Industrial Strength: September 4, 2013
Nicky Bomba and John Butler Trio part ways
Drummer Nicky Bomba has quit the John Butler Trio to focus on his many projects, especially the Melbourne Ska Orchestra which sold out its tour supporting its debut album through ABC Four l Four. This month the 30-piece goes out on the road to promote its new singleThe Diplomat, hitting BigSound in Brisbane, Adelaide, Fremantle and Perth, followed up by a host of festivals and a Sydney date in November.
Butler commented, “Nicky has been a part of the Trio in some way or another in different forms over the past 10 years. Somehow I think he will always be some kind of thread in the weave that we are. We are blood and soul music brothers. But Nicky is a front man through and through, and over the last few years watching his amazing Melbourne Ska Orchestra go from strength to strength and the opportunities for this grand dream of his open up wider and wider I had to ask him, and myself; is now a good time for him to ride that horse while she’s heading for a full gallop?” Bomba agreed he had to return to steer his own ship. “The Melbourne Ska Orchestra has gathered some steam of late and the stretching of energies and clashing of dates meant something had to give. John and I understood the scenario and like seasoned travellers at a crossroad, we both happily agreed on this GPS recalculation!”
Tasmania’s Ten Days On The Island generates $27.25m
Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island festival in March generated $27.25 million for the state, according to a KPMG Economic Impact Statement. It found that 156,765 people, more than a quarter of Tasmania’s population, attended at least one of its events. The festival also created the equivalent of 87 full time work. It proved a boon to tourism: one in every ten visitors came from the mainland or from overseas. Tourism Council of Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin hoped the festival’s events would expand to regional areas.
Matty Woo, Gabby Meli, fire off Pistol
Matty Woo and Gabby Meli have launched Pistol Artist Services as a boutique company for artists, managers and agents. It offers support in areas as administrative, projects and tour management, merchandise and marketing. Woo started out as roadie for The Beautiful Girls and then began tour managing acts like Angus & Julia Stone, The Fumes, The Cat Empire and The Goons of Doom before setting up Matty Wu Management with Dune Rats, Kid Mac and Ash Grunwald. Pistol will manage them and administrer for Mia Dyson. Meli working in admin roles at a record label, management company and booking agent. See www.pistolartistservices.com.
More music venues for sale
Launceston clubs Manhattan and New York are up for sale as its licensee James Harding is moving to Victoria for recruitment and consultancy work.
Over in Adelaide, the Glenelg Jetty Hotel, which features live entertainment went up for sale last month.
Rob Potts Entertainment Edge moves in with Chugg
As of tomorrow (September 5), promoter Rob Potts Entertainment Edge moves from Sydney’s Five Dock into offices within the ChuggEntertainment suite of offices in Crown St, Surry Hills. Says Potts, “With our many joint venture projects and following the successful delivery of the inaugural Deni Blues and Roots Festival and the continued development of the CMC Rocks The Hunter and CMC Rocks North QLD festivals, along with a regular roster of country tours on an arena level, we felt that working in the same premises made good business sense.” New phone contact is (02) 9361 2200.
Dead Daisies head to UK
Dead Daisies, the Australian band formed by singer Jon Stevens and guitarist David Lowy are heading towards the UK and Ireland after touring America. They will be joining UK band Black Star Riders, which is made up of former Thin Lizzy members. They do 19 shows between November 22 to December 15. The Riders’ Marco Mendozasaid, “We came across The Dead Daises when we were touring Australia and what a great band they are. I was lucky enough to play with them on their Aus tour with Aerosmith and again on the Uproar Tour in the US. It’s a pleasure to have them out with us in the UK!”
Full moon parties up for tourism gong
The Full Moon Down Under parties at Magnetic Island in Queensland are nominated in the festivals and events category of the Queensland Tourism Awards. Its promoters estimate they’ve drawn 40,000 ravers over three years. The awards are announced in Brisbane in November.
TRIPPING
Which Australian festival is closing off on a $60 million deal which involves new overseas owners?
Which heavy metal guitarist has just discovered classical music and telling shocked friends it’s “real rad”?
The Harvest festival had to rush out a statement that Bon Iver leaderJustin Vernon’s other band Volcano Choir were on the November event’s bill after Vernon let it slip to triple j yesterday morning (Tuesday).
Don’t look now but New Zealand has started war drums to invade Australia. At issue is Max TV naming Crowded House the greatest Australian band of all time in its legends poll, with Split Enz at #2. TheNZ Herald’s Diary column called this “another national mugging” adding that the Crowdies “now officially join Phar Lap, Russell Croweand the pav.” We, umm, should point out that, er, while the Enz were well and truly 100% Kiwi, Crowded House were formed in Melbourne by Neil Finn with Australians Nick Seymour and the late Paul Hesterwhich makes the band one of “us”. The Max poll had AC/DC at #3, so expect Scotland to send their battle ships over.
While pleading with Bruce Springsteen fans not to turn to scalpers for tickets, Frontier Touring head honcho Michael Gudinski revealed that Frontier is negotiating with The Boss to add more Australian dates.
Certified: Pink’s Greatest Hits… So Far, still in the ARIA Top 10, was certified 7 x platinum for sales of 490,000 in Australia. Katy Perry’schart topping Roar picked up its first platinum, while Lorde andOneRepublic both picked up their third platinums with their latest singles. Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange went platinum this week. Two albums that picked up gold status were Bernard Fanning’sDepartures and Olly Murs’ Right Place Right Time.
Up at the Whitsundays in Queensland for as chief guest for the inaugural Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Charles Heidsieck Champagne Lunch, Ronan Keating received huge applause for his impromptu crooning of happy birthday for model Zac Onfrey who was celebrating his 21st.
The prank call by Mel Grieg and Michael Christian to King Edward VII hospital in London continues to haunt Southern Cross Austereo. The company is in the process of setting up a trust fund for the promised $500,000 to the family, while the inquest into the death of the nurseJacintha Saldanha is scheduled for September 12 and 13. A new investigation by The Sunday Times claims that four further calls were made by their show’s producers within an hour of the hoax call. The hospital was not aware of these but agrees the 46-year old nurse could have received the calls but did not inform anyone.
According to England’s Daily Mirror, two promoters are pulling out their wallets to get David Bowie back to live performances. He called time out on treading the stage in 2006. But his stock went up after his first album in ten years The Next Day went to #1 this year. According to the Mirror, Live Nation has put forward “a multi-million pound offer” for him to play the Olympic Park in East London next year. AEG is “expected to make an offer shortly”.
15 year old Mackay singer Aaliyah Warren didn’t make it past the boot camp of The X Factor but a Sydney entertainment company has invited her to come to Sydney during the school holidays to do some demos.
Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie told the Destination Q forum that the overhauling of the state’s liquor licensing laws would make things easier for venues. Licensed cafés, restaurants and community clubs won’t need an “approved manager” on site if they close before midnight. Tour cruise operators won’t need a liquor licence if each patron is only served two standard drinks.
Which tour manager was so frustrated at the delay in getting his Chinese takeaway that he offered to jump over the counter and cook it himself?
LIFELINES
Expecting: Gold Coast Sea-FM breakfast show host Matt Acton and his wife Esther have a long awaited baby on its way, he announced to his listeners.
Expecting: James Perrin who has just joined Grant Broadcasters’ Geelong stations (KRock FM, Bay FM, Hot Country) as promotions manager, and his girlfriend Tiffany Coubrough, have their first child due in February. He was most recently breakfast announcer at Territory FM Darwin.
Expecting: Sydney singer songwriter Luke Hannigan (ex-Lo Tel) and actress Pia Miranda, their second child. They have a daughter Lily, 3.
Born: daughter Chloe to 92.9 Perth breakfast host Basil Zempilas and his wife Amy. They have a daughter, Ava.
Married: former Bachelor Girl singer Tania Doko in her home base of Stockholm, and her Swedish beau Daniel. He proposed to her on her birthday during a boating trip in Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands in May.
Recovered: Jim Keays of Masters Apprentices fame, has won his six-year battle against myeloma and plans to get back to gigging.
Recovering: Sydney jazz performer Bernie McGann remains in a “critical but stable condition”, according to the Sydney Improvised Music Association which raised $11,000 at a recent benefit concert for him. An extra $5,000 is being raised through a new Sandy Evanscommission in McGann’s honor, which readers of this column can donate to through www.sima.org.au.
Recovering: Perth jazz impresario Graham Wood (also co-owner of The Ellington Jazz Club and founder of the Perth International Jazz Festival) told The Sunday Times how he’s changed his lifestyle after surgery for a rare form of cancer in April. The 41-year old is now on a vegetarian diet and no alcohol or cigarettes. Wood contracted gastroenteritis in Jakarta, during the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival. During tests in Perth, doctors found cancer on his bile ducts. The medics were initially hesitant about the 13-hour operation saying one in four died from it, but Wood insisted.
In Court: Stefan Pahia Schmidt will face a retrial after his conviction of murdering Perth drummer Andy Marshall was overturned by the Court of Appeal. Marshall died after he fell through a second-storey window at Cottesloe’s Ocean Beach Hotel on May 8, 2011. The three judges agreed that the trial judge had not emphasized enough to the jury that they had to be sure that Schmidt had intended to kill Marshall when he shoved him after he was seen speaking to a woman.
In Court: Melbourne rapper Mr Morgz (Corinthian Morgan), 28, of West Heidelberg pleaded guilty in the Koori County Court to trading a stolen car, an armed carjacking and robbery in Preston, and an attempted armed robbery at a post office in Coburg North. Morgan, told the court he was consuming ice heavily for about six months before the crimes and did not remember committing them, and had not been sleeping or eating at the time. Mr. Morgz will be sentenced on September 17.
Vale: Queensland record producer and blues musician Tony Byrnedied suddenly at his unit in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. Byrne began at Pyramid Studios, Electric Ladies and mostly recently Alan Pease’s Heliport Studios in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast. Among the acts he worked with were Rick Price, Doug Parkinson, Mark Williams and Adam Harvey. Byrne was also a singer and songwriter with his band The Mercurys. Said guitarist and singer Diesel in tribute: “Another one gone too soon. Tony was so passionate about his life and music.” Queensland promoter Rick Szabo, director of QLive, “This is an incredible loss to the industry as Tony was a larger than life figure both on stage and off and I am proud to say he was also a great friend.”
Vale: Cyrril Maloney, founder of the Maloney Hotel Group, 93, whose venue properties included live music venues as The Clock in Surfers Paradise and pubs in Sydney. A third generation hotelier regarded as a leader and elder statesman of the sector, he was life member and Hall of Fame inductee of the Australian Hotels Association (AHA). One of his children, Kim, is vice president of the AHA NSW.
Vale: Arch McKirdy, long time jazz presenter at the ABC, died at 89. His syndicated shows included Jazz Track and Relax With Me, which had the largest national radio audience with 400,000 listeners. Relax With Me ran for seven years until December 1972 when, aged 48, he went into management. He became the ABC’s director of Radio Presentation, then managing director of the FM networks. He is remembered not only as a discerning and reliably informed jazz broadcaster but also a mentor of generations of ABC staffers. He was the grandfather of triple j afternoon presenter Lewis McKirdy.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
250% increase in streaming of Miley Cyrus videos on Vevo after her twerking performance on the MTV Video Music Awards.
9 years between chart appearances for Wendy Matthews, from her new The Welcome Fire debuting at #31 this week, to Café Naturale’slast appearance in May 2004.
12 musicians, singers and dancers executed in public in North Korea for “violating” the country’s laws against pornography. They includedMun Kyong-jin, head of The Unhasu Orchestra and Hyon Song-wol, singer with the popular Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, and former girlfriend of leader Kim Jong-un.
246th album by an American artist to top the Australian charts, we’re talking John Mayer’s Paradise Valley which debuted at #1 this week.
1.4 million tuned in to X Factor this Monday.
1 in four women nightclub patrons in Adelaide take methamphetamines, according to a new study by Flinders University. 21% of all patrols take them.