MARK SEYMOUR AND THE UNDERTOW
Acclaimed singer / songwriter Mark Seymour has followed up his successful 18 years with Hunters & Collectors with a vibrant solo recording career. Mark's song-writing ever evolves, he continually produces songs that resonate and permeate one's consciousness. This evolution is due in part to the diversity in his activities which include composition of film scores, writing and performing music for a theatrical production and acting. Internationally regarded as one of Australia's best singer / songwriters, Mark continues to draw live audiences with his intense passionate vocals delivered with a measure of wry humour.
Currently Mark is touring to promote his 6th solo album, the self titled Mark Seymour & the undertow. >> Visit Mark's official website
CUSTARD
Dave McCormack formed the band Custard Gun in 1990, which soon morphed into Custard. Custard's debut album, Buttercup/Bedford, was recorded in 1991. It was meant to be released on CD in March 1992, but things went awry. Unfortunately, the CDs never turned up on time for the band's CD launch - forcing them to give away copies of the album away on cassettes to keep the punters happy. It wasn't until the end of 1992 that the band finally got their hands on the elusive CDs. By this time Custard had signed to Ra Records and had released their first "major label" CD - an EP called Gastanked. Gastanked did very well for the band, peaking at #41 on the ARIA singles chart. Gastanked was followed in 1993 by another EP, Brisbane, and two singles - Casanova and the double A-side Singlette/Flanelette. By this time the band was onto its third drummer - Shane Brunn had been replaced by Grant Herrinberg, who had subsequently been replaced by Danny Plant.
Custard's debut major label album, the Wahooti Fandango, was issued in 1994. Wahooti Fandango was critically acclaimed, being nominated for 'Best Alternative Release' at the 1995 ARIA awards. However, the band's "breakthrough hit" didn't come until October 1995, when they released Apartment, the first single from Wahooti's follow up, Wisenheimer. Apartment received a lot of airplay on Triple J, and was voted in at number 7 in the 1995 JJJ Hottest 100. At the time, it was the highest ever placing by an Australian band.
1996 and 1997 were big years for Custard, touring Australia with Weezer, Frank Black, Beck and the Presidents of the USA, and venturing back to America (where Wisenheimer had been recorded) to play more shows with the Presidents. While in the USA the band also recorded album number 4, We Have the Technology. The final single off the album, Music is Crap, captured the public's attention and reinvigorated major interest in Custard.
Music is Crap's follow up, Girls Like That, became the band's biggest hit. It bruised the ARIA top 50 singles chart, and came in at an impressive number 3 in the 1998 Triple J Hottest 100. The album on which Girls Like That was issued, Loverama, was also the band's most commercially successful.
Through 1998 and 1999 tensions were emerging within the band, and Custard went on a six month "hiatus" at the end of 1999, before eventually calling it quits for good.
To date, the band has issued four releases since their 1999 split - two best of compilations (Goodbye Cruel World in 2000 and Essential Custard in 2010), a compilation of the Brisbane and Gastanked EPs (2002), and a DVD, Spaces by the Side Of the Road: A Digital history of Custard (2007).
In the decade following their break up, Custard were offered several gigs but knocked them all back. They were eventually talked into reforming by Powderfinger, who convinced the band to play a reunion show as part of Queensland's 150th Birthday Celebrations in Brisbane on December 10th, 2009. The band played a 15 song set. The gig went well, and in December 2010 Custard played a second reunion show, at the Meredith Music Festival in Victoria. In 2011, the band played four sold-out shows (two in Brisbane - raising money for the floods in February, and as part of the Brisbane festival in September; and two shows at the Standard in Sydney in September). And now we're lucky enough to have nabbed the band for Between the Bays for 2012!!
>> Visit Custard's MySpace page
JORDIE LANE
After a long stint in the U.S., Melbourne's Jordie Lane has returned home with a brand new album in tow. Blood Thinner is Jordie's second album and is out now through Vitamin Records.
After spending much of the past year baking in the Californian desert, Blood Thinner marks a sharp and unique turn away from his critically acclaimed studio debut, Sleeping Patterns. Stripping it back to the bare bones, the album was cut entirely on a 4-Track machine to Cassette tapes. With recording taking place in a remote desert motel room, a basement and finally a bleeding hot garage in Eagle Rock, LA, Jordie's mantra was to use only what was at his immediate disposal, and this led to a plethora of makeshift instruments fashioned from kitchen utensils, wine glasses, Tupperware and boxes.
Despite his lo-fi approach to instrumentation, the record's production sits at the opposite end of the spectrum, co-produced and mixed by multi Grammy Award winner Tom Biller, (Beck, Kanye West, Elliott Smith, and Fiona Apple) and Mastered by Grammy award winner Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering, Hollywood. Jordie and Tom worked tirelessly every night for 20 days straight, fuelled by Irish whiskey and coffee and a mutual love for the possibilities of the universe.
His journey was not without plenty of twists and turns itself, encountering a mum with a shotgun, sleeping in the room Gram Parsons died in, and a random meeting with Grammy-award winning Producer, Tom Biller in a local bar. The resulting record will have you feeling shades of Springsteen's Nebraska, elements of the Arcade Fire and Flaming Lips and even a White Album era Beatles vibe.
In Jordie's words:
"It's about having too much choice that drives me crazy.
So with the constraints of the 4 track it changes your working environment entirely. "How will I approach getting what I want, but with this limitation in place?" A Boss if you could call it that, saying 'ok you have 3 others to get the job done, now go and get creative, but no hiring anyone else'."
After releasing his highly acclaimed debut album Sleeping Patterns in June 09, Jordie has since played sold-out tours across the country, and has appeared on ABC TV's Spicks and Specks, and SBS's RockWiz, as well as being included on Triple J's "Like A Version Vol 6", for his brilliant version of MGMT's 'Electric Feel' with Jen Cloher.
Jordie has been invited to play shows alongside artists such as Cat Power(USA), Loudon Wainwright III, Neko Case(USA), Charlie Parr(USA), Old Crow Medicine Show(USA) and National tours with locals, Tex Perkins and Ash Grunwald. And Festivals including Port Fairy 07, 09, 11, Falls Festival 09-10 and West Coast Blues Roots 2010.
>> Visit Jordie's MySpace page
THE OOGA BOOGAS
Collect together the 'scraps' from such outfits as The Sailors, Onyas and Eddy Current Suppression Ring and you get a quartet known as the Ooga Boogas. They've released a 7", toured the US and even put out a self-released vinyl-only LP on the Aarght! label.
In the flesh, the Ooga Boogas are crystal-clear in their musical attack. Zero distortion in the guitars and a tight rhythm section make 'em a curious beast - all herky-jerky beats and extended jams with a real geekoid punk-rock energy. >> Visit The Ooga Boogas' MySpace page
LAH-LAH
Lah-Lah is a five member band for kids based in Sydney, Australia. Formed in 2009 to present great, original, live music to pre-schoolers, Lah-Lah has already an impressive list of live performances and television credits including: performances at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall with a 15 piece big band, a season in the Famous Spiegeltent for Sydney Festival, and music video clips aired daily on the Nickelodeon pre-school channel, Nick Jr.
With the highest calibre of musicians and toe-tapping tunes, Lah-Lah and her Big Live Band will have the whole family singing and dancing along!
>> Visit Lah-Lah's official website
JVG GUITAR METHOD
Jon von Goes is better know as a 3RRR broadcaster who presents the JVG Radio Method on Sunday afternoons between 2 and 4. He is also Melbourne's premier marriage celebrant. You may well have witnessed his Wedding Method. Well, now he has a Guitar Method.
Crucial to the JVG Guitar Method is the warning - "Don't do this on your own". For Jon it's all about the band. JVG says - "All I have to do is go twang, pluck and these blokes make it all purr and explode at the same time - twang, pluck, purr explode."
This is what he says about the band -
Mark Ferrie on guitar and vocals from the RocKwiz Orkestra, the Mercurials, the Models, the Sacred Cowboys, and many more, understands the Method more than anyone. Mark understands many things a lot more than most.
Dale Lindrea from the Vanguards plays the bass quite unlike anyone, like a maestro from another planet in another time. The pulse of the Method, the throb of the Method. Can sing a bit too.
Ashley Davies is the drummer - full stop, end of story.
The Guitar Method are all about getting to the bottom of what really goes on. The sound of yesterday today in a world where the rhythm is relentless and the ordinary is extraordinary. >> Visit the JVG Guitar Method MySpace page
INDIGENOUS HIP HOP
Indigenous Hip Hop Projects (IHHP) is a unique team of talented artists in all elements of hip hop, media, entertainment and performing arts, who have been working extensively in Aboriginal communities around Australia since 2004.
IHHP celebrates the fusion of traditional Indigenous culture and hip hop, facilitating workshops that provide performance skills, leading up to events with performance, community strengthening, community educational and health outcomes.
IHHP promotes self expression through movement, music and art, boosting morale and confidence and promoting positive social behaviors in remote communities.
IHHP provides opportunities, role models, inspirations and collaborations for youth in remote regional and urban areas.
IHHP is developing young Indigenous leaders through mentoring and up skilling in areas of Media, Arts, Entertainment and Event Production. >> Visit Indigenous Hip Hop's website
THE FUZZBIRDS
The Fuzzbirds are a four-piece band with their roots deep in 70s rock and the blues, ranging from ages 14-16. The group was formed by the four school friends in September 2010, and they have enjoyed writing and playing music together since.
Their heavy influence in bands such as The White Stripes and Led Zeppelin translates very clearly into their playing and songwriting, "like early Led Zep with Jack White on vocals".
>> Visit The Fuzzbirds' Facebook page