This week in the industry, the Annandale Hotel will keep it's doors open to musicians for a while longer yet, a few more local bands are getting their break overseas, and Nickelodeon brings back Slimefest, their festival for the tween set. All this and more in this week's State of Affairs. Enjoy, and have a good week.
Annandale To Keep Rocking
Dan and Matt Rule of the Annandale Hotel announced today that the new owners of the legendary venue – The Oscars Group – are intending to keep the live music aspect of the hotel running after it changes hands on July 31st. The Annandale Hotel is often at the centre of fears regarding the continued existence of homegrown Australian venues as the music and the news that one of our greatest rock venues will keep it's doors open to musicians for the foreseeable future. So do yourself (and the Annandale) a favour get out there and support our local venues and bands!
The Falls Sign US Deal
Sydney indie duo The Falls have signed American booking and management deals off the back of their SXSW showcases in Austin, Texas. The pair are being managed by Evan Winkler of Creed and Co and are being booked by Jefferey Azoff and Lee Goforth at Creative Artist Agency (CAA). Closer to home, The Falls have signed to Artist Voice over here in Australia, joining artists such as Matt Corby, Chet Faker, and Angus & Julia Stone.
Big Time Rush Rushing Sydney This September
Nickelodeon's kid-friendly gross-fest Slimefest returns this year with Nickelodeon's very own boy band Big Time Rush (they have their own TV show, kind of like The Jonas Brothers but for the Nick Channel, and I am far too old to know nay of this). The tween sensations are appearing alongside Aussie singer Guy Sebastian. The festival will be held on 27th of September at the Sydney Olympic Park, so prepare to be dragged along by your little sister I guess.
sleepmakeswaves Gets Released Overseas
Sydney post-rockers sleepmakeswaves have licensed UK based Monotreme Records to release their ARIA-nominated album ...and so we destroyed everything, along with the remix album ...and then they remixed everything (wow, these guys hate capital letters), overseas. The album was originally released through Australian independent label Bird's Robe Records in 2011. The remix half of the two CD deluxe edition (...and then they remixed everything) features artists such as 65daysofstatic, Rosetta, Kyson, and Klue. Sleepmakeswaves has also announced an Australia-wide tour and will announce further international tour information before they get stuck in to their next album.
Peter Garrett To Give Keynote Address On Digital Entertainment
Australian rock legend and Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Peter Garrett (you know, from Midnight Oil) is set to give the keynote address at the inaugural event for TILT (Tomorrow's Ideas Leading Today), an initiative of The Australian Institute of Learning (AIM). The event, which takes place on July 5th and the AIM in Surry Hills, brings together some of the best minds in Australian entertainment to discuss the future of the industry in the face of rapidly changing technology, especially the digitisation of the industry. Let's hope they have nice things to say about music websites!
Robin Thicke Won't Go away
Kidding, kidding of course, but seven weeks is a decent amount of time to stay at the top of the charts. That's right, Robin Thicke's single 'Blurred Lines' (featuring T.I. and Pharrell) has clung on to the top spot on the ARIA charts for the seventh week in a row. In other chart news, Ricky Martin's single 'Come With Me' has debuted at number three on the charts this week, and Daft Punk's'Get Lucky' (featuring Pharrell Williams) is hanging around at number four.
