Zac Abroms from Viceroyalty is up in Brisbane to speak at this years BIG SOUND music conference. While he’s up there, he’ll be sending through his daily diary and some phone snaps to capture the highlights for all those that are missing out. Over to you Zac…
DAY 1: The first night of Australia’s premiere music conference saw Brisbane’s, ‘The Valley’ teeming with musical talent and the footpaths flooded with industry personnel (in various states of inebriation) frantically consulting timetables in anxiety of potentially missing out on the “next big thing.”
FISHING - Magic City, Brisbane
The evening kicked off with self-styled bedroom production duo FISHING , who dealt a curious audience a superb set of live electronica that could only be described as calypso-meets-hiphop (calypshop?) setting a glorious tone for the balmy Brisbane night. Not even the odd surprise electrical pop emitted from their entanglement of samplers could put a damper on the vibe and throughout the performance the Sydneysiders could be seen glancing up to survey crowd response with grins stretching from ear-to-ear.
MONEY FOR ROPE - Electric Playground, Brisbane
Next-door something evil was brewing. Melbourne’s Money For Rope , who boast not one but TWO drummers, confidently belted through a set of songs taken from their forthcoming record (due October). Spurned on by charismatic lead singer Jules McKenzie , who can often be heard channeling the ghost of Jim Morrisson (when he isn’t nailing a saxaphone solo) his rugged bandmates who despite appearances know their way around a heart-melting four-part harmony, pulled out all the stops to bring punters a smoking hot, sexually charged performance that had one charming punter in front of me repeatedly attempting to fingerbang his ladyfriend. \m/
FLUME - Magic City, Brisbane
Back at Magic City , the decks had been cleared to make way for perhaps the most exciting newcomer to the Australian electronic music scene, the precociously talented 19-year-old who goes under the moniker, Flume . The hype around this young artist was reflected by the size of the audience who piled into every nook and cranny of the converted Church, standing atop tables and leaning over balconies to witness what was on offer. Flume delivered the goods, a set of back-to-back original jams that had near everyone convinced he’s destined for very big things.
GREY GHOST - Alhambra Lounge, Brisbane
Over at Allambra lounge an artist of a different nature was preparing to take to the stage. Jeremedy (or as he referred to himself on-stage “ Pineapple Head “), the former front-man of The Melodics was showcasing his new project Grey Ghost . The set that was to follow played out like a live instrumental hip hop master class which saw the energetic emcee switching between machine-gun pace raps and soulful bouts of singing. Later that evening the director of a major Australian music festival would remark to me that he hadn’t seen anything with quite so much potential since he witnessed an early incarnation of The Cat Empire near on a decade ago. Watch this space.
KINGSWOOD - Electric Playground, Brisbane
Having mopped up after Money For Rope, fellow Melbournians Kingswood took the stage at Electric Playground charged with the task of furthering whispers of a rock and roll resurgence. Aside from convincingly taking out the title of male-vocalist of the evening, Kingswood displayed a keen sense of musicality and served up an uber-polished set of 90′s (think Soundgarden , Stone Temple Pilots ) brand of ear-splittingly loud rock & motherfucking roll complete with guitar solo’s, Tame Impala -style time signature changes and frontman Fergus Linacre detouring around the room, tambourine in hand, much to the audience’s delight.
TEETH & TONGUE - The Press Club, Brisbane
A shock of peroxide blonde hair atop a vintage pastel yellow dress, which clung in the right places and hung just loosely enough in others to reveal a glimpse of black lace was how Melbourne songstress
Teeth & Tongue
chose to present her tunes to a humble but very attentive audience at
The Press Club
. Her set proved to be an entrancing mix of
Phil Spector
esque 1950′s ballads punctuateed with sampled beats, 808 and the odd misbehaving loop pedal, rocking along in a pleasantly disjointed manner like the musical equivalent of a Valium and Gin and Tonic.
KIRIN J CALLINAN - The Press Club, Brisbane
The man, the artist, the enigma, Kirin J Callinan . Presented immaculately in a skin-tight black sleeveless, Callinan and his enviable collection of guitar pedals, swayed back on forth on the tiny stage, snarling vocals between bouts of incredibly effected guitar. Often performing solo, on this occasion he was accompanied by a superb drummer who played a portion of the show standing up and a hulking man of a bass player who sat listlessly stage-right, baseball cap pulled firmly over his face. Later in the evening I had the unique pleasure of shaking one of the fingerless-gloved hands of whom is undoubtedly one of Australia’s finest guitarists and most innovative musical minds.
TIGERTOWN - Alhambra Lounge, Brisbane
The honour of last drinks to cap off a wonderful and varied night of local music went to newcomers Tigertown . A Pocahontas-themed front woman (who brought to mind Bat For Lashes ‘ Natasha Khan ) led her fresh-faced band through a set of very enjoyable indie-pop cuts looking very much the part of band set to accomplish greater things.
REVIEW BY ZAC ABROMS
WHO IS ZAC ABROMS?
In 2007 Zac joined Forum 5 Management & Recordings, undertaking the development and marketing of their artists and releases including Bertie Blackman’s ARIA-Award-winning album ‘Secrets and Lies’ (2009) and the launch of New Zealand songstress Kimbra.
In 2010, Zac launched Viceroyalty, a boutique Artist Management and Services provider specializing in Online PR; Digital Strategy, Music Blog Servicing, Social Networking and Content Production in addition to Management for Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, Manor and Le Fox.
Viceroyalty’s credits include Online PR for ARIA Award-winner Kimbra (Best Female Artist 2011) and her platinum album ‘Vows’ (2011), Active Child (USA), Girl Talk (USA), Zowie (NZ), Strange Talk, Stooshe (UK), Bertie Blackman, Rebecca & Fiona (Swe) and Regina Spektor (USA) on behalf of clients including Warner, Sony, Universal, Rubber, Neon, Penny Drop, Outpost and Michael Parisi Management.
WORDS BY Tom Pitney
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