Category: News

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

2021: Year in Review

I’ve been writing these end-of-year wraps since I started Sounds of Oz. They used to be a way for me to reminisce about all the great things I’d seen and heard over the year before kicking up my heels. Last year they simply reminded me how few shows I’d seen before I let the New Year go by with barely a whimper. This year sadly is a little worse. At least 2020 had three good months before this COVID thing hit! While things got moving locally for a while, I miss those big international shows. I’ve got a few on my calendar for next year, so let’s hope they come off. Until then, thank god for those albums. If you haven’t already listened to the ones below, perhaps you could check them out during your own low-key New Years’ celebration! Thanks for reading everyone, and let’s hope that 2022 brings us better and brighter times.

Top 10 Albums of 2021

  1. Restless Dream – Bob Weatherall, Halfway, and William Barton
  2. 3 – Ngaiire
  3. into the great unknown – Pierce Brothers
  4. A Flower in the Weeds – Joe Mungovan
  5. If I Leave You In the Fire – Saint Lane
  6. The Space Between – Illy
  7. people just do good things sometimes – Pinkish Blu
  8. Armageddon – Between You & Me
  9. The Neverending Glory – Vaudeville Smash
  10. Holding On For My Life – Harry J Hart

Top Shows for 2021

  1. Hamilton
  2. Ben Folds
  3. Chant Du Vin
  4. Tim Freedman
  5. Rent
  6. Chess

Image source: ginnerobot @ Flickr

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Genesis Owusu, The Kid LAROI Take Out Top Honours at 2021 ARIA Awards

The ARIA Awards are done and dusted for another year, with Genesis Owusu and The Kid LAROI making the biggest splash at the 2021 ceremony. I’ve got to say, I really like the awards online. I love seeing them commercial-free and appreciate the opportunity to watch the entire event, not just the awards deemed popular enough for airtime. World music, jazz, blues, the work of engineers and producers, it all deserves to be celebrated.

However, I felt this year’s award ceremony was missing those moments that become talking points. As I sat through the highlights from past years, I marvelled at some of the top collaborations. I understand the pandemic is still impacting these kinds of events (although there wasn’t a mask to be seen at the party!), but with last year’s star-studded performance of “I Am Woman” we saw how well we could navigate these extraordinary circumstances. Props to the performers who did give it their all, especially the outstanding Genesis Owusu and Budjerah, but I would have loved to see something really unexpected.

Judging by the YouTube comments on the stream, I wasn’t the only one surprised when the event wrapped up around 8:30. I know it’s a school night, but I would have loved to see the event shifted to a later start and finish time. In case you missed it, here are all the winners:

Album Of The Year: Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Best Artist: The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber – ‘Stay’ (Columbia/Sony Music)
Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist: Budjerah – Budjerah (EP) (Warner Music Australia)
Best Dance Release: RÜFÜS DU SOL – ‘Alive’ (Rose Avenue Records/Reprise/Warner Music)
Best Group: RÜFÜS DU SOL – ‘Alive’ (Rose Avenue Records/Reprise/Warner Music)
Best Pop Release: The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber – ‘Stay’ (Columbia/Sony Music)
Best Hip Hop Release: Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Best Soul/R&B Release: Tkay Maidza – Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Best Independent Release: Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Best Rock Album: Middle Kids – Today We’re The Greatest (EMI Music Australia)
Best Adult Contemporary Album: Crowded House – Dreamers Are Waiting (EMI Music Australia)
Best Country Album: Troy Cassar-Daley – The World Today (Tarampa Music / Sony Music)
Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album: Tropical F**k Storm – Deep States (TFS Records/Virgin Music)
Best Blues & Roots Album: Archie Roach – The Songs Of Charcoal Lane (Bloodlines/Mushroom)
Best Children’s Album: Bluey – Bluey The Album (Ludo Studios / Demon Music Group / BBC Studios / Rocket)
Song of the Year: Spacey Jane – Booster Seat (AWAL Recordings)
Best Video: Missing Piece – Vance Joy, Annelise Hickey (Liberation Records/Mushroom Group)
Best Australian Live Act: Lime Cordiale – Relapse Tour (Chugg Music Pty Ltd)
Most Popular International: Taylor Swift – Evermore (Universal Music Australia)
Music Teacher Award: Zoë Barry – Sacred Heart School, Melbourne
Best Cover Art: Kofi Anash & Bailey Howard for Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Engineer Of The Year: Konstantin Kersting
Producer Of The Year: Konstantin Kersting & The Rubens
Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album: Angus & Julia Stone – Life Is Strange (BMG/WMG)
Best Classical Album: Genevieve Lacey and Marshall McGuire – Bower (ABC Classic / Universal)
Best Jazz Album: Mildlife – Automatic (Inertia Music / [PIAS])
Best World Music Album: Joseph Tawadros – Hope In An Empty City (Independent / The Planet Company)

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Amy Shark, Genesis Owusu Lead ARIA Awards Charge

I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like the awesome music our local artists created was the best thing to come out of the last 12 months. Today ARIA announced the talented artists who are up for the 2021 awards. It’s a diverse list which serves as a real testament to the talent in this country.

Amy Shark and Genesis Owusu lead the charge with six nominations a piece. They’ll face off in half of those categories: Album of the Year, Best Artist, and Best Australian Live Act. Note that Best Artist replaces Best Male and Best Female artist categories this year, a move that should help this year’s ceremony feel a little more inclusive. Not far behind we’ve got Midnight Oil, The Avalanches, Vance Joy, Tones and I, Masked Wolf and Budjerah all with five nominations each. With so many artists putting in such a good showing, it’s going to be really interesting to see where the awards land. You can see for yourself when ARIA streams this year’s awards on its YouTube channel on November 24. Until then, check out all the nominees. Who are you backing?

Album Of The Year
Amy Shark – Cry Forever (Wonderlick Recording Company)
Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Midnight Oil and First Nations Collaborators – The Makarrata Project (Sony Music)
The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You (Modular / EMI Music Australia)
Tones And I – Welcome to the Madhouse (Bad Batch Records / Sony Music

Best Artist
Amy Shark – Cry Forever (Wonderlick Recording Company)
Budjerah – Budjerah (EP) (Warner Music Australia)
Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Keith Urban – The Speed Of Now Part 1 (CAPITOL – NASHVILLE / EMI Music Australia)
Kylie Minogue – Disco (Liberator Music/Mushroom)
Masked Wolf – ‘Astronaut In The Ocean’ (Teamwrk Records/ADA/Warner Music)
Ngaiire – 3 (Dot Dash Recordings / Remote Control Records)
The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber – ‘Stay’ (Columbia/Sony Music)
Tones And I – Welcome to the Madhouse (Bad Batch Records / Sony Music)
Vance Joy – ‘Missing Piece’ (Liberation Records/Mushroom Group)

Best Dance Release
Cosmo’s Midnight – Yesteryear (Nite High/Sony Music)
Dom Dolla – ‘Pump The Brakes’ (Sweat It Out/Warner)
Jolyon Petch – ‘Dreams’ (TMRW Music)
KLP & Stace Cadet – ‘People Happy’ (Medium Rare Recordings / Sony Music)
RÜFÜS DU SOL – ‘Alive’ (Rose Avenue Records/Reprise/Warner Music)

Best Group
AC/DC – Power Up (Leidseplein Presse / Sony Music)
Gang Of Youths – ‘The Angel of 8th Ave.’ (Mosy Recordings / Sony Music)
Midnight Oil and First Nations Collaborators – The Makarrata Project (Sony Music)
RÜFÜS DU SOL – ‘Alive’ (Rose Avenue Records/Reprise/Warner Music)
The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You (Modular / EMI Music Australia)

Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist
Budjerah – Budjerah (EP) (Warner Music Australia)
Gretta Ray – Begin To Look Around (EMI Music Australia)
Masked Wolf – ‘Astronaut In The Ocean’ (Teamwrk Records/ADA/Warner Music)
MAY-A – Don’t Kiss Ur Friends (Arcadia Music / Sony Music)
Ngaiire – 3 (Dot Dash Recordings / Remote Control Records)

Best Pop Release
Amy Shark – Cry Forever (Wonderlick Recording Company)
The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You (Modular / EMI Music Australia)
The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber – ‘Stay’ (Columbia/Sony Music)
Tones And I – ‘Fly Away’ (Bad Batch Records / Sony Music)
Vance Joy – ‘Missing Piece’ (Liberation Records/Mushroom Group)

Best Hip Hop Release
B Wise – jamie (Semi Pro Sound)
Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Masked Wolf – ‘Astronaut In The Ocean’ (Teamwrk Records/ADA/Warner Music)
The Kid LAROI – ‘WITHOUT YOU’ (Columbia/Sony Music)
Youngn Lipz – Area Baby (Biordi Music/Virgin Music)

Best Soul/R&B Release
Budjerah – Budjerah (EP) (Warner Music Australia)
Hiatus Kaiyote – Mood Valiant (Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune)
Ngaiire – 3 (Dot Dash Recordings / Remote Control Records)
Tash Sultana – Terra Firma (Lonely Lands Records/Sony Music
Tkay Maidza – Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

Best Independent Release
Archie Roach – The Songs Of Charcoal Lane (Bloodlines/Mushroom)
Ball Park Music – Ball Park Music (Prawn Records/ Inertia Music)
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks – Crossover (Hopestreet Recordings/The Planet Company)
Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Vance Joy – ‘Missing Piece’ (Liberation Records/Mushroom Group)

Best Rock Album
AC/DC – Power Up (Leidseplein Presse / Sony Music)
Ball Park Music – Ball Park Music (Prawn Records/ Inertia Music)
Holy Holy – Hello My Beautiful World (Wonderlick Recording Company)
Middle Kids – Today We’re The Greatest (EMI Music Australia)
Midnight Oil and First Nations Collaborators – The Makarrata Project (Sony Music)

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Big Scary – Daisy (Pieater/Inertia)
Crowded House – Dreamers Are Waiting (EMI Music Australia)
Kylie Minogue – Disco (Liberator Music/Mushroom)
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage (Goliath / AWAL)
Odette – Herald (EMI Music Australia)

Best Country Album
Brad Cox – My Mind’s Projection (Sony Music)
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham – The Song Club (ABC Music)
Shane Nicholson – Living In Colour (Lost Highway Australia/Universal Music Australia)
The Wolfe Brothers – Kids On Cassette (BMG/WMG)
Troy Cassar-Daley – The World Today (Tarampa Music / Sony Music)

Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album
Alpha Wolf – A Quiet Place To Die (Greyscale Records / Cooking Vinyl Australia)
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound (What Reality?/Virgin Music)
Tropical F**k Storm – Deep States (TFS Records/Virgin Music)
Yours Truly – Self Care (UNFD/The Orchard)
A. Swayze & the Ghosts – Paid Salvation (IVY LEAGUE/MUSHROOM)

Best Blues & Roots Album
Archie Roach – The Songs Of Charcoal Lane (Bloodlines/Mushroom)
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks – Crossover (Hopestreet Recordings/The Planet Company)
Josh Teskey & Ash Grunwald – Push The Blues Away (Ivy League/Mushroom)
Martha Marlow – Medicine Man (Independent/The Planet Company)
Ziggy Alberts – Searching For Freedom (Commonfolk Records / The Orchard)

Best Children’s Album
Amber Lawrence – The Kid’s Gone Country 2 (Fun For All The Family ABC Music)
Bluey The Album – Bluey (Ludo Studios / Demon Music Group / BBC Studios / Rocket)
Diver City – Dance Silly (ABC Music / Universal)
The Wiggles – Lullabies With Love (ABC Music)
Various Artists – The Moon, The Mouse & The Frog: Lullabies from Northern Australia (ABC Music)

PUBLIC VOTED AWARDS

Best Video
24k – Tkay Maidza, Nicholas Muecke (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)
Astronaut In The Ocean – Masked Wolf, Daniele Cernera (Teamwrk Records/ADA/Warner Music)
could cry just thinkin about you (Full Version) – Troye Sivan & Jesse Gohier-Fleet (EMI Music Australia)
Dance – Julia Stone, Jessie Hill (BMG/WMG)
First Nation – Midnight Oil ft. Jessica Mauboy & Tasman Keith, Robert Hambling (Sony Music)
Higher – Budjerah, Mick Soiza (Warner Music Australia)
Love Songs Ain’t for Us – Amy Shark, James Chappell (Wonderlick Recording Company)
Missing Piece – Vance Joy, Annelise Hickey (Liberation Records/Mushroom Group)
The Divine Chord – The Avalanches, Jonathan Zawada (Modular / EMI Music Australia)
Won’t Sleep – Tones and I, Nick Kozakis, Liam Kelly (Bad Batch Records / Sony Music)

Best Australian Live Act
Amy Shark – Cry Forever Tour 2021 (Wonderlick Recording Company)
Ball Park Music – The Residency (Prawn Records/ Inertia Music)
Budjerah – Budjerah 2021 Aus Tour (Warner Music Australia)
Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth Album Tour (OURNESS / AWAL)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Micro Tour (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard/Virgin Music)
Lime Cordiale – Relapse Tour (Chugg Music Pty Ltd)
Midnight Oil and First Nations Collaborators – Makarrata Live (Sony Music)
The Avalanches – The Avalanches Live (Modular / EMI Music Australia)
The Teskey Brothers – The Teskey Brothers (Headline Shows + Festivals) (IVY LEAGUE/MUSHROOM)
Thelma Plum – Homecoming Queen Tour (Warner Music Australia)

Song of the Year
Amy Shark Feat. Keith Urban – Love Songs Ain’t For Us (Wonderlick Recording Company)
Dean Lewis – Falling Up (Island Records Australia/Universal Music Australia)
Hooligan Hefs – Send It! (db Music / Warner Music Australia)
Keith Urban & Pink – One Too Many (CAPITOL – NASHVILLE / EMI Music Australia)
Masked Wolf – Astronaut In The Ocean (Teamwrk Records/ADA/Warner Music)
Sam Fischer & Demi Lovato – What Other People Say (Sony Music)
Spacey Jane – Booster Seat (AWAL Recordings)
The Kid LAROI with Miley Cyrus – Without You (Columbia/Sony Music)
Tones and I – Fly Away (Bad Batch Records / Sony Music)
Vance Joy – Missing Piece (Liberation Records/Mushroom Group)

Most Popular International
Ariana Grande – Positions (Universal Records USA / Universal Music Australia)
Doja Cat – Planet Her (RCA Records / Sony Music)
Justin Bieber – Justice (Def Jam / Universal Music Australia)
Kanye West – Donda (Def Jam / Universal Music Australia)
Luke Combs – What You See Ain’t Always What You Get (Columbia Nashville / Sony Music)
Machine Gun Kelly – Tickets To My Downfall (Interscope / Universal Music Australia)
Miley Cyrus – Plastic Hearts (RCA Records / Sony Music)
Olivia Rodrigo – Sour (Geffen / Universal Music Australia)
Pop Smoke – Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon (Universal Records USA / Universal Music Australia)
Taylor Swift – Evermore (Universal Music Australia)

Music Teacher Award
Aaron Silver – Wodonga Primary School, Regional VIC
Ashley Baxter – Pimlico State High School, Townsville QLD
Daniel Wilson – Star Struck, Newcastle NSW
Zoë Barry – Sacred Heart School, Melbourne VIC

ARTISAN AWARDS

Best Cover Art
Ngaiire Joseph & Dan Segal for Ngaiire – 3 (Dot Dash Recordings / Remote Control Records)
Eben Ejdne for Odette – Herald (EMI Music Australia)
Kofi Anash & Bailey Howard for Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth (OURNESS / AWAL)
Jonathan Zawada for The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You (Modular / EMI Music Australia)
Giulia Giannini McGauran & Mitchell Eaton for Tones and I – Welcome to the Madhouse (Bad Batch Records / Sony Music)

Engineer Of The Year
Chris Collins
Eric J Dubowsky
Konstantin Kersting
Matt Corby
Tony Espie

Producer Of The Year
Andrew Klippel, Dave Hammer
Konstantin Kersting
M-Phazes
Matt Corby
Robert Chater

FINE ARTS AWARDS

Best Classical Album
Christian Li – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Decca Records Australia/Universal Music Australia
Emily Sun & Andrea Lam – Nocturnes (ABC Classic)
Genevieve Lacey and Marshall McGuire – Bower (ABC Classic / Universal)
Grigoryan Brothers – This is Us: A Musical Reflection of Australia (ABC Classic / Universal)
Nat Bartsch – Hope (ABC Classic / Universal)

Best Jazz Album
Australian Art Orchestra, Reuben Lewis, Tariro Mavondo & Peter Knight – Closed Beginnings (AAO Recordings/The Planet Company)
Kristen Beradi, Sean Foran & Rafael Karlen – Haven (Earshift Music / The Planet Company) Mildlife – Automatic (Inertia Music / [PIAS])
Petra Haden & The Nick Haywood Quintet – Songs from my Father (ABC Jazz / Universal)
Vazesh – The Sacred Key (Earshift Music / The Planet Company)

Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album
Angus & Julia Stone – Life Is Strange (BMG/WMG)
Antony Partos – Rams (Original Motion Picture Score) (ABC Music)
Caitlin Yeo, Maria Alfonsine, Damian de Boos-Smith – Wakefield Season One Official Soundtrack (MADBS Composing Palace)
Sia – Music: Songs From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Atlantic Records / Warner Music
Yve Blake – Fangirls (ADA/Warner Music)

Best World Music Album
Bob Weatherall & Halfway, with William Barton – Restless Dream (ABC Music)
Bukhu – Bukhchuluun Ganburged – The Journey (Bukhu/Distrokid)
Eishan Ensemble – Project Masnavi (Earshift Music / The Planet Company)
Joseph Tawadros – Hope In An Empty City (Independent / The Planet Company)
Kuya James – ISA (Settle Down Records / MGM Distribution)

Image used with permission from Revolutions per Minute

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Find Music and Mental Health Tips With “Scrub Sessions”

As restrictions ease further today in New South Wales, it can be easy to forget much of Australia is still doing it tough. With the Central Coast lumped back into Greater Sydney, I’m still separated from my family in Newcastle. I’ve spoken to friends in Melbourne who find looking at the images from Sydney a little hard to take. Their restrictions will ease on Friday, but with daily cases at close to 2,000, many still don’t feel confident venturing out. People focus on mental health while we’re all locked down, but I think it’s something that will concern us for some time as we try to navigate the new normal. So I was thrilled to discover Scrub Sessions, a cool podcast series focusing on music and wellness from the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

There are three episodes so far, including the latest featuring doctor and singer-songwriter Gordi. Here’s an awesome musical performance from that episode.

Hosted by the head and founder of the hospital’s Scrub Choir Dr Emma O’Brien OAM, all the episodes feature interviews and music, including some great wellness tips.

“Scrub Sessions aim to lift the spirits of our staff, patients and community,” Dr O’Brien explained. “It’s been a long difficult road for us all, and it is at these times, more than ever, that we need to stay connected and celebrate small moments of joy, working together to face the multiple health, physical, mental and emotional challenges brought on by the pandemic – Scrub Sessions aim to keep the hope alive.”

If you need a pick-me-up, I thoroughly recommend checking the Scrub Sessions out on YouTube or your favourite digital streaming platform.

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

India Dupriez Releases Striking Single, “Pray

Gold Coast singer-songwriter India Dupriez has really impressed me with her latest single “Pray.” I was instantly struck by its vulnerable lyrics and India’s ethereal, pure tone. By the time the beat dropped for the chorus, I was firmly on board. The addition of a gospel-style choir reflects the song’s spiritual title.

“It’s honest lyrically and open to interpretation but can also be heard casually as it easily covers a wide range of playlist and radio genres,” India said of her latest single. “It’s timeless and has an open target audience. Bring more positive music to a newer generation.’

India co-wrote this track with Rob Amoruso, who’s previously worked with The Rubens and Baker Boy. In the past, she’s written songs with Chizzy Stephens, who’s written for Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber, and Kyle Moorman, who’s penned tracks for Pink and Miley Cyrus. Mixing with these heavy-hitters, it might just be a matter of time before India has her own international smash.

Image used with permission from Australian Radio Promotion

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Archie Roach Celebrates Emerging Indigenous Talent With New Online Series

Living treasure Archie Roach is opening his heart and home for a brand new webseries, Kitchen Table Yarns. The series sees Archie chatting with up-and-coming First Nations artists about their songs, communities, and language.

“When I started off in music nobody had much of a clue about who I was and what I was writing about,” Archie explained. ”I was considered a curiosity. Yarning at my kitchen table with these young artists will help people understand who they are and give them another platform to promote their music. The kitchen table has always been a place of inspiration for me. It’s a place where I’ve written most of my songs, drank many cups of tea, ate meals, played music whilst my children ran around making plenty of noise. It represents family, community and love. We thought it would be a great idea to have a YouTube series and conversation at the kitchen table. It’s important their voices are heard so they don’t have to go through what I went through. They are our future and when the time comes for us older singer-songwriters to finish up we know it’s in good hands.”

Unlike so many people his age, Archie is an old hand at producing online content. When 2020 wiped out what was meant to be his final national tour, he launched a YouTube series celebrating the songs from Charcoal Lane to connect with his audience.

The first two episodes of his new 12-part series, featuring Allara Briggs Patterson and Marlon X Rulla, drop on Archie’s YouTube channel on August 4 and 18. We’ll get a new episode on the first Wednesday of every month after that.

Archie also plans to get out on the road again next week. Tickets are on sale now for his Tell Me Why tour.

16 July 2021 – Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
6 August 2021 – Archie Roach in Conversation at Byron Writers Festival, Byron Bay
7 August 2021 – Norpa, Lismore
8 August 2021 – Saraton Theatre, Grafton
11 August 2021 – Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour
12 August 2021 – Glasshouse Theatre, Port Macquarie
13 August 2021 – City Hall, Newcastle
14 August 2021 – Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul
17 August 2021 – Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, Bathurst
18 August 2021 – Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre, Dubbo
12 December 2021 – Perth Concert Hall, Perth

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Hoodoo Gurus, The Superjesus, Def FX Ready to Rock Brisbane in Massive Fundraiser

Hoodoo Gurus, The Superjesus, and Def FX are joining forces in Brisbane, and it’s all for a good cause. These Aussie rock heavyweights and plenty of local legends will play Eaton’s Hill Hotel on July 17 to raise funds for Redcliffe’s The Breakfast Club and Rockin’ for the Homeless (R4TH).

The Breakfast Club provides community meals, emergency food packages, housing and service information, supplies, phone charging, and a safe space for isolated and vulnerable homeless people in the Redcliffe area. R4TH is one of their major fundraisers, but COVID shutdowns saw the annual event wiped from the 2020 calendar.

“R4TH does as a community, something we could not do alone. It pays the bills and changes lives,” explained Breakfast Club director and chairperson, Michelle Gilcrest. “R4TH is everything to us”.

This show will replace that annual benefit. Organisers hope the event will help the Breakfast Club buy a “you beaut” van so they can take their services directly to people who can’t visit their centre in person. All musicians are donating their time so the price of your tickets goes directly to this great cause. Tickets are on sale now, but with COVID still limited capacities they will not last long. Get on it!

Image used with permission from Heapsaflash

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

PBS 106.7FM Celebrates New Collingwood Home With 2021 Radio Festival

If you live in Melbourne or its surrounds, tune in to PBS 106.7FM next week for the station’s 2021 Radio Festival. This year’s theme, Make it Home, is fitting as the station settles into their new digs at Collingwood Yards. Moving from the place they called home for 20 years is no easy feat, especially when you add COVID to the mix, so during the festival, PBS 106.7FM hopes the community will get involved and help them raise the funds they need for the finishing touches.

Sign up to become a PBS member, renew your membership, or make a donation at any time during the festival. You can pledge your support online via the PBS 106.7FM website, by emailing info@pbsfm.org.au, or calling the station on (03) 8415 1067 between 10am and 6pm Monday to Friday. All funds raised will help this independent community radio station keep the music pumping. You could also win some incredible prizes including a Vespa, Clingan Guitar Tone handmade electric guitar, double passes to Womadelaide or the Port Fairy Folk Festival, local record store vouchers, and tickets to selected Victorian venues.

“It feels like PBS has been talking about a new home forever and now the time has finally come. It’s going to be amazing but it’s also expensive, particularly with the challenges we’ve had keeping the music on air during COVID. We’re really hoping people who love the station will support us through this time by becoming a member and, if they can, making a donation towards the move to help us Make it Home,” said station manager, Adrian Basso.

PBS 106.7FM’s 2021 Radio Festival runs from Monday 17 May to Sunday 30 May.

Image used with permission from This Much Talent; credit: Kalindy Williams

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Luca Brasi Shine a Line on Mental Health With SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY Collab

Luca Brasi has teamed up with SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY to encourage people to get talking about mental health and suicide prevention. To celebrate the collaboration, the Tassie punk act has released a new lyric video for their poignant track “The Truth.” Frontman Tyler Richardson has also shared his personal battle with mental health issues in a new video for the charity’s Stories Worth Sharing series.

“I’ve spent a lot of my adult years in and out of cycles of loss and of grief,” he explained. “I’m even writing these words on the anniversary of a dear friend’s loss; unfortunately I often feel numb on days like these—I’ve had a lot of them. What I don’t want is any more of them, any more days where I have to go and face the family and friends of another lost friend. Any more days of families losing loved ones, of partners losing partners, of parents losing children. We’ve been lucky enough to make connections through this band that I could never have foreseen, this is what I’ll take away from Luca Brasi overall; that I got to somehow touch the lives of others through music in a positive way.”

“‘The Truth’ is about how hopeless I feel during all this loss,” he added. “It’s a hope that this song helps those listening feel less like an island, and that others feel what you have felt/are feeling. You are not alone, I can promise you that.”

You can support the vital work SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY does by buying a new limited edition Luca Brasi T-shirt from the band’s online merch store. All the profits from sales of the charity shirt will benefit the charity directly, so get on it!

Image used with permission from Deathproof PR; credit: Nick Green

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Help Save Crowbar

It’s no secret that Australia’s coolest music venues have taken a hit in the last year. With governments taking their time to open venues and ease capacity restrictions (and actually follow through on their promises and help out in any meaningful way), some of your favourite haunts are struggling to keep their doors open. Crowbar in Sydney is one of the venues doing it tough, but the owners have come up with an ingenious solution to keep the doors open. They’ve launched a crowdfunder campaign, and you could score some pretty sweet swag for getting involved. Below is a statement from the Crowbar team:

“Crowbar Sydney needs your help! After 12 months of lockdowns and restrictions, Crowbar needs to call on its community of supporters for help to survive. Live music venues around the country are closing down or just holding on by a thread. We are all battling negotiations with landlords, restrictions and reduced income, facing the end of JobKeeper and struggling to pay ongoing fixed costs and debt that keeps piling up. As one of the first industries to close and the last to open, we’ve been hoping that State and Federal Governments might come to our aid, but we’re no longer in a position to patiently wait. And so, we need your help. Without it, we face making the gut-wrenching decision of having to stop the music and close our doors permanently. We’re asking our friends, our fans, our families, and everyone we know to help keep Crowbar alive by donating to our CrowFunder campaign.

In March 2020 COVID-19 restrictions forced us to close our doors and stand down staff while we cancelled months of shows and events. We spoke to our landlords regarding rent and came to some arrangements, and are continuing to negotiate with them. We managed to trade at 1-3% of regular turnover with takeaway sales for the next few months until we were able to open the bar again for a much smaller crowd in mid-June. We were eventually able to put on shows again in late August, returning to 20-30% of trade, dropping from 28,441 ticketed attendees in 2019 to just 8,336 in 2020. With restrictions slowly easing we are now returning to 30-40% of trade.

We have spoken with Ministers, Parliament, MusicNSW, the Australian Hotels Association, APRA and media. We have completed surveys and submitted our gravely reduced figures for turnover and attendance. We have carried on as best we can, working within government restrictions and operating at severely reduced capacities. We have taken loans to keep our staff paid and our doors open, in the hope that the NSW government would step up to help live music venues with something more to survive and put towards operational and fixed business costs like rent, insurance and utilities – something like the Victorian Live Music Venues Program. The grants we have been eligible for, like Live Music Australia, can only be used towards artist fees and venue improvements, which is helpful, but leaves us in a tenuous position with our operational costs when artists and venue capacities are controlled by restrictions and border closures.

Crowbar is an independent, family-operated business, built on 9 years of blood, sweat and tears, and 20 years experience in the music industry. Supporting live music in Australia and nurturing our once-thriving music scene has stood at the forefront of everything we do, and despite this massive hurdle of COVID-19 recovery, we aren’t ready to end the good fight just yet. We are overwhelmed by the tremendous support from our friends, bands and industry colleagues who have donated some amazing prizes and rewards for this crowdfunding campaign.

If we are successful in reaching our target we have a strong hope of recovering through this pandemic to continue putting on the best shows, parties and good times.”

Make a donation for a merchandise reward via Pozible or take part in the online auction for your chance to score some money-can’t-buy goodies including:

  • Lindsay McDougall’s first Frenzal Rhomb guitar
  • Test pressings from Cooking Vinyl for The Bronx, Luca Brasi, The Chats, Modern Baseball, Ceres and heaps more thanks to Cooking Vinyl Australia
  • A limited Mindsnare ‘The Death’ skateboard and ’Credulity’ test pressing
  • A signed Simple Plan drum skin from Oztix
  • A stage backdrop and test pressing from The Amity Affliction
  • Crowbar Brisbane’s infamous inverted neon cross
  • A keg party at your house thanks to Pabst Blue Ribbon
  • A MEGA merch pack from 24Hundred and Unified

Other rewards include gold records, limited edition skateboards, drum and guitar lessons from some of your favourite bands and stacks of signed memorabilia. New items will be added each week, so keep checking in.

If you want to do even more to help out, check out Blackcraft Cult’s collaboration benefit range. These T-shirts and hoodies will be great conversation starters for raising awareness of Crowbar’s plight.

Crowbar wants to raise $200,000 in the next 30 days to keep the venue open. Click the links and get involved!

Images used with permission from Deathproof PR