During the 20-year reign of Powderfinger, awards came like months of the year.
Among them, five consecutive No. 1 albums, 18 ARIA awards, three APRA Awards, chart-topping singles, multi-platinum records.
On Tuesday night (August 21st), a special addition to that heaving collection of silverware with the presentation of Support Act’s excellence in community award.
Bernard Fanning, Ian Haug, John “JC Collins,” Jon Coghill and Darren Middleton were on hand for Music in the House event, an annual fundraiser for the music industry charity.
The ‘Finger didn’t perform, they didn’t hint at a reunion. But guests in the room were treated to the next best thing with friends of the band paying musical tribute with covers of classic Powderfinger songs, led by Paul Dempsey (“My Happiness”), Sarah Blasko (“The Day You Come”), Davey Lane (“Passenger”) and Troy and Jem Cassar-Daley (“These Days”).
The music industry is a different beast to the one Powderfinger walked away from in 2010. All-you-can-eat streaming music platforms have replaced CDs as the format of choice. Music festivals are, mostly, struggling. Small venues, too.
Speaking on behalf of the band, Fanning issued a call-out to “policy makers to help the artists, managers, promoters, fans and all the people that are employed in the industry to navigate a way forward so that we can continue to tell the stories that form the backbone of our culture.”
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He continued, “we’re all pretty aware that it’s a very difficult time in the industry right now. Whenever there’s a natural disaster or a societal crisis, it’s the musicians that are called on to donate talent, their goodwill, their skills and their time. The music industry is now in crisis.”
Fanning wasn’t just speaking to the converted. John Graham, state minister for the arts, minister for music and the night-time economy, was among guests in the room.
Taking a step back in time, Fanning recounted the band’s early days building a buzz in the ‘90s and gave a shout out to “everyone from the Brisbane music scene that helped us to get up in the first place.
“We came from a situation where there were a lot of bands, a lot of musicians, that had completely different styles and, and ideas about music, but we had the same ideas about the world.”
The Brisbane music community was their kind of scene.
“There were always bands and people trying to help each other out. We were all in the abandoned Target Building in Brisbane. There was probably 30, 40 bands in there, probably about 3,000 junkies in there, and prostitutes. It was a pretty interesting time.
“That’s kind of what forged us with those beginning days, when we had to play shows with metal bands with pop bands, with whoever. It didn’t matter. “We were all part of the same thing anyway.”
Music in the House was created in 2006 as an opportunity for Support Act to recognise an artist — or artists — in Australian music for their musicianship and their broader contribution to the community.
Powderfinger’s good deeds include pandemic-era One Night Lonely virtual concert, which raised over $500,000 for Support Act and Beyond Blue and has been viewed over 1 million times. On Tuesday night, Powderfinger and the full house of industry guests at The Linseed House, on the Grounds of Alexandria, raised more than $130,000 for good causes.
Previous recipients of the Excellence in the Community salute include Midnight Oil, Tina Arena, the late Archie Roach, Jenny Morris, Paul Kelly and last year’s winner Marcia Hines.
