Perth Music

The West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots Festival will again deliver the finest collection of blues, roots, soul, rock, R&B, country and world acts from across the globe on Saturday, April 18.

And joining the festivities down amongst the pines on the beautiful Fremantle Esplanade Reserve is the axe-wielding wizard that is Jason Mraz. Mraz is no stranger to the Blues ’n’ Roots, making his WA debut at 2008’s festival. Since then he has exploded into the public consciousness with his album (We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.) selling more than 100,000 copies in Australia alone – the tenth highest selling album of 2008. Three 2009 Grammy Award nominations later and Mraz is truly en route to international stardom.

Also making the journey west for the sixth annual Blues ’n’ Roots is the now world-acclaimed Augie March. It’s been a long and crazy ride for these Melbourne visionaries – from poetic obscurity to the top of the charts. We warmly welcome Augie March to their debut West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots Festival.

Joining our most eclectic line-up yet, crammed into one value-for-money day, is WA’s most acclaimed suburban tunesmith Bob Evans. This is a rare appearance for the loveable lad, who is currently bunkered down in Nashville working on the follow-up to his 2006 ARIA Award winning album Suburban Songbook. Hear his next anthems before anyone else!

Minnesota native Charlie Parr plays the blues like he lives it. So it’s no surprise he’s the next international to join the festival. With a fine pedigree of influences – from Charlie Patton to Dave Van Ronk – Parr works his resonator guitar and fretless banjo like a man possessed. Be privy to the magic, right in the heart of Fremantle.

New Zealand has an outstanding legacy of punching above its weight in bands – and Little Bushman is no exception. Inspired by the blues rock greats – Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who – and including a handful of the Fat Freddys Drop gang, this is a band not to be missed.

And adding the spice to this final announcement for the sixth annual West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots Festival is Melbourne’s acclaimed Labjacd. This dynamic nine-piece outfit have been making a big splash lately with their exhilarating mix of old school hip hop, Cuban salsa, jazz and Andean folk music. And with a new album in the works be the first to hear the new material, only at the Blues ’n’ Roots.

This mighty fine list of talent joins The John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins, Zappa Plays Zappa, Paul Kelly, Easy Star All-Stars, Ben Kweller, Tony Joe White, Blue King Brown, Seasick Steve, Eric Bibb, The Special Beat, Luka Bloom, Blues Traveler, C.W. Stoneking & The Primitive Horn Orchestra, Little Red, Ruthie Foster, Kev Carmody, Rodney Crowell, Whitley, Kora and Mama Kin.

West Coast Blues ’N’ Roots Festival 2009
Fremantle Esplanade Reserve
Saturday, April 18

The John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins, Zappa Plays Zappa, Paul Kelly, Easy Star All-Stars, Ben Kweller, Tony Joe White, Blue King Brown, Seasick Steve, Eric Bibb, The Special Beat, Luka Bloom, Blues Traveler, C.W. Stoneking & The Primitive Horn Orchestra, Little Red, Ruthie Foster, Kev Carmody, Rodney Crowell, Whitley, Kora, Mama Kin and more to be announced

Over its five-year-history The West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots Festival has developed into one of the most loved homegrown festivals in WA.

The philosophy is simple: assemble the finest list of blues, roots, soul, rock, R&B, country and world acts from across the globe, turn on the sunshine and watch the magic happen. And 2009’s festival stays true to the cause with our most eclectic line-up yet, crammed into one value-for-money day on Saturday, April 18, down on the beautiful Fremantle Esplanade Reserve.

As well as these mighty fine names we’ll also be staging the Breakthrough competition once again, giving one lucky band the chance to join the West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots stage – which has hosted some of the finest names in music over the years. And the award winning Green Roots environmental program will be back, greener than ever.

Tickets for the Sixth Annual West Coast Blues ’n’ Roots Festival are $119 + booking fee and available from www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 GET TIX (1300 438 849).

Tickets go on sale Monday, December 15.

However, from 9am Monday, December 8 to midnight Sunday, December 14, you can secure a special Early Bird ticket price of $99 + booking fee – a bargain if ever we’ve seen one. Head to www.moshtix.com.au to secure your discounted ticket!

Go to www.sunsetevents.com.au for full ticketing information.

Congratulations to Muse for getting number one in this years Hottest 100 with Knights Of Cydonia. The top 10 is listed below:
1. - Muse - Knights Of Cydonia
2. - Silverchair - Straight Lines
3. - Kings Of Leon - On Call
4. - John Butler Trio - Better Than
5. - Faker - This Heart Attack
6. - Foo Fighters - The Pretender
7. - Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Live)
8. - Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry
9. - Soko - I’ll Kill Her
10. - The Panics - Don’t Fight It

Also congratulations to all of the WA artists that made it to the list this year including:
The Waifs - 92. Sun, Dirt, Water
Karnivool - 63. The Only Way
Birds Of Tokyo - 61. Wayside
John Butler Trio - 55. Good Excuse, 22. Used To Get High and 4. Better Than
Gyroscope - 16. Snakeskin
and The Panics - 10. Don’t Fight It

After another stellar year of album releases from Western Australian artists, the 2008 WAMi Awards see some of our finest acts battling it out for Most Popular Album. The nominees are Birds of Tokyo ‘Day One’, John Butler Trio ‘Grand National’, The Panics for ‘Cruel Guards’ and Red Jezebel for ’How I Learnt to Stop Worrying’. The Most Popular Live Act award sees some of WA’s best loved acts rate a mention; nominees include Gyroscope, Karnivool, Snowman and Streetlight.

With six WAMi Award nominations, including Most Popular Album, for their debut LP ‘Day One’, Birds of Tokyo lead the nomination charge in 2008! Alongside Most Popular Album, Birds of Tokyo were also nominated in the Best Rock Act, Best Drummer (Adam Weston), Best Vocalist (Ian Kenny) Best Guitarist (Adam Spark) and Best Instrumentalist (Glenn Sarangapany) categories!

The John Butler Trio had another big year, touring at large on home soil and abroad after the release of his fourth studio album ‘Grand National’. JBT scored five WAMi Award Nominations, including Most Popular Album for ‘Grand National’, Most Popular Act, Most Popular Music Video for ‘Good Excuse’, Best Blues and Roots Act and Best Guitarist!

Nominated for Favourite Newcomer and Most Promising New Act, both Abbe May and the Rockin’ Pneumonia and Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke scored 4 nominations, alongside Sugar Army who were nominated for Most Popular Act, Most Popular Single/EP, Best Rock Act and Best Bassist (Ian Berney).

Nominees in the Industry only voted category for the Golden WAMi for contribution to the WA Music Industry in 2007 are:
Heath Bradby (Director Fidelity Corporation, co artist manager for Bob Evans, Downsyde, The Silents, Snowman, Jebediah, Karnivool)
Juliet John (Manager of Schvendes and Publicist for Saturation)
Peter Barr, (RTRFM 92.1 Breakfast Presenter, FreshBlast Co ordinator)
Steph Edwardes (Manager of Sugar Army, Editor of Rockus.com.au and Assistant Manager at Fidelity Corp)

All are contenders for the Golden WAMi Award, raising the WA music industry profile over the past year.

Voting for the WAMi Awards is open to anyone in the world. Voting commences on Thursday January 17 at http://myspace.com/musicwa (.) You’ll need to register an account, and only one vote per person will be counted. Voting closes on Monday February 13.

The WAMi Award winners will be announced at the Perth International Arts Festival Beck’s Music Box (on the Esplanade, Perth) on Thursday 21 February! The WAMi Awards will include live performances by Jebediah, Birds of Tokyo, Blue Shaddy, Yabu Band with special guests Groovylips and the Yang, Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke and DJ’s Dan the Man & Rok Riley. Tickets are on sale now from www.heatseeker.com.au and the usual outlets.

For all WAMi Festival information, including the full list of WAMi Award nominees and the WAMi Festival Guide, head to http://myspace.com/musicwa or http://wam.asn.au(.) The WAMi Festival runs from February 15 – 24.

Having both grown as strong independent acts that are now making waves around the world, the John Butler Trio and The Waifs are undoubtedly two of WA’s most prolific acts and they are thrilled to announce a special series of shows under the banner of ‘The Union of Soul ’.These unique shows will take place throughout WA in January next year with tickets on sale next Monday November 12.

The John Butler Trio and The Waifs will perform at The Fremantle Arts Centre on both Tuesday Jan 22nd and Wednesday Jan 23rd. Then on Friday January 25th both bands will be joined by special guest Clare Bowditch and The Feeding Set at the Belvoir Amphitheatre and the three band set will continue as the tour heads south with shows on Saturday January 26th at Howard Park and Madfish Winery in Denmark and on Sunday Jan 27th at the Leeuwin Estate Winery, in Margaret River.

The Waifs are riding high with their new album SunDirtWater debuting at No.2 on the Aria charts and remaining in the top 20 for the last 8 weeks. The Waifs will be featured in one of the new episodes of Chaser War On Everything.

They have recently completed a sell out tour of the nation, securing rave reviews for their concert performances.

It’s been an extraordinary ride for the John Butler Trio this year with their new album ‘Grand National; debuting at No. 1 on the ARIA charts in March. Since then the album has delivered three radio hit singles and gone on to be accredited for double platinum sales in Australia whilst the band makes incredible in roads into all major international territories. The album is also nominated for the prestigious J Award (Triple J’s album of the year) which will be announced by Triple J later this year.

In April, the John Butler Trio recorded a very special performance at Melbourne’s Federation Square which featured all the musicians who helped make the ‘Grand National’ album, we are pleased to inform fans this is now available on DVD through ABC Music.

In other recent news, The John Butler Trio took out two awards at the 21st ARIA awards last weekend, those being for Best Blues and Roots Release and Best Independent Release, which coincidentally was presented by their good friends Vikki and Donna from The Waifs.

Getting these two popular and well travelled bands performing on the same stage on the same night is an event unquestionably not to be missed, so grab your tickets to The Union of Soul tour before it’s too late!

It was a perfect day for Day one of Fremantle’s West Coast Blues n Roots Festival and the friendly atmosphere of the day was infectious. Walking in the gates, the variety of attendees was quite noticeable with young music fans, older hippies and entire families strolling in side by side. And although the Saturday wasn’t quite sold out as the Sunday was, all of Fremantle seemed to buzzing.

After getting acquainted with the grounds setup, the stages, the food stalls and most importantly the bars the first band I got to see were The Vasco Era who were playing on the Big Top Stage. Apart from their breakthrough hit Kingswood which most of the crowd recognized from Triple J, a big highlight of their set was their Elvis cover Can’t Help Falling In Love With You. These guys are real stars and have a huge amount of potential, it won’t be long before The Vasco Era are near the top of the bill for festivals like this.

Local son Bob Evans was up on the Harbour Stage not long after, playing songs from his debut album and his ARIA Award winning second album ‘Suburban Songbook’. With plenty of room in front of the Harbour Stage fans were able to either come up close to the stage to listen or just sit back on the grass and enjoy the ambience. Bob Evans now seems completely comfortable with the Roots label his music has been called and it will be interesting to see if some of his slower stuff creeps into the next Jebediah album.

One of the best performances of the day was on the Harbour Stage shortly after with UK rockers Gomez. Playing a lot of their hits, Gomez were a huge crowd favourite and they even played a second smaller set to a select few on the Sunday. It was about this of the day that the Freo doctor started to effect some of the sounds coming from the Harbour Stage but Gomez rocked out enough to entertain the crowd.

Xavier Rudd took a little while to set up next mainly due to the fact that he had a thousand instruments that needed to be strapped in for him to play. A bunch of new songs were introduced to the crowd and enjoyed by all and his performance alone might persuade a few to buy his next album. The didgeridoo is an instrument that isn’t seen enough in music festivals and it was definitely a sight to be seen today.

The Cat Empire are a band that could play music festivals only and still be as big as they are now. They have such a feel-good, move-your-body type of music that crowds listening to them don’t even seem to realize that they all dancing as one. Songs were played from most of their albums and all their hits were pumping through the Freo air.

The man that used to busk not too far from Fremantle Esplanade Reserve was on next and boy was he a happy man. Not only was John Butler celebrating his 32nd birthday but his new album Grand National had just reached the number 1 spot on the ARIA charts. Highlights were crowd favourite Zebra and latest single Funky Tonight as well as a bunch of songs of the new album.

The band that were up next did seem quite out of place being included in a Blues and Roots festival but Wolfmother definitely did not seem out of place rocking out on a stage covered in smoke and lights. The Grammy Award winners ripped through a set that included all the radio and crowd favourites ‘Woman’, ‘Joker & The Thief’, ‘Dimension’, ‘White Unicorn’ and a new song that many have been waiting a while to hear. It had been a long day of great music for many people in the crowd and Wolfmother were the perfect way to end Day 1 of The West Coast Blues N Roots Festival.

Thanks to Noodlez for the photos.

The Blues has just gotten bigger! Joining an amazing cast that includes Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Missy Higgins, Wolfmother, Bo Diddley, The Waifs and many more, the two-day West Coast Blues ’n’Roots Festival is honoured to welcome WA’s own masters of soul and song, the John Butler Trio, for their first appearance at the Freo festival.

Joining the John Butler Trio for this second round of announcements are: Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Larry Carlton Blues Project featuring Robben Ford, Bob Evans, Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience, Kaki King, Piers Faccini, Eugene ‘Hideaway’Bridges, Custom Kings, Kill Devil Hills, The Vasco Era, Diafrix, The Bamboos and Will Conner.

The West Coast Blues ’n’Roots Festival is returning to Fremantle with its finest line-up to date over an expanded two-day format – Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1 – presented by Sunset Events and Bluesfest and supported by Triple J.

This unprecedented line up will see the festival spread over two momentous days of blissful music, spanning sounds from blues to jazz, roots to reggae, rock and rhythm. As well as these world class artists there will be loads of other attractions making this day the ultimate in good vibes, including market stalls and a food market offering a range of culinary flavours from around the globe.

The event will also remain a fully licensed event, allowing patrons to freely stroll between stages unrestricted by drinking fences. Under 18 patrons will be permitted if they are accompanied at all times by their parent and hold a valid ticket.

Single day passes are $105 + booking fee or purchase a weekend pass at the discount price of $170 + booking fee. Tickets for The West Coast Blues and Roots Festival are available from www.sunsetevents.com.au (no booking fees) or through Ticketek on 132 849 and www.ticketek.com.au