After arriving Thursday afternoon, I slotted straight in with a couple of meetings, then straight to the Western Australian Music Awards at the jam packed Amplifier bar. It was great to see so many bands and industry out to celebrate Western Australian music. The support gave a true sense of community. One of my highlights of the whole weekend was presenting four awards, one of which was best live act won by Karnivool. I was pretty chuffed as Karnivool are definitely one of Australian’s best rock acts. Following that, I met many bands and probably had a few too many drinks, but Perth people are very persuasive.
Friday morning was jam packed with meetings and I was cursing myself for my actions the night before, but there was no time to feel sorry for myself. I did some ’speed dating’ sessions where I met a lot of artists and found the general hurdle for artists in Perth is the expense of touring on the East Coast. I think this owes a big part to the fact that Perth has a special and unique music scene. It seems everyone bands together in support which washes away the feeling of isolation completely.
Saturday, I was up bright and early again (headache repeated) and sat on the panel for the ‘Bill Me’ festival. It was a great, yet confronting, experience rolled into one. Fifteen artists played a one minute snippet of a song and then stood in front of myself, three other festival programmers and the audience and gave us a pitch on themselves… not easy. We (the panel) then had to give feedback as to whether we would book the band and give constructive criticism as to the reason why we wouldn’t. Also not easy. The great thing was I found that a good 80% of the bands I listened to were very likable and potentially suitable for me to book.
The Showcases: So many good bands. My Highlights were:
The Chemist (http://www.sonicbids.com/TheChemist2)
Young Revelry (http://www.sonicbids.com/YoungRevelry)
Boys Boys Boys (http://www.sonicbids.com/BoysBoysBoys)
Arts Martial (http://www.sonicbids.com/ArtsMartial3)
Emperors (http://www.sonicbids.com/Emperors)
and The Jackards (http://www.sonicbids.com/TheJackards)
By the end of the WAMi’s, just about everyone I knew could barely stand. We’d been on the go for three days and in meetings, panels, speed dating and running from venue to venue to see as much music as possible. I’ll lick my wounds for another day or so but the excitement of my time in Perth will last far longer. A BIG thanks to Paul, Sarah and Daphne from Wam for your amazing hospitality… I had a ripper of a time. See you next year.
