Great news!
We have a new man aboard our ship, and we’re sailing for an increasingly exciting destination. Who is our valiant sailor, I hear you ask? I am pleased to announce that our surprise guest is Levi McGrath, a talented young musician from Melbourne, who has a fierce passion for changing the world. None could be better suited to our concert than he, and it will be an honour to have him with us for the Article Thirty-Nine Concert!

Levi will be joining us as a guest speaker, and will also be playing his incredible song “Children of War”.

From working with orphans in Uganda, to working with street kids in inner-city Melbourne, Levi McGrath demonstrates a passionate commitment to changing the world for the better that goes beyond his years. He is passionately committed to the belief that music is one of the most powerful influences in the world. That’s why he aims for his music to motivate and inspire a new generation of people who are willing to stand up and make a difference.

Born in 1986 in regional Victoria, Levi grew up as the son of an itinerant pastor and began writing songs from age 12. In his early teenage years a local music teacher recognised Levi’s gifts, working with Levi throughout his secondary school years to help him develop his song-writing and performing craft. Levi played in several bands, both within and outside the world of the church, then was offered a place in a Bachelor of Music at Lismore NSW’s Southern Cross University, majoring in contemporary song writing. In this setting, Levi’s song writing and performing skills were nurtured and flourished and he also gained experience working with professional musicians to obtain studio recording and production knowledge.

Levi’s lyrics portray stories and perspectives of modern life, drawing from a well of personal experiences. Levi’s honest and straightforward music provides the basis for people to relate and seek out truth and purpose in their own lives. ‘My target is lives,’ he enthuses, ‘I want for my music to impact people’s hearts and change people’s lives. I want to be a voice of challenge to inspire people to open up their hearts to a bigger world.’

Website: www.levimcgrath.com

Myspace: www.myspace.com/levimcgrath

Don’t forget to get your tickets here!

Last, yet certainly not least, please give a warm welcome to Jack Carty and The Party, who will undoubtedly be ‘bringing the party’ to Article Thirty-Nine on the 23rd. Jack and The Party will have you chillin’, groovin’ and boogieing the night away, so be sure to bring your dancing shoes with you! This is one band (of six others!) that you will certainly not want to miss, so make sure you get your tickets right away from The Factory site!

21 Year old Sydney based singer/songwriter Jack Carty started his career in the sleepy seaside town of Bellingen NSW. This simple country upbringing made its mark on Jacks music (from simple guitar ballads to the catchiest of pop/rock) until the age of 16 -when Jack packed all his songs into a suitcase and headed to Sydney.

When he arrived Jack set about playing venues all over town- sometimes supporting or playing alongside the likes of Tim Freedman, Paul Green, John Foreman and Paul Mac, sometimes headlining his own shows. But ALWAYS having a lovely time….

Then came ‘The Party’. 3 like minded compadres from the Mid North Coast of NSW (Tom & Pat from Armidale, Daniel from Bellingen) who set about literally bringing the party to Jacks personal, often pensive songs in a very funky way. Since forming the boys have been playing regularly around Sydney and the mid north coast at both festivals and their own headlining shows in venues such as Will & Toby’s, The Sandringham Hotel, The Hopetourn Hotel, The Excelsior and The Bondi Pavilion (winning many a fan along the way) as well as playing with artists such as Charlton Hill, The Jezabels, Something With Numbers and The Lee’s, just for good measure.

Earlier in the year Jack won a scholarship to the inaugural ‘Song Summit Sydney’ (S3) hosted by APRA when his track ‘Good Old Town’ was chosen to be showcased at the event…. Jack Carty & The Party are just that- Get yourself an invite!

Remember, you can purchase your tickets online right here!

Myspace: www.myspace.com/jackcarty

I am pleased to introduce you to Adam Cousens, one of the final additions to our grand line-up, as listed in this post. Travelling all the way from Melbourne for the Article Thirty-Nine Concert, Adam will be joining us on November 23 at The Factory to celebrate Universal Children’s Day in style. With his advocacy and action on social justice issues and passion for music, he’s a perfect match for the concert. To buy your tickets now, visit The Factory site.

An accomplished student of music, Cousens embarked on his solo singing/songwriting career only a few years ago. Trained in both piano and brass, Cousens began playing guitar and writing music as a way to express his opinions on identity and social injustice.

Cousens uses music as a tool to question, and oftentimes challenge the status quo.

“I can’t stand ‘wallpaper music’,” Cousens said.

“Music doesn’t mean anything unless it touches people,” he said.

Although skilled at arranging orchestral pieces, Cousens sees lyrics as an efficient and enjoyable way to reach an audience and inspire change within them.

“It all comes down to people,” he said. “People are the most important thing in this world.”

Cousens’ live sets appeal to audiences of all ages, but for varying reasons. He certainly makes music for the thinking person. The additional strength in his work though, is that it is thoroughly delightful to listen to.

Audiences are not the only ones who appreciate Cousens’ ability and attitude. Over only two years, Cousens has an impressive list of critical achievements.

Adam Cousens track ‘When You Smile’ caught jtv’s attention and was used in a story they produced about young refugees. The segment was broadcast on jtv ABC TV earlier this year.

Recently Cousens was selected as a finalist in four categories in the Tasmanian Amplified Awards. He carried away the trophies for Best Song (Running Over Rooftops) Best Solo Artist, and Best Songwriter, an impressive haul.

Cousens’ songs “Getting Better” and “Judging Appropriately” both placed in the Top 10 of the National APRA songwriting awards 2006 in the folk category.

He also won the Mountain Festival 2006 Songwriters’ Competition with “Beautiful People”.

Cousens released his second EP “Running Over Rooftops” in November 2007 after the success of his debut EP “Beautiful People” in 2006 that sold over 3,500 copies at gigs alone.

Cousens returned from a tour of Europe and the United Kingdom in November 2006 and during 2007 he toured New Zealand and Melbourne.

Myspace: www.mypsace.com/adamcousens

Don’t forget, you can buy your tickets online here.

IT’S ON!
In celebration of Universal Children’s Day, the Article Thirty-Nine concert is being held at The Factory Theatre in Enmore, on Sunday November 23.

There have been a few changes since the last rain check, such as the change of date to the 23rd, but I’m confident that you’ll like our new arrangements, which will see the concert rocking from Sunday afternoon until late into the evening.

Jack Carty and The Party and Adam Cousens are the latest and final additions to our line-up,  rounding our total up to 7 bands! With Peregrine, The Dawn Collective, The Shipwrecked, Tim Ireland and Falling in Autumn, Adam and Jack and his Party are the perfect finishing touches to a truly eclectic mix of styles for our night of celebration. Adam is travelling all the way from Melbourne just for our gig, and Jack and The Party are keen enough that if the gig was in Melbourne, I think they’d go the distance! These are two more acts you don’t want to miss, so stay tuned for their official introductions which I’ll be posting within the next week, and be sure to book your spot in their audience! >>>

Tickets will be going on sale within the next couple of days from The Factory website – I will be posting all the latest updates, news, and information here, so if you want to stay in the loop, this is the place to be!

Be inspired for change. It starts here and now!

Over the duration of my project and organising the concert, I have been struck by the power of community, and what it has the potential to achieve. Falling in Autumn have just confirmed, bringing our band count to five.

Through the connections of one of my brothers, we are lucky to have scored this great duo who are bursting at the seams with enthusiasm about the concert – which, I must say, is ever so refreshing! In fact, I take my hat off to all our wonderful bands; they are ever so supportive and always ready to go out of their way to help. Without them, the concert, quite literally, could not happen.

Without further ado, I am honoured to introduce you to our fifth band – Falling in Autumn.

Falling in Autumn is a Sydney-based group which revolves around the cathartic folk songs of Carissa Lehmann and Simon Williams.

Meeting through a mutual friend, the group’s dual songwriters found in each other a musical partner in whom to confide their acoustic confessions.

The pair have spent the past year quietly writing on a backbone of ‘love, loss and the unknown’, honing their sound and the songs which would become their recently self-released Tree EP.

Falling in Autumn have crafted a lush, ambient sound; spawned from both a love of classic folk artists as well as their respective surroundings in the Blue Mountains and Northern beaches. They have drawn comparisons with acts such as George and Angus & Julia Stone and continue to convert new fans with their warm, honest songwriting.

2008 is set to be a big year for the group as they expand their lineup and plan to record their next release.

Check out their myspace: www.myspace.com/fallinginautumn

I’ve introduced myself, I’ve introduced the project and the concert – so it’s now time to introduce you to your entertainment.
Over the next few days I will post about some of the bands who will be performing at the concert. If you like what you read, check out their sites, provided at the bottom of each post.
To stay up to date with all the latest updates, changes and announcements, subscribe to my blog!

The Shipwrecked are a Sydney based four-piece comprising singer/guitarist Damien Lane, singer/pianist Nicole Smede, drummer Darren Ireland and recent addition Ryan Kalkman on bass. Their eponymous debut album was recorded at Megaphon Studios and mixed at the Sydney Opera House by Jason Blackwell (Clouds/Lovetones).

The music has a cinematic scope with shimmering, interweaving guitars underpinned by piano, bass and emotive drumming. Above these float the haunting harmonies of the vocalists, heard to stunning effect on standout track The Unsung. The songs vary stylistically with melancholy, acoustic-driven songs nestling among more explosive rock-oriented tracks.

Nicole is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has recorded and performed with Melbourne’s Plastic Palace Alice. Darren and Damien hail from shoegazer/noise merchants Dropping Honey, as the drummer and guitarist/singer/songwriter respectively. Damien has also spent several years accompanying Sydney singer/songwriter Tim Ireland both live and on record as a multi-instrumentalist. He spent 2004-05 writing, recording and performing in London – an experience which was the catalyst for The Shipwrecked.

Web www.theshipwrecked.com
Myspace www.myspace.com/theshipwrecked

I’ve introduced myself, I’ve introduced the project and the concert – so it’s now time to introduce you to your entertainment.
Over the next few days I will post about some of the bands who will be performing at the concert. If you like what you read, check out their sites, provided at the bottom of each post.
To stay up to date with all the latest updates, changes and announcements, subscribe to my blog!

Tim Ireland
Debut album – Down in the Well

The lyrics of Tim Ireland poke around in the darker corners of the psyche.
Tim’s years of songcraft have culminated in the recording of his debut album Down in the Well, a collection of enigmatic tunes.

But the loneliness in the songs is balanced by the home-grown quality captured by recording in various lounge rooms, kitchens and bedrooms on the NSW South Coast and Southern Highlands and in homes around Sydney’s inner west.

“Tim Ireland’s full-length solo debut is a cohesive, strong effort, dynamite in the lyric department, and with melodies that nag at the mind until you surrender to them time and again. Ireland knows exactly the phrase to dress a musical mood, a climax or a poignant chord sequence”

Ian Cuthbertson, The Australian, 13/8/05

“Intimacy is the calling card of Sydney’s Tim Ireland. Lyrically, he works over doubt, fear and other things we normally hide from strangers”

Bernard Zuel, Sydney Morning Herald, 6/1/06

Web www.timireland.com.au
Myspace www.myspace.com/timirelandmusic

I’ve introduced myself, I’ve introduced the project and the concert – so it’s now time to introduce you to your entertainment.
Over the next few days I will post about some of the bands who will be performing at the concert. If you like what you read, check out their sites, provided at the bottom of each post.
To stay up to date with all the latest updates, changes and announcements, subscribe to my blog!

Peregrine
In mid-2002, some lads hailing from Sydney’s Northern beaches began recording tracks at bigjesusburger studios in Surry Hills. The studio – built by Chris Townend, had recently become the studio of choice for the likes of Augie March, Darren Hanlon, Paul Greene and even Portishead. The tracks recorded in late 2002, produced by Townend, would eventually be released as peregrine’s debut album, “one big happy heart attack.” The album consisted of 11 songs that singer-songwriter Brett Winterford and his band had been performing in Sydney and surrounds over several years – in which peregrine amassed some 300 gigs. The album would receive immediate critical acclaim as an independent release, with a sell-out launch at the Gaelic Club, rotation on such radio stations as Triple J, FBi and Bay FM, and finally a distribution and publishing deal with Shock Records. The past few months has seen the band break from its two-year residency at the Excelsior of Glebe to take the album on the road with several trips up and down Australia’s eastern seaboard. The band’s latest tour saw them perform in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong, Wagga, Byron Bay and even small regional areas such as Murwillumbah, Nowra and Tathra. The year also saw the band’s single “Fingerpointing” featured on Triple J’s “Home and Hosed: First Harvest” compilation.

“Heart Attack hums with life, both sprightly and seductive.”
- Mike Gee, The Brag

“Proficient, infectious, acoustic popsters with intelligence
- The OzMusicProject

Web www.peregrine-music.com
Myspace www.myspace.com/playthings

I’ve introduced myself, I’ve introduced the project and the concert – so it’s now time to introduce you to your entertainment.
Over the next few days I will post about some of the bands who will be performing at the concert. If you like what you read, check out their sites, provided at the bottom of each post.
To stay up to date with all the latest updates, changes and announcements, subscribe to my blog!

The Dawn Collective is a band that continually escapes classification. Just when you think you’ve got it worked out, along comes the next song, stretching beyond whatever genre you’ve just placed them in. They’ve been described as orchestral acoustica, jazz infused jangly rock, and even baroque indie pop — whatever you want to call them, they’re certainly not your standard rock band.

Over the past four years the band has released three EPs (The Dawn Collective EP, The Affirmation EP and The Russian Trilogy Demos) and played with the likes of The Devoted Few, The Red Paintings, Fourth Floor Collapse, The Fumes and Faker, as well as appearing at festivals such as The Great Escape, Peat’s Ridge and Festival Of The Sun.

Their debut album was recorded over the last year with producers Tim Whitten (The Panics, Gersey) and Tony Dupe (Holly Throsby, Jack Ladder), and will be released sometime this year — stay tuned!

Web www.thedawncollective.com
Myspace www.myspace.com/thedawncollective