The AIR Awards wasn’t the only ceremony celebrating the achievements of emerging Australian talent last night, Western Austrlia’s peak music body WAM brought together the state’s best and brightest at their annual ceremony overnight, announcing the winners of their annual WAM Song Of The Year Awards.
Held ahead of the 2013 WAM Festival Music Conference and all-new WAM Awards, the Song Of The Year Awards ceremony doled out 16 awards across multiple genre categories to a selection of Western Australian musicians.
Hosted by Tomas Ford, a gathering of nominees, industry, music fans, sponsors and more witnessed live performances from last year’s Grand Prize winners Rainy Day Women, country and blues and roots
nominees The Ghost Hotel, vocal and electronic maestros Ylem & Dease and Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics, who brought the 2013 Awards Night to a spectacular close at the Fly By Night Musicians Club.
Other Song Of The Year Category Winners included the dark progressive rock of Eleventh He Reaches London in the Rock Category for ‘Unbind’, Sleepfreak’s ‘Frankenstein’ in the Heavy Category, BOOM! BAP! POW! in the Pop category for their track ‘Suit’, and Jarred Wall of Jake & The Cowboys’ song ‘Friends’ won the Indigenous category (read the full list of winners below).
Socially conscious rhymer and self-made beat producer Mathas was the clear winner of the evening taking out the Grand Prize at the WAM Song Of The Year Awards for his Abbe May-featuring tune ‘Nourishment‘. The song sees Mathas (real name Tom Mathieson) and the queen of doom pop discussing “Australia’s lack of a cultural food identity,” in the words of the rapper-producer, with the song also earning awards in both the Electronic and Urban/Hip Hop categories at the WAM Awards.
The Grand Prize sees Mathas taking home $3,000 cash, three days recording at Albert Studios in Sydney for sessions engineered by legendary Aussie producer Wayne Connolly, mastering, mentoring, CD pressing, publishing, equipment and the chance to perform at the AGWA Nights finale and the upcoming WAM Festival Conference.
Taking place across two days on 7th and 8th November at the Perth Cultural Centre, the 2013 WAM Festival Conference follows the Song Of The Year Awards and will see a selection of panels, workshops, and keynote speeches digging into a variety of music related topics.
Tackling music industry subjects like management, direct-to-fan marketing strategies, new distribution models, radio airplay, sync strategies and beyond in 14 sessions, delegates already announced for the industry conference include Andy Rantzen (Australian Council for the Arts), Danny Rogers (Laneway Festival), Dom Allessio and Lewis McKirdy (Triple J), michael Szumovski (Alberts), Millie Millgate (Sounds Australia), Steve Kulak (Fuse Music Group), and representatives from labels, festivals, music bodies, media, and more (full list of delegates below).
To complement the industry conference is an impressive selection of live music as part of the WAM Saturday Spectacular, where over 100 artists will perform a series of free concerts across multiple Perth venues, including the introduction of two new sites – the X-Press Launch stage at the Perth Cultural Centre Amphitheatre and The Urban Orchard’s Electric Blossom, featuring the best of WA’s electronic and hip hop acts.
Performing as part of Saturday Spectacular this year are WAM Song Of The Year Award nominees The Ghost Hotel, China Doll, Apache, and Ruby Boots, as well as Perth favourites like Emperors, Simone & Girlfunkle, Sons Of Rico, Sugar Army, Dead Owls, Tired Lion, Flower Drums, Bastian’s Happy Flight, 44th Sunset, and many more (for more details head here).
Capping off the 2013 WAM Festival Conference is another high-profile awards ceremony, the all-new WAM Awards. A judging panel will decide on am impressive list of Western Australian musical talent across a range of categories, with the list of nominations including the mighty Tame Impala, Pond, Karnivool, Birds Of Tokyo, Rainy Day Women, San Cisco, Mathas, The Growl, Kučka, and more. There’s also the latest Hall Of Fame inductions to be made and – for the first time – eight Public Voted Awards (exercise your democratic right here).
The WAM Award 2013 winners will be announced following the ceremony at The Astor Theatre on Friday 8th November, which will be hosted by Triple J presenters Dom Alessio and Lewis McKirdy. There will also be live performances from Jodri Davieson, frontman of the multi-nominated San Cisco, The Love Junkies, and Grand Prize winner Mathas, and more. Tickets for the WAM Awards are on sale now, for everyone, for $50 through www.showticketing.com.au
WAM 2013 Song Of The Year Category Winners
ROCK: Eleventh He Reaches London, Body Unbind
POP: BOOM! BAP! POW!, Suit
ELECTRONIC: Mathas, Nourishment (ft. Abbe May)
FOLK: Formidable Vegetable Sound System, No Such Thing as Waste
EXPERIMENTAL: Cycle~ 440, So We Beat On, Boats Against The Current
BLUES & ROOTS: Jordan McRobbie, High Tide
COUNTRY: Graphic Fiction Heroes, First And Last
URBAN/HIPHOP: Mathas, Nourishment (ft. Abbe May)
HEAVY: Sleepfreak, Frankenstein
MENTALLY HEALTHY: Rachel Gorman, Hurting Bird
WORLD: 7 Beats, Ananth: The Endless Dance
SCHOOL 14 YEARS & UNDER: Emmanuel Navarro aka ENAV, Listen
SCHOOL 15-17 YEARS: Julia Nicholls, Thing Of Ours
INDIGENOUS: Jarred Wall of Jake & The Cowboys, Friends
REGIONAL: Minute 36, Three States
JAZZ: Nick Abbey of Abbey | Foster | Falle, Avina
WAM 2013 Awards
Friday 8th November – The Astor Theatre, Perth WA
Full list of nominees here
Tickets on sale now: $50 from www.showticketing.com.au
wam.asn.org.au
WAM 2013 Festival Music Conference Dates, Tickets
Thursday 7th to Friday 8th November
The Perth Cultural Centre (State Library of Western Australia Theatre, PICA Performance Space and West Australian Museum Tunnel Theatrette).
Tickets on sale now: $100 WAM members / $130 Non-WAM Members from www.showticketing.com.au
wam.asn.org.au
WAM 2013 Festival Music Conference Delegates
Adam Trainer (RTRFM 92.1)
Allegra Caldwell (InSync – NSW)
Andy Rantzen (Australia Council for the Arts – NSW)
Annmarie McMath (I Hear Motion – VIC)
Becc Bates (Arts South Australia – SA)
Bob Gordon (X-Press Magazine)
Cam Merton (Hidden Shoal Recordings)
Chloe Goodyear (Woodford Folk Festival – QLD)
Clive Hodson (Perfect Pitch Publishing – NSW)
Danny Rogers (St. Jerome’s Laneway/Lunatic Entertainment – NSW)
Darren de Mello (96FM)
David Chitty (Sunset Events)
Dom Alessio & Lewis McKirdy (Triple J – NSW),
Emily Lubitz (Tinpan Orange – VIC)
Evan Alexander (Heapsaflash – QLD)
Grace Barbé & Hayley Dart (Country Arts WA)
John Wardle (National Live Music Office – NSW)
Kate Mills (Native Tongue – VIC)
Kurt Beaudoin (Meerkats)
Leon Ewing (WAM)
Luke Rinaldi (Sweet Mate Music)
Mama Kin
Meg Williams (AAM – NSW)
Michael Szumovski (Alberts – NSW)
Millie Millgate (Sounds Australia – NSW)
Nicholas Jones (Tone Deaf – VIC)
Noah Shilkin (Sonic Lolly)
Paul Cashmere (The Noise Network – VIC)
Pete Guazzelli (Department of Culture and the Arts)
Samantha Nakhoul (WSOU – USA)
Simon Collins (The West Australian/The Wire)
Steve Kulak (Fuse Music Group – NSW)
Will Lanarch-Jones (Parallel Management – NSW)
+ more
