Violent Soho pick up two QLD Music Awards

Held at Brisbane Powerhouse, the night belonged to local legends Violent Soho who picked up two awards including Song of the Year and the Rock Award for their song – Like Soda.

Another star of the night was Luke Daniel Peacock, who took out the Indigenous category, as well as the prestigious $10,000 Billy Thorpe Scholarship, supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

This year’s awards were hosted by triple j’s Gen Fricker, whose tongue-in-cheek style brought an offbeat energy to the ceremony. Indie-psychedelic supergroup The Belligerentsset the scene for the night with a rocking rendition of In My Way, while Indigenous award nominee Emily Wurramura’s earthy and honest performance of Black Smoke gave the night one of its more reflective moments.

Brisbane four-piece Blank Realm collected the Album of the Year award for their acclaimed release Illegals In Heaven. New categories recognised the commercial success of Queensland artists, at home and abroad:globetrotters Sheppard received the Export Achievement Award,Jarryd James’ Do You Remember was the Highest Selling Single by a Queenslander in 2015, while The Veronicas self-titled album took out the Highest Selling Album Category.

Other awards went to rising stars Dana Hassall who won the Country Award and Sahara Beckwho received the Folk / Singer Songwriter Award.

Amy Shark showed everyone why she is LA-bound, taking out the Pop Award from an all-female field, and dropping jaws with a polished yet emotional performance of her winning track, Golden Fleece.

Avaberée, Joe Agius (The Creases) and Deena were judged by the public to be the worthy winners of new Bank of Queensland People’s Choice awards that provide emerging artists a financial kick-start to their career.

This year’s recipient of the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award was recently retired Courier-Mail journalist Noel Mengel, whose words have created a greater public understanding and awareness of the Queensland music industry for many decades.

QMusic’s Executive Officer Joel Edmondson said, “Time and again, the Queensland Music Awards prove that Queensland produces some of Australia’s most talented and exciting musicians. Although there can only be one winner in each category, the depth of talent that the QMAs have unearthed this year is staggering. The format consistently proves that opening the application process to the general public creates a space for unknown gems to shine. This year was also a great chance to create new ways of celebrating the commercial success of Queensland musicians around the world.”