Q Music announces Big Sound live music showcases

BIG SOUND showcases provide a launch-pad for Australian bands and artists in Australia’s only designated live music precinct.

Choose from numerous acts and genres over two nights, walk between venues and check out the hottest talent from Australia and the world in one place!

Wednesday 10th September
The Zoo: The Red Paintings, Temper Trap, Wind & Brackets, Dappled Cities, Resin Dogs

The Troubadour: The Boat People, John Steel Singers, Abbe May, Jeff Lang, The Gin Club

The Press Club: West End Composer’s Collective, Melanie Horsnell, Rocketsmiths, BlackMarket Rhythm Co, Emma Dean

The Moon Bar: Deez Nuts, Optimen / Pure Product, Watussi, Monster Zoku Onsomb

Thursday 11th September

The Troubadour: The Dead Sea, The Blackwater Fever, Skipping Girl Vinegar, Flamingo Crash, Seabellies

The Bowery: Dan Parsons, Leena, Josh Arnold, Abby Dobson, Kara Grainger

The Press Club: Hungary Kids of Hungary, Bobby Flynn, Mei Lai Swan, 8 Ball Aitken, Tim Loydell & The Deckchairs

The Moon Bar: Stone Parade, Ruby Tigers, Repeat Offender, Paper & The Plane, Black Mustang

BIG SOUND is one of the most important, influential and fastest-growing music industry events in Asia Pacific, continuing to attract leading industry figures from around the world.

BIG SOUND 2008 runs from 10 – 12th September in Fortitude Valley. 

Early bird tickets & registrations are now on sale (EARLY BIRD TICKETS EXTENDED TO AUGUST 12) and tickets are available from www.bigsound.org.au.

ARTIST PROFILES

8 BALL AITKEN http://www.myspace.com/8ballaitken
8 Ball Aitken performs contemporary honk, stomp, Australian swamp tunes – original whoop’n’hollerin’, good-timey anthems flavoured with a heaping helping of alternative country, blues & roots. It’s a big sound from Queensland’s deep north, bouncing off the remnants of extinct volcanoes, booming through the canefields, and delivering foot-stomping fun. 8 Ball tours across Australia, Europe, USA, Fiji (3 tours) and Japan (4 tours). He rolls into your personal soundtrack, packing tripped-out wet tropics cowboy sounds from the roadside, roots music with balls. His third album, ‘REBEL WITH A CAUSE’, (produced by Garth Porter, ex-Sherbet) currently receives radio airplay in 26 countries.

ABBE MAY www.myspace.com/abbefuzz
At the centre of Abbe May’s charm is an extraordinary voice - a stirring howl borne on the melancholic balladry of a grieving heart. As confrontational as it is vulnerable, her characteristically anguished moan conceals an undercurrent of hot-blooded intensity within the poetry and grunge-fuelled candour of her music and band The Rockin’ Pneumonia. In May 2008, the debut album ‘Howl and Moan’ by Abbe May was released- an album about immense love and loss, the epitome of unleashed passion,and it makes obvious the enormous talent of Abbe May and her band The Rockin’ Pneumonia.

ABBY DOBSON www.myspace.com/abbydobson
Since releasing her debut solo album, Rise Up in October last year, Abby Dobson (ex Leonardo’s Bride) has received critical acclaim. She won SECOND PLACE in the International Songwriting Competition for her song Horses. She toured the nation with sell-out crowds for long awaited return. She has also toured as support for Lior, Tex Perkins and UK singer Joe Jackson. She has performed on Today, Sunrise, Rockwiz, Neighbours and Kerri-Anne and her songs have featured heavily on Neighbours and Home & Away attracting many new young fans. Abby also worked with Josh Abrahams on her single It’s Only Love and has also been one of Paul Mac’s featured singers.

BLACK MUSTANG www.myspace.com/blackmustangmusic
Black Mustang has quickly established themselves as one of Brisbane’s most undeniably exhilarating new bands. Having developed an explosive live set with teenage kicks and manic pop thrills, their sound veers from rambunctious garage rock'n'roll to grungy blues-infected dynamos. Having released a six track Ep in 2007, the band quickly caught the attention of those in the US and soon agreed a number of major worldwide sync deals for television, movies, and games such as Californication, The Unit, Big Shots, EA SPORTS, City Homicide and movie Crooked business. Black Mustang’s debut Album is due for release in October, 2008 on Plus One Records.

BLACK MARKET RHYTHM CO. www.blackmarketrhyhtmco.com
Queensland’s Black Market Rhythm Co. have been playing their rootsy rock ‘n roll songs at a string of summer festivals, including Big Day Out, Woodford Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Quiksilver Pro Show and Festival Of The Sun. For their ‘Low-Fi Records, Hi-Fi Radio’ album launch in Feb this year the band played to packed and sold-out houses in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. BMRC have toured the East Coast twice in 2007 with great turnouts interstate and headlined their own tour in May of this year. All supported by continuous community and Triple J airplay and a spotlight interview on ‘Home and Hosed’.

BOBBY FLYNN www.myspace.com/bobflynnfive
Reaching through the Television to connect with heart wrenching renditions of our favourite songs, on Australian Idol, Flynn took a pragmatic approach after the mini media frenzy that greeted his TV debut, and comprehensively toured Australia. Performing over 100 shows in the year since, his self-produced album was released early 2008 and met critical acclaim Bernard Zuel declaring “Flynn has an idiosyncratic voice with a liquid centre”. 

DAN PARSONS www.myspace.com/danparsonsmusic
Dan Parsons has been described by Time Off Magazine as someone “in possession of an old soul and the wisdom and experience that transcends his youth” and labeleled “an incredible musician and could well be a star of the future” by John Mullen of Dew Process. 

DEEZ NUTS http://www.myspace.com/deeznutshardcore
After spending seven years on drums for I Killed The Prom Queen, JJ Peters has emerged from the ashes with Deez Nuts, a one man musical assault of hardcore driven party anthems laced with a tongue in cheek rap ethic. Since releasing his debut EP Rep Your Hood on Stomp last year, Deez Nuts have played to sell out crowds on the Drunk & Disorderly, Vans Boys of Summer and Kids & Clubs shows, and have planned the Back On The Streets tour this spring and a full run of UK and European dates to hit shortly.

EMMA DEAN (Bris) www.myspace.com/emmadeanband
Most artists are content to stick with the formula they’re known for, changing as much or as little as they think they can get away with. But Emma Dean isn’t most artists. In fact, on her debut album – Real Life Computer Game – the Brisbane-based performer has headed into new sonic territory and created a new genre – ‘Elastic Pop Theatre’. It’s bigger, bolder and more ambitious than anything she’s ever done, showing her growth as a person and evolution as a musician and songwriter, while also staying true to her innovative take on modern music.

FLAMINGO CRASH (Melb) www.myspace.com/flamingocrash
After releasing the limited edition Shoot the Lights Out 7” on vinyl, the band recorded their debut album TRIANGLE ISLAND, produced by Magoo (Midnight Oil, Regurgitator, Gerling) and mastered in New York City by Steve Fallone (The Strokes, Sonic Youth, TV on the Radio). Australian and Japanese tours have further established Flamingo’s live gatherings of tribal beats, tight space pop and frantic rock'n'roll, alongside sharing stages with some including The Go! Team, Maximo Park, Lily Allen, The Bravery, Love is All, The Presets, You Am I Operator Please and The Galvatrons.

THE GIN CLUB (Bris) www.myspace.com/theginclub
The Gin Club are an eclectic mix of rock, pop, folk, blues, country, psych, prog, slowcore, and everything in between. Since their formation in 2003 they have toured Australia, travelled abroad to the U.S, Canada and New Zealand, and played with acts as diverse as Paul Kelly, The Drones, Tim Rogers, Iron & Wine, Lambchop, Midlake, Band of Horses and Laura Veirs, and released three albums to critical acclaim. Their most recent release is Junk, an ambitious double album featuring 26 original songs by 7 singer/songwriters. Having already performed at the Big Day Out, East Coast Blues & Roots, Splendour in the Grass, Gympie Music Muster, Cockatoo Island and Yagubi Festivals, The Gin Club has also international markets having travelled to Canada to participate in Canadian Music Week, and touring New Zealand. In May 2008 they performed at the 2008 Musexpo Conference in Los Angeles, California and drew rapturous acclaim. They are planning a UK/European tour for late 2008.

HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY (Bris) www.myspace.com/hungrykidsofhungary
Forming in March 2007, the band have wasted no time in carving out a name for themselves in the Brisbane music scene, helped along by rotation airplay on national Triple J radio. Dressing their immaculate indie tunes with a healthy dose of 60’s pop sensibility and lashings of soul, the Hungry Kids have clearly done their rock history homework, but manage to apply their learning without ever sounding formulaic. Recorded in May this year at Brisbane’s Airlock Studios, their self-titled debut E.P. highlights their musical dexterity, skipping lithely between jangly pop gems, hushed ballads and slinky soul numbers. The band has just launched their E.P. at The Zoo in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley on the 3rd of July, 2008 and are looking to play a lot of shows up and down the coast of Australia to promote it.

KARA GRAINGER www.myspace.com/karagrainger1
Slide guitarist and blues, roots and folk singer-songwriter Kara Grainger relocated to LA to record her debut solo album Grand and Green River. Her album features an all-star cast of musicians including Kara’s hero Little Feat’s Richie Hayward and Grammy Award winning pianist Joel Guzman (Los Lobos) and a duet with Amos Lee. Kara was a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition for her song On My Way and her song Secret Soul received honourable mention in the Billboard Songwriting Competition. Kara returned to Oz in May to release her album and did a 20-date tour supporting blues guitarist Jeff Lang.

MEI LAI SWAN www.myspace.com/meilaiswan
The branding ‘unique’ is bandied about far too often when it comes to musicians and the art they practice – but in the case of cellist-songstress Mei Lai Swan it’s entirely appropriate. Originally from Melbourne, she moved to Alice Springs for a brief stint in the desert and more than two years later just can’t seem to leave. Instead she’s emerged onto the national music scene as a Triple J Unearthed winner with a track off her stunning debut EP ‘The Morning Tree’, and a captivating live show that’s turning more than a few heads. Her lyrical avant-pop is grounded in a love of songwriting, a gift for the unexpected and a keen sense for just being human.

MELANIE HORSNELL www.myspace.com/melaniehorsnell
She’s a sensation in Paris, an exciting new catch in New York and a much-loved talent at home in Sydney, Australia. She’s Melanie Horsnell, Australia’s ‘complicated sweetheart’, a writer and singer of tender, heartfelt, simply beautiful songs. After some ten years of performing across Australia, Melanie has of late been basking in global adoration. Her debut album, The Adventures Of.. was a feature album on French national radio, after she learned and recorded a French language version of her beatlesque pop hit I Just Want Some Love Melanie has since performed repeat tours across Europe – the last being a massive 20-show slog that won hearts from Amsterdam to Edinburgh. And while tracks from her debut album have earnt her all kinds of accolades – glowing reviews, iTunes single of the week, a feature artist on Triple J’s Ausmusic month, and supports with Bernard Fanning, The Frames and The Panics among others, her best work is still to come.

MONSTER ZOKU ONSOMB! (Bris) http://www.myspace.com/monsterzokuonsomb
The mentalist energy explosion that is Brisbane's Monster Zoku Onsomb! rip up all of your favorite genre's of music and reassemble them into a frequency jigsaw of Frankensteinian proportions! The five piece ensemble's live shows involve Barbarella dancehall style theatrics, all kinds of electronic gadgetry, and...the chicken dance...? Sounds strange..? Well people seem to like it, and this September Monster Zoku Onsomb! head overseas to blast another dose of their psychotronic sounds & visuals straight at who ever is brave enough to listen. Their third international tour takes in JAPAN RUSSIA EUROPE and the UK and coincides with the release of their new CD "EARTH EATERS" which is being released in Russia on ACIDSAMOVA and in the UK on DEATH$UCKER RECORDS.

REPEAT OFFENDER (Bris) www.myspace.com/repeatoffendermusic
Repeat Offender are a melodic rock band who have quickly built a reputation as one of the nation’s most exciting and hardest working bands. If you’re a fan of Jimmy Eat World, Anberlin, Brand New or Paramore, you’ll love this band. Not only have they been touring their asses off since 2004 (racking up over 350 shows and counting), they’ve also managed to independently release 3 EPs and 1 extended EP, while upholding their D.I.Y work ethic and to this day remain self-managed and unsigned. The band are currently in pre-production for their debut album, with hopes to release it late 2008/ early 2009.

ROCKETSMITHS (Bris) www.myspace.com/therocketsmiths
After wowing audiences up and down the East Coast over the past 18 months with their energetic and incomparable live show, Rocketsmiths are heading into the end of 2008 with their brand new EP, “Parts, Pieces”. Recorded with ARIA-award winning producer Magoo, the new EP showcases the unique sound the band are becoming known for, a mash-up of indie rock, rockabilly and carnivalesque pop.

RUBY TIGERS (Qld) www.myspace.com/rubytigers
Heavily influenced by the energy of old school U2 and the swagger of INXS, Ruby Tigers deliver Pop/Rock songs with passion, depth and spirit. Mixed in LA by Mark Needham (The Killers) after he was blown away by the band's original demos on Myspace, their debut single 'The Deal' has just gone to radio in Australia with influential trade journal The Music Network choosing the song as a Hit Pick and commenting “The Deal pumps straight from the outset and will weasel its way into your brain to set up permanent residence”.

SKIPPING GIRL VINEGAR (Melb)
Skipping Girl Vinegars debut single ‘One Chance’ (complete with animation film clip) was released in September last year and immediately added to high rotation on triple j. A groundswell of interest has since seen the band rack up a list of supports from The Lemonheads (USA), Something For Kate, The Shout Out Louds (Sweden) to Bob Evans. Rage featured the accompanying animated clip for ‘One Chance’ as their first ever ‘indie clip of the week’ and the clip went on to chart in JTV’s Top 20. JMAG featured the band in their last issue for 2007 and the band were highlighted during Oz Music month on Triple J as a ‘next crop’ artist. After some serious major label & Indie offers SGV’s debut album ‘Sift The Noise’ is set to be released in Australia September 13th. The next single from which, the title track, is in stores Aug 2nd. One Chance will be the Australian itunes single of the week Tue Aug 5th.

STONE PARADE (Syd) www.stoneparade.com
Stone Parade is currently the most sought after band in Sydney. Their debut single “My Generation” hit no. 1 for 4 weeks consecutively on the AIR singles chart, entered the ARIA physical singles chart at no. 17 and ARIA Australian singles chart at no.19. April this year, STONE PARADE was announced winners of the prestigious ‘International Songwriting Competition’ for best Rock song. The band’s song ‘Somebody Will Miss You’ was chosen out of 15,000 entries world-wide which were judged by industry luminaries such as Tom Waits, Robert Smith (The Cure) & Nelly Furtado.

THE BOAT PEOPLE (Bris) www.theboaties.com
Described as Australia’s bliss pop maestros, bands the The Boat People have supported give an inkling of their sound including The Shins, David Byrne, Midlake and Idlewild, but most comparisons are drawn to Australian legends Crowded House who have left a distant but indelible mark. Speaking of indelible marks the band has been making a huge impression in the US and UK. In the UK the band played at 2088 Great Escape alongside Vampire Weekend, The Wombats and Ting Tings attracting giant promoter Live Nation to take the band under their wing for booking tours and Club Fandango to release a vinyl single. In the US the band had extensive airplay on influential tastemaker show Nick Harcourt’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW, Indie 103.1 and was a CMJ feature artist and won the CMJ grand prize in March. This lead to being picked up by The Agency Group for booking tours in the US and assistance form a prominent US radio plugger and lawyer.The Boat People return to the US and UK to tour in October/November to release new album Chandeliers. So far they have been confirmed to play at CMJ Marathon 21 – 26 Oct and a 30 minute live set on KCRW on 16 Oct, shows at the Viper Room and Spaceland are soon to be confirmed in LA followed by a 2 week tour of the UK.

THE RED PAINTINGS (Bris) www.myspace.com/theredpaintings
Well-known for their unique, engaging and visually extravagant orchestral art-rock live performances, which incorporate everything from onstage art installations, to elaborate costumes, orchestras, choirs, and blank canvasses which audience members are selected to paint during the show. Songwriter Trash McSweeney creates a sound which evokes all gamut's of human emotion -- from the child-like innocence of his ballads to tearing, biting, alternative rock; The Red Paintings encompass sounds and ideas which run a wide spectrum sonically. In 2006 the band toured the USA, UK, NZ & Australia as direct support for Boston punk-cabaret duo, The Dresden Dolls, playing crowds as large as 3,000 per night, all the while building quite an amazing fan-base, selling up to 170 Cd's per show to concert-goers to prior to that evening had never even heard of the band. With tracks in high rotation on Australian radio (including Triple J), as well as constant touring throughout the world, The Paintings have built a unique cult-like following not seen before from an Australian rock act. Poised on the ledge of further success, these fans have helped the band raising $40,000 (without a record label or management) through donation (!) finally record their highly-anticipated debut full-length album, "The Revolution Is Never Coming", ready for release

PAPER & THE PLANE (Qld) www.myspace.com/thepaperandtheplaneSince starting out in 2006, Brisbane four-piece, The Paper and the Plane has continually been labelled as one of Australia’s best emerging bands. Last March saw the independent release of the three-track EP aptly titled, ‘An Introduction.’ ‘One year, two months, sixteen days and counting’ is the newest release by the band. Recorded in Brisbane and produced by the legendary Ed Rose, this five-track ep is a leap beyond the band’s previous effort, both in song writing and production. They’ve supported Brand New, Thursday, Saosin, The Bled, From Autumn to Ashes, Anberlin, Taking Back Sunday, Antiflag, Underoath, Parkway Drive, Hot Lies, Something with Numbers, Iron On, Blueline Medic, Mary Trembles, Nation Blue, Kisschasy, and have just picked up the national support for Thrice’s upcoming national tour.

TIM LOYDELL & THE DECKCHAIRS (Bris) www.keytone.com/timloydellandthedeckchairs
Tim Loydell and The Deckchairs have emerged from obscurity with a captivating sound and impressive live show. Having played The Brisbane Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, The Wonderland Festival alongside Angus and Julia Stone and The Fumes, scoring a record deal and radio play; it’s hard to imagine this gifted band fatefully met at university less than a year ago. “Some Strangers Ship” is the debut offering and its release had attracted much early praise.

WATUSSI (Syd) www.watussi.com.au
Lead by Colombian born Oscar Jimenez, with a sound that has been described as ‘Afro-Colombian rock and roots’ and ‘Rage Against The Machine with horns’, this eight piece perform wild live shows of genre-destroying original compositions. International supports, tours and Australia wide exposure through TV and radio performances has led to critical acclaim of the debut album Tequila, Sangre y Fuego. Released nationally in October 2007 through Knowfoowl/Inertia, it has featured on Triple J, ABC Rational National, SBS, Radio Adelaide, PBS and FBI. Watussi’s live energy can be witnessed in 2008 with appearances at WOMADelaide, Jamabalaya Festival NZ, Sydney Festival, national tours, The Famous Spiegeltent and an impending international surge.