A great night at the Queensland Music Awards last night as Violent Soho picked up the honours for ‘Album of the Year’ for their monster record WACO, while Amy Shark swept three categories, nabbing ‘Song of the Year’ as well as best ‘Pop’ and ‘Regional’ songs.
Violent Soho continued a dream run, as they’ve previously sewn up the best album category for their 2015 record Hungry Ghost, while WACO single ‘Like Soda’ won them the Song of the Year in 2016.
Some of the other big winners were emerging Brissy locals Good Boy, who picked up the ‘Rock’ win for ‘Poverty Line’; Cub Sport, who took a deserved ‘Most Popular Group’ win from the publicly-voted categories; new supergroup Confidence Man, taking out the ‘Electronic’ category, and the young and buzz-worthy Tia Gostelow, who took home the ‘Schools’ nod in addition to her ‘Folk/Singer-Songwriter’ victory.
The Amity Affliction have clearly had a successful year, too, winning both the ‘Highest Selling Album’ award for the massive This Could Be Heartbreak, and also the ‘Export Achievement’ award as recognition of their success overseas.
Among the biggest winners was Ash Kerley, who took out the Billy Thorpe Scholarship worth a cool $10k for her work across Queensland with Girls Rock Australia, and scholarship judge (and Screamfeeder co-founder) Kellie Lloyd detailed her efforts.
“I believe for Ash Kerley this will be a life and career changing moment. Ash is already the main driver behind the Girls Rock Australia program in Queensland, and this scholarship gives her an opportunity to take her loud guitars and the punk rock attitude of her band Marville to regional Queensland playing shows and doing workshops with young people as she goes.
“I do think Billy Thorpe would be very proud to know his legacy is being honoured in such a way with such a person.”
You can watch Amy Shark’s typically humble acceptance speech below, and find a full list of winners, which also included Emily Wurramara, Jarryd James, Hey Geronimo and, yes, The Veronicas.
Qld Music Awards 2017 Winners
Pop: Amy Shark — ‘Adore’
Rock: Good Boy — ‘Poverty Line’
Electronic/Dance: Confidence Man — ‘Boyfriend’ (Repeat)
Blues/Roots: Leanne Tennant — ‘Gentle Annie’
Heavy: Lagerstein — ‘Drink The Rum’
Jazz: Sean Foran — ‘Une Fille’
Schools: Tia Gostelow — ‘State Of Art’
Indigenous: Emily Wurramara — ‘Ngayuwa Ngelyeyiminama’ (I Love You)
Urban: ROMY — ‘Wild Heart’
Country: Halfway — ‘Three In & Nothing But The Stars’
World: High Life — ‘Aware’
Folk/Singer-songwriter: Tia Gostelow — ‘Vague Utopia’
Regional: Amy Shark — ‘Adore’
Music Video: Hey Geronimo — ‘Boredom’
BOQ People’s Choice Award for Most Popular Female: Dami Im
BOQ People’s Choice Award for Most Popular Male: Jarryd James
BOQ People’s Choice Award for Most Popular Group: Cub Sport
Export Achievement Award: The Amity Affliction
Highest Selling Single: The Veronicas — ‘In My Blood’
Highest Selling Album: The Amity Affliction — This Could Be Heartbreak
Album Of The Year: Violent Soho — WACO
Song Of The Year: Amy Shark — ‘Adore’
Billy Thorpe Scholarship: Ash Kerley (Marville)
Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award: Ritchie Yorke
