Following the bizarre but true news that Daft Punk would be hosting the global launch of their latest album, Random Access Memories in the tiny rural New South Wales town of Wee Waa, enterprising third-party planners realised that there’d be an opportunity to provide an extended after party for the thousands of punters swarming down on the town to ‘Get Lucky’.
The result is the two-day dance festival, Weekend Vines, a party worthy of the unveiling of Daft Punk’s latest masterpiece. The inaugural festival will see a host of local and international DJs and electronic artists turning the Seplin Estate Winery, located 1.5km from Wee Waa, into a dance-savvy party of camping, dancing, and music from Friday 17th May to Sunday 19th May.
Which may have been of some concern the regional townsfolk more used to a more restrained atmosphere than robotic-fuelled raves, which in turn meant the presenters of the independent boutique festival, Yaldi Boomtime!, were still awaiting council approval for Weekend Vines.
Organisers have now confirmed that their application to the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) for extended trading hours has been processed. The Seplin Estate is licensed from 5am to midnight Monday to Saturday and 10am to midnight on Sunday, and organisers are also seeking an extended liquor license to match their extended hours for the event, but organisers confirm the event is going ahead regardless. Organisers have now confirmed that their application to the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing for extended trading hours has been processed…
Tickets for the event are limited and on sale now, available for purchase through the Weekend Vines website or Resident Advisor, priced at $120 (+ b/f).
The lineup for the two-night post-Daft Punk party will be supplied by Glaswegian ‘Yaldi Boomtime’ mainstay Marvin Roland and UK co-founder of Twitch, Crease. The electronic groove will continue with the Parisian beats of French DJ Olibusta, while Melbourne producers Mr Pyz and LA Pocock also feature on the two day camping festival lineup along with CC: DISCO!, Pablo J and the Lobsterettes, and This Is Disco.
Organisers promise the “boutique festival provides a safe, secure, friendly, catered, licensed atmosphere to allow excited attendees to recover gently and peacefully.” As well as a “full festival soundsystem, lighting rig, and visuals” and fully licensed bar and food stalls. Buses will provide transport between the Wee Waa showgrounds and the winery to get revellers from the history-making Daft Punk launch to the festivities in record time.
The festival’s organisers say Weekend Vines was the result of a bunch of friends getting together to figure out an after-party event for the Wee Waa weekend. “The option of camping on the property got us thinking,” say organisers, “and we realised it was a practical response to the lack of accommodation for the thousands of Daft Punk fans that will be descending on the town.”
“It’ll be a great opportunity for those attending the album launch to get to know the town a little better by staying the entire weekend and continue the fun with electronic jams a-plenty in a safe and licensed environment,” note Weekend Vines organisers. “With the lineup of D’s we’ve got, the beautiful surroundings of the winery, and, from what we’ve heard, some pretty mean egg and bacon rolls, it’ll be a one of a kind festival to attend regardless!”
When it was first announced that Wee Waa, one of Australia’s cotton capitals, was chosen as the location of Daft Punk’s global album launch earlier this month many thought it was simply a bizarre, mistimed April Fool’s joke – including the town’s Narrabri Shire Mayor, Conrad Bolton.
Meanwhile Wee Waa Society President Brett Dicksinson says the event is “great for Wee Waa and fantastic for the Shire. “We’re still pinching ourselves. We don’t know why, but why not?”
As for what lucky golden ticket holders can expect when they head to the Wee Waa show to hear the Parisian pair’s latest opus, Daft Punk recently gave a French website a track-by-track rundown of Random Access Memories. Though information for the new album is being carefully drip-fed, chiefly by the Collaborators making-of video series, interviewing the album’s A-list of collaborators, the men beneath the helmets – Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – offered a treasure trove of details in their song-by-song wrap-up.
The pair say the album features two live drummers: “John Robinson Jr., who holds the record for the most recorded drummer in the world, and Omar Hakim, who started with Stevie Wonder [at] 16 years old.” As well as a recording of astronaut Captain Eugene Cernan “recorded during the last mission of NASA’s Apollo 17,” plus the “angelic voice of (Animal Collective’s) Panda Bear,” the “punk rock side” of the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, and calling ‘Motherboard’: “a futuristic piece, [it] could be the year 4000.”
What better reason to get excited for Daft Punk’s new album, the Wee Waa launch, and the two-day Weekend Vines festival, than giving the Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers featuring lead single, ‘Get Lucky’ another spin?
You can pre-order Random Access Memories on CD & vinyl here , and view artwork and full tracklist credits below:
Random Access Memories tracklist
Album line-up:
1- Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Paul Jackson, Jr. (Guitar) – 4:34
2- Instrumental – 5:21
3- Giorgio Moroder (Synth) – 9:04
4- Chilly Gonzales (Piano) – 3:48
5- Julian Casablancas (Vocals) – 5:37
6- Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Pharrell Williams (Vocals) – 5:53
7- Paul WIlliams (Vocals and Lyrics) – 8:18
8- Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Pharrel Williams (Vocals) – 6:07
9- Paul Williams (Lyrics) – 4:50
10- Instrumental – 5:41
11- Todd Edwards (Vocals) – 4:39
12- Noah Benjamin Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective – Vocals) – 4:11
13- DJ FALCON – 6:21
Tracklisting:
01. Give Life Back to Music (ft. Nile Rodgers)
02. The Game of Love
03. Giorgio by Moroder (ft. Giorgio Moroder)
04. Within (ft. Chilly Gonzales)
05. Instant Crush (ft. Julian Casablancas)
06. Lose Yourself to Dance (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers)
07. Touch (ft. Paul Williams)
08. Get Lucky (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers)
09. Beyond
10. Motherhood
11. Fragments of Time (ft. Todd Edwards)
12. Doin’ It Right (ft. Panda Bear)
13. Contact (ft. DJ Falcon)
