The last 12 months was a banner year for Aussie music making a big impression on international audiences, with a number of bands cracking taste-making yeard-end lists, the blogosphere, overseas media and radio, and even the Grammys.
It already looks like 2014 is set to continue the Aussie invasion with a number of acts heading abroad to fly the flag at a series of international festivals, including the massive Coachella 2014 lineup and this year’s edition of annual industry conference SXSW.
Now an Aussie contingent has turned up in another massive festival bill, the Firefly Music Festival 2014, after the four-day camping festival dropped its enormous 2014 lineup this week.
Headlining Firefly Music Festival 2014, hosted on 154 acres of woodlands at the Dover International Speedway in Dover, is the revitalised, pizza-shop invading Foo Fighters, forthcoming Bluesfest 2014 act Jack Johnson, and the reunited Outkast, making it the third event out of the touted “40 festivals around the world” that the influential hip hop will be playing over the American summer (and has them heavily rumoured to headline Splendour In the Grass 2014).
But past the headliners nestled among the 100+ lineup and big-name festival bands, like the Australia-bound Arctic Monkeys, Weezer, plus Big Day Out acts like The Lumineers, Grouplove, Portugal. The Man, and the ‘Hardest Working Band of 2013′ Local Natives, is a number of Australian artists. But past the headliners nestled among the 100+ lineup and big-name festival bands… is a number of Australian artists.
Courtney Barnett is featured on the Firefly Music Festival 2014 lineup, with the event following closely behind the laconic Melbourne singer-songwriter performing at NXNE the same month.
The 25-year-old has already proven that her music – thick in rich lyricism, Australian spirit, and suburban charm – has international appeal, gaining major attention from the likes of Stereogum, The Guardian, and Pitchfork.
“Everyone talks about trying to make it overseas and I’ve always been like, ‘That’ll never gonna happen so I’m not even gonna try’. And then it happened. It’s really humbling,” said Barnett in a Tone Deaf interview last October, before ‘Avant Gardener’ – her witty autobiographic account of a panic attack – was named among Pitchfork’s Top 50 best songs of the year, cracked NME’s end of year ‘Best of 2013’ list, and was named as the second best Aussie song of the year in the Tone Deaf Readers Poll.
Ahead of Barnett on that same Top 15 list was ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy, who is – as previously reported – also set to perform as part of the Firefly Music Festival 2014 lineup. “Stoked for the band and I to be part of [it],” wrote Vance Joy, the musical non de plume 25-year-old James Keogh, of the announcement.
Ahead of Firefly in June, the Aussie troubadour is locked in for his visit to America in March, touring with US indie band Young The Giant (also on the Firefly bill), and appearing as one of 40+ Aussies at SXSW 2014 in April.
One Australian band that won’t have to make the lengthy trip from Down Under is soft-focus ambient rock duo, High Highs, who only have to make the trip from New York. Sydneysiders Oli Chang and Jack Milas call the Big Apple home as their current base of operations since releasing their soft-focus debut album Open Season (which landed the pair a nomination for the $30,000 Australian Music Prize) and are currently at work on LP #2.
Rounding out the Aussie contingent on the Firefly Music Festival 2014 lineup is The Griswolds; not bad going for a band with only a single EP to their name (in 2012 debut release Heart Of A Lion). The colourful Sydney five-piece are another band that’s headed to SXSW 2014 and simply had this to say about their part in the festival addition: “holy feeeeerrkk!!’
Given that the US is beginning to announce more music festivals in the lead-up to their summer season, you can bet your patriotic love of vegemite that there’s bound to be more Australian musicians making their way onto international festival lineups in the near future. We can’t wait.
Firefly Music Festival 2014
Foo Fighters
Outkast
Jack Johnson
Arctic Monkeys
Weezer
Band Of Horses
Imagine Dragons
Pretty Lights
The Lumineers
Young The Giant
Childish Gambino
Tegan And Sara
Girl Talk
Cage The Elephant
Portugal. The Man
Grouplove
Local Natives
Ziggy Marley
Iron & Wine
Sleigh Bells
Jake Bugg
Amos Lee
Third Eye Blind
Twenty One Pilots
City And Colour
Chance The Rapper
Kaiser Chiefs
A-Trak
The Airborne Toxic Event
Phantogram
MS MR
Washed Out
Phosphorescent
Tune-Yards
Walk Off The Earth
The White Panda
American Authors
Martin Garrix
Typhoon
Sky Ferreira
Cash Cash
G-Eazy
A Great Big World
RAC
Lucius
Smallpools
Bleachers
The Mowgli’s
NoNoNo
New Polatics
Kodaline
White Denima
Asaf Avidan
Cherub
Sir Sly
AER
Johnnyswim
Vic Mensa
San Fermin
Geographer
Courtney Barnett
The Colourist
Wild Cub
Dan Croll
The Wild Feathers
Shakey Graves
Goldroom
Wild Child
Haerts
Little Comets
Magic Man
Royal Teeth
The Ceremonies
Gergory Alan Isakov
Bad Things
Vance Joy
Andrew Belle
Basic Vacation
Hunter Hunted
Misterwives
Bronze Radio Return
The Unlikely Candidates
X Ambassadors
Son Lux
Salva
Little Daylight
Kongos
Saints Of Valory
Holychild
Gemini Club
Step Rockets
The Griswolds
Sleeper Agent
John & Jacob
Pigpen Theatre Co.
Hey Rosetta!
The Weeks
High Highs
Courrier
Cruiser
New Sweden
Mean Lady
Christian Porter
Stop Light Observations
Breach The Summit
Firefly Music Festival 2014 Dates, Tickets
June 19th – 22nd, 2014
Dover, Delaware USA
Tickets: http://fireflyfestival.com/
