Picture: Amy Hetherington captures Violent Soho in Darwin…
Today the AU review – and parent company Heath Media – are excited to announce the nominees for the first annual AU Awards, a celebration of the best in live music in Australia.
From the finest tours, to the best bands and our favourite venues, the AU Awards serves as an accompaniment to Australia’s Year in Music, our annual photo book highlighting the best performances of the year. In addition to a series of national awards, three awards will also be given to highlight specific state-by-state talent, voted by AU contributors in which respective state.
These awards take into account LIVE merit, rather than recordings, and artists must have performed within Australia between 1 November 2013 and 31 October 2014 to be considered for the awards. For Festivals/Tours, the date range is the same.
Leading the nominees for 2014 are Brisbane’s Violent Soho, who have 6 nominations, with Sydney’s The Preatures, coming in right behind with five nominations including Live Act of the Year, Voice of the Year for Isabella Manfredi and Guitarist for Gideon Bensen. Brisbane’s Ball Park Music and Melbourne’s Courtney Barnett also impressed this year, both in the running for 4 AU Awards.
The Smith Street Band also have done well with 3 nominations – 4 if you count their tour with Violent Soho – while Kingswood, sleepmakeswaves, One Day and The Jezabels all have a solid three nominations.
Larry Heath, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the AU review, said of the awards, “We’ve been wanting to kick off these awards for years now, and with the launch of our new book and radio station, it seemed like the perfect time. More than anything, the AU is about celebrating live Australian music – so for our awards, it only makes sense that this tradition follows through. I feel like we’ve tapped an incredible cross section of the local music industry with these nominations and we wish all the bands and artists the best of luck! We hope it incites debate and more than anything, we hope it reminds you to get out there and support live Australian music…”
The NSW and Australia wide winners will be announced at an event in Sydney on 9th December, with the rest of the winners announced online later that night. All winners will also be published in Australia’s Year in Music: 2014 Edition. Stay tuned for details on the event!
And without any more delay, the nominees are…
AU Live Act of the Year
Violent Soho
The Preatures
Bluejuice
The Smith Street Band
Kingswood
AU Voice of the Year
Isabella Manfredi (The Preatures)
Hayley Mary (The Jezabels)
Chet Faker
Karina Utomo (High Tension)
Nkechi Anele (Saskwatch)
AU Heatseeker Award
Rising Stars, Live Acts to Watch!
Little May
Holy Holy
Apes
Harts
Tired Lion
AU Hip-Hop Live Act of the Year
Remi
Illy
One Day
L-Fresh The Lion
Briggs
AU DJ/Electronic Artist of the Year
Flume
Slumberjack
Seekae
Rufus
SAFIA
AU Drummer of the Year
Dan Williams (Art vs Science / The Philly Jays / East)
Tim Adderley (sleepmakeswaves)
Kram (Spiderbait)
Michael Richards (Violent Soho)
Lachlan West (The Griswolds)
AU Guitarist of the Year
Ash Grunwald
Alex Laska (Kingswood)
Gideon Bensen (The Preatures)
Courtney Barnett
Otto Wicks-Green (sleepmakeswaves)
AU Bass Guitarist of the Year
Janet English (Spiderbait)
Steph Ashworth (Something For Kate)
Luke Henery (Violent Soho)
Alex Wilson (sleepmakeswaves)
Jennifer Boyce (Ball Park Music)
AU Instrumentalist of the Year
Heidi Lenffer (Keys, Cloud Control)
Xani Kolac (Violin, The Twoks)
Brendan Champion (Trombone, Lime Cordiale)
Paul Furness (Keys/Trombone, Ball Park Music)
Heather Shannon (Keys, The Jezabels)
AU Tour of the Year (Australian)
Note: Award will be presented to both the band and touring company, where applicable.
Violent Soho with The Smith Street Band / Luca Brasi (July 2014)
Sticky Fingers “Land of Pleasure” Album Tour (September 2014)
The Smith Street Band & The Menzingers With Grim Fandango (March 2014)
Chet Faker “Built On Glass” Album Tour with Yumi Zouma (June/July 2014)
Courtney Barnett + D.D Dumbo. (September/October 2014)
AU Tour of the Year (International)
Note: Award will be presented to Touring Company.
Neutral Milk Hotel / M Ward / Superchunk (Soundwave Touring, November 2013)
Arctic Monkeys (Frontier Touring, May 2014)
City and Colour (Chugg Entertainment, Nov/Dec 2013)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (Frontier Touring, February 2014)
Queens of the Stone Age / Nine Inch Nails (Frontier Touring, March 2014)
AU Festival of the Year (Touring)
Laneway Festival
Soundwave Festival
Listen Out
The Blurst of Times
Falls Festival / Southbound
AU Festival of the Year (Non-Touring)
Byron Bay Bluesfest
VIVID
Mona Foma
Meredith
Splendour in the Grass
NSW Band/Artist of the Year
The Preatures
Steve Smyth
Sticky Fingers
Little Bastard
One Day
NSW Voice of the Year
Steve Smyth
Isabella Manfredi (The Preatures)
Nikki Thornburn (Iluka)
Hayley Mary (The Jezabels)
Andy Bull
NSW Venue of the Year
Brighton Up Bar
Oxford Art Factory
The Newsagency
Sydney Opera House
Metro Theatre
VIC Band/Artist of the Year
Courtney Barnett
The Peep Tempel
Apes
Saskwatch
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
VIC Voice of the Year
Courtney Barnett
Dan Sultan
Gossling
Henry Wagons
Ella Hooper
VIC Venue of the Year
The Corner Hotel
Ding Dong Lounge
Howler
The Forum Theatre
Northcote Social Club
SA Band/Artist of the Year
Bad//Dreems
Sincerely, Grizzly
West Thebarton Brothel Party
Horror My Friend
Glass Skies
SA Voice of the Year
Anna Bouras (The Villenettes)
Joshua Calligeros (Sincerely, Grizzly)
Rachel Cearns (Valkyries)
Chris Panousakis (Timberwolf)
Tkay Maidza
SA Venue of the Year
The Gov
Jive
Rocket Bar & Rooftop
Thebarton Theatre
Tenth & Gibson
QLD Band/Artist of the Year
DZ Deathrays
Violent Soho
Velociraptor
Dead Letter Circus
Ball Park Music
QLD Voice of the Year
Jordan Rakei
Jeremy Neale (Velociraptor)
Thelma Plum
Kate Miller-Heidke
Hannah Shepherd (Airling)
QLD Venue of the Year
Black Bear Lodge
Crowbar
The Brightside
The Tivoli
The Zoo
WA Band/Artist of the Year
The Brow
The Love Junkies
Our Man in Berlin
POND
Timothy Nelson and the Infidels
WA Voice of the Year
Timothy Nelson
Sophie Hopes (Tired Lion)
Abbe May
Felicity Groom
Haydn Mansell (Our Man in Berlin)
WA Venue of the Year
The Bakery
Mojos
Amplifier/Capitol
The Ellington Jazz Club
Perth Arena
In addition to the awards voted by the AU review contributors, a Peoples Choice award sees 12 bands and artists in the running for the trophy – with the public asked to pick their favourite live act. Voting closes December 5th and the winner (plus 2 runners up) will be announced on December 9th.
Everyone who enters goes in the draw to win a $250 prize pack filled with CDs and concert tickets for 2015! Prize valid for Australian based voters only. Entries can be made here: https://www.theaureview.com/awards/public
People’s Choice Award Nominees:
Ball Park Music
Bluejuice
Kingswood
One Day
Remi
SAFIA
Sheppard
Sticky Fingers
The Griswolds
The Love Junkies
The Smith Street Band
Violent Soho
National and NSW winners will be announced at an event in Sydney on December 9th. Australia’s Year in Music is available for pre-order now at http://www.australiasyearinmusic.com/ – Just in time for Christmas!
