuted at #1 on the ARIA chart … also going gold were Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball,Jessie J’s It’s My Party and Rihanna’s What Now… Katy Perry’s Roarpicked up its second Australian platinum … John Newman’s Love Me Again, Lorde’s Tennis Court and Imagine Dragons’ On Top Of The World went platinum.
Arctic Monkeys join Australia’s shortest #1 title list
The Arctic Monkeys’ AM going to #1 in Australia is the 335th album to debut at top spot in this country and the 134th by an English act. It also joins the list of #1 albums on the ARIA chart (1983 to 2013)with the shortest album titles. These includes one, two or three letters; symbols; and numbers. According to The Gavin Ryan Report, the list is:
X – INXS (1990)
X – Kylie Minogue (2007)
+ – Ed Sheeran (2012)
(Symbol) – Prince (1992)
1 – The Beatles (2000)
2 – Sneaky Sound System (2008)
V – Live (2001)
AM – Arctic Monkeys (2013)
18 – Moby (2002)
IV – Toto (1983)
21 – Adele (2011)
Vs – Pearl Jam (1993)
ish – 1927 (1989)
Pop – U2 (1997)
Red – Taylor Swift (2012)
Rio – Duran Duran (1982)
S&M – Metallica (1999)
X&Y – Coldplay (2005)
Acts announced for WAM song of the year awards
With 80 nominees across 16 categories revealed for the WAM song of the year, WA music association WAM announced details of the awards night. Held on Wednesday October 9 at the Fly By Night, performing will be last year’s winners Rainy Day Women, Yiem & Dease, The Ghost Hotel, Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics andTomás Ford. Go to wam.asn.au/songoftheyear for the full list of nominees and to listen to all nominated tracks.
Promo Tours #1: Capital Cities
EMI is bringing Los Angeles based alt-dance Capital Cities out for their first visit, to support their hit Safe And Sound and its parent album In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery which is due out this year. They’ll perform on The X Factor and Sunrise, and do a one-off club show for competition winners and VIP guests at The Standard in Sydney’s Darlinghurst on Wednesday September 25.
Promo Tours #2: Kodaline
Irish alt-rock outfit Kodaline’s visit has proven a major success, Sony Music announced. After making their TV debut on Monday night onThe X Factor, their single High Hopes the next morning was at #6 on iTunes and their debut album In A Perfect World at #5. They played a club show at The Soda Factory in Sydney on Tuesday night and were on Sunrise the next morning.
Grant Smillie celebrates 500 shows on Nova
Neon Records owner, producer, DJ, TV host and 360 Agency ownerGrant Smillie celebrates 500 shows and ten years of showcasing dance music on the Nova network this Saturday (Sept 21) from 10 pm. The special 2-hour show will include interviews with top names including Example, Axwell, The Bloody Beetroots, Rudimental, Pete Tong, Steve Angello, Disclosure and Flight Facilities. Smillie said, “It’s great that after 10 years on air we’re still premiering some of the most cutting edge dance music and consistently getting the world’s biggest DJs and producers on the show. Since we started there has been an explosion in popularity of dance music and hopefully we are breaking some great Australian artists not only here but internationally.” He does a series of 500th celebration live shows, at Adelaide’s Apple Bar (Sept 21), Sydney’s Marquee (Fri Oct 25), Melbourne’s Billboard (Sat Nov 2) and Brisbane’s Family (Sat Nov 9).
Support Act honours The Sapphires
The Sapphires, all-girl group of the ‘60s who inspired the hit movie are this year’s recipients of Support Act Ltd’s charity award. The Music in the House luncheon on Friday October 11, at NSW Parliament House, is to recognise their work in the Indigenous community. Dr. Naomi Mayers OA became CEO of the Aboriginal Medical Service for 30 years, aided by fellow band members Beverly Briggs and Laurel Robinson. Following a stint as Australia’s first Aboriginal model, Lois Peeler become the executive director of Worawa Aboriginal College and also headed the Aboriginal Tourism Australia. Tickets are $165 each or $1500 for table of 10. Bookings www.trybooking.com/59552 or download booking form from www.supportact.com/events.
John Williamson, Warren H Williams, added to Boomerang
John Williamson AM and Warren H Williams are added to Boomerang, the new world indigenous festival for all Australians. It is held in Byron Bay October Friday 4 to Sunday 6. Both play the main stage on the Sunday. Boomerang festival director Rhoda Robertsconfirmed, “Whilst John Williamson is scheduled to perform his own show, he has confirmed that he looks forward to inviting Warren to join him for a song or two. It has been some years since they have performed together and this collaboration will be a special experience for all attending the Boomerang Festival.” Williamson and the First Australians have long shared a deep-rooted affinity.
TRIPPING
Things got heated at a Claremont Council (WA) meeting when the subject of Stereosonic on November 30 and December 1 popped up. “That’s a load of crap!” snorted councilor Anita Lorenz when it was suggested that after the show, punters would head quietly off to hotels and motels (given there were no camping facilities). MayorJock Barker was wary of residents’ response when they heard it now expanded to two days. Last year over 11 ½ hours, cops arrested 8, busted 27 for drugs, issued 60 move-ons and kept bikers out.
Which R&B singer, during a visit to Los Angeles, was offered a role in a movie playing a Mexican drug dealer?
Which music figure turned up to judge a talent contest with a bottle of homemade hooch to share with the rest of the judging panel?
Which WA band wants to reschedule some overseas dates after its fave AFL team got into the Grand Final?
It was a love-in at the media conference when The Seekersannounced their return to the stage after singer Judith Durham’srecovery. Getting a lot of it was Durham’s personal manager Graham Simpson who, Durham repeatedly told the hacks present, saved her life when he realised she’d had a cerebral hemorrhage and bundled her off to hospital against her initial protests. (The doctor who treated her sighed as he gave them the news the tour had to be axed: he had tickets for that night’s show). One radio exec hugged Simpson and told him he was nominating him for an award.
The various heads of national music associations met with Government bureaucrats during Big Sound to discuss issues and put on a unified front for contemporary music. Problem was, the Government people set the meetings to start at the unhealthy rock and roll time of 8.30 am!
50 musos fronted for the first meeting of the newly formed Australian Freelance Musicians Alliance (AFMA) in Sydney on Monday. It unanimously endorsed a resolution to build a strong union presence in the music industry, and that a Music Industry Committee be formed to develop strategies and campaigns for better outcomes for working musicians. The AFMA says it is working on getting the committee up and running in the coming weeks.
The Jesus Lizard axed their October dates “due to unforeseen circumstances”, including a set at ATP’s Release The Bats event.
So what now for Peter Garrett? The ‘Midnight Oil Sing Their Hits’ album and tour is clearly not bopping on the horizon. He’s signed up a literary agent and looking at doing a book on his political days.
During a Twitter Q&A, Neil Finn revealed that his next album Dizzy Heights will feature his wife and sons but still has no release date.Crowded House haven’t split but “the car is in the garage and up on blocks.”
Gold Coast band Bleeding Knees Club played their last gig for a while on the weekend as singer Alex Wall is heading to America. BKC got themselves some negative vibes when Wall chucked a tanty after he broke a guitar string at a gig at Brisbane’s Club Electric Playground and asked the next band on, Regurgitator, to lend their guitar. This of course is not muso etiquette and the ‘Gurg’s road crew told him to shove off. He slammed the band onstage and got the crowd to start chanting at the ‘Gurg (who, alas, had not arrived at the gig at this stage). This made it into the Courier Mail and he got chastised on social media. But BKC weren’t that fussed: they were on a high after one of their heroes, Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh fame, revealed in an interview with Russh he was into their music.
Perth Arena general manager Michael Scott told the Sunday Timesthat WA now has the fastest-selling market per capita in Australia for shows and that the Arena “is bringing around one million more people into the heart of the city after office hours, in turn delivering a huge economic return for restaurants, bars, hotels and businesses.”
LIFELINES
Born: son James Henry to Lo-Tel’s Luke Hannigan and actress Pia Miranda.
Hospitalised: Melbourne manager and agent Adrian Anderson was involved in a head-on crash after dropping off a fellow delegate at Brisbane airport following Big Sound. He ended in a neck brace and with broken ribs and reduced lung capacity.
In Court: in a postscript to TMN’s report on the Samantha Jade vs Californian label Camp West Recorders case, X-Factor producer Fremantle Media has applied to California’s Central District Court to be struck off as one of those named in the case on the grounds it has no presence in the US.
In Court: Gold Coast nightclub Howl at the Moon was ordered to pay $1,399,000 to Andrew Jon Lamble over a December 2006 incident at the club. A scuffle broke out between Lamble’s workmates and club staffers, and Lamble was struck by the bartender with a metal dustpan. Lamble claimed the incident left him with health issues and the end of his career, social life and marriage. The nightclub said the Brisbane Supreme Court’s holding the club responsible set a dangerous precedence. The Court had earlier argued that the club should have sacked its staffer but had given him “a second chance.”
Died: 23-year old James Munro from Melbourne suffered cardiac arrest after taking three E tabs at Sydney rave The Defqon.1. Security found him unconscious and alone (he had driven up with two friends) and took him to the medical tent. He was taken to Nepean Hospital where he had the heart attacks and died that night.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
50 years of the cassette tape celebrated on the weekend. Seewww.cassette50.com for full history of its technology.
US$29 million grossed by Pink alone for her final three Australian shows.
48 hours for iHeartRadio’s newly released app to top the Apple App Store in Australia.
5th album by Arctic Monkeys to debut at #1 in the UK this week has made them the first act on an indie label to score such an achievement.
1.44 million viewers for Seven’s The X Factor this Monday, with Nine’sAustralia’s Got Talent in sixth place with 1.172 million.
1st DJ in space and first Irishman in space plaudits got to, respectively, Armin van Buuren and Bob Geldof who signed on with 98 others to be on SXC’s commercial spaceflights next year. The one hour flight costs $100,000 each.
3rd Australian Top 20 entry for Goldfrapp whose Tales Of Us entered the ARIA chart this week at #15.
190% growth in Australia’s mobile advertising market from the last year to $138 million for the 2013 financial year, according to IAB Australia’s Mobile Trends Report. This is the fastest growth in the Australian digital sector.
8,000 attended Sydney community FBi Radio’s 10th anniversary music and art FBi Turns 10 festival at Carriageworks.
£10.2 million sales price for The Beatles’ former Apple Records offices in London, now to be converted into five Beatles-themed flats.
30 minutes for Falls Festival in Lorne, Victoria, to sell out.
Jobs
