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Australian

Dreamkillers

1990 was the year Dreamkillers busted their way onto the Aussie underground scene via the culmination of two local Brisbane punk outfits; “Mystery of Sixes” and “Insane Hombres”. The name Dreamkillers came after a conversation regarding the 1957 Williams Burrows classic, The Red Planet, where he refers to the “dream killers”. Disillusioned with the inferior commercial offerings of the time, Dreamkillers soon channelled this angst into a raunchy punk-inspired, hardrock / heavy-metal tour-de-force that became their trademark sound.

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Jack On Fire

Powered by a steady musical diet of old time country legends and modern day guitar bands, Ben Blakeney is the skilful master and commander of Perth ex-pats Jack On Fire. The core of the band have a rich history, with Blakeney, Samantha Wass (acoustic guitar/keys/accordian) and Dave Thikerttle-Watts (bass) having played together in eight piece West coast dreamy popsters, Institut Polaire. Jack On Fire is completed by Wass' old friend George Hyde, a fellow country music aficionado, and superb guitarist.

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The Red Paintings

THE RED PAINTINGS (TRP) are a progressive rock / theatrical performance group who incorporate themed costumed stage shows, live art, visual projections (working with local and international artists), human canvases. The bands’ sound and live show is described by fans and press as orchestral art rock. Last month, The Red Paintings (TRP) posted a message on Facebook promising that if 1000 Australian fans hit ‘’LIKE’’ on the post, TRP would return to Australia to play all Capital cities in the summer of 2011/2012.

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Kes Band

Kes Band is a trio from Melbourne: Karl E. Scullin (KES), (of Mum Smokes), and former member of Bird Blobs; Julian Paterson (Minimum Chips, Mum Smokes etc), and Lehmann B. Smith. Two Kes Band albums have been released to date, each features different musicians: Paddy Mann (Grand Salvo), Oliver Mann, Laura Jean, Biddy Connor (Sailor Days), and Nick Veneables (Jessica Says). Two albums - Kes Trio and Kes Band III - are to be released in 2010 following a Japanese tour with Tokyo band My Pal Foot Foot.

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Charge Group

Sydney band Charge Group formed around 2005 and currently comprises three members of the now-defunct Newcastle outfit Purplene - vocalist/guitarist Matt Blackman (also of Tucker Bs), bassist Adam Jesson (The Instant), and drummer Matt Rossetti (The Instant). The fourth member is violinist/vocalist Jason Tampake (Firekites, Josh Pyke band), also originally from Newcastle.

Charge Group have been compared most often to The Dirty Three due to their strongly melodic, emotive, violin-inflected sound.

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The Hummingbirds

There are at least two groups with the name The Hummingbirds. 1. Although criminally unknown outside of their native Australia, the Hummingbirds' dreamy boy-girl harmonies and refreshing jangle-pop sound positioned them among the brightest bands of their era. The group formed in 1986 from the remnants of the short-lived Bug Eyed Monsters, and originally comprised singer/guitarist Simon Holmes, bassist John Boyce and drummer Mark Temple; vocalist/guitarist Alannah Russack signed on a short time later...

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The Spoils

A band from Melbourne, Australia, playing a rock/gypsy/circus/caberet style (with lashings of folk/country) that might be likened to Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen crossed with Nick Cave, sprinkled with a bit of Paul Kelly and Marlene Dietrich.

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James Reyne

November 2015 sees the release of ALL THE HITS LIVE, an album recorded earlier in the year at Perth's Astor Theatre. James released a brand new album THIRTEEN in March 2012, containing the singles English Girls, Capsize and Whatcha Gonna Do About It?

James Reyne came to recognition to the Australian public as lead singer of classic Australian band Australian Crawl in the 1970's. They had a number of hits including "Reckless", "Boys Light Up", "Beautiful People", "Shutdown", "Errol", "Oh No Not You Again" and "Downhearted"
After the band split in 1986, James spent some time in the United States and Europe, returning to Australia in 1987.

His first solo album, "JAMES REYNE" (1987) went triple platinum and included three top 10 singles: "Fall Of Rome", "Hammerhead" and "Motors Too Fast". Other singles from this album included "Always The Way" and "Ript It Up".

In the following years James released more solo albums, "HARD REYNE" (1989) which contaimed the Top 40 singles "House Of Cards", "One More River" and "Trouble In Paradise".
In 1991 James returned with his most successful Australian album "ELECTRIC DIGGER DANDY"(1991), which effortlessly mirrored the success of the first. This album contained the smash hits "Slave", "Any Day Above Ground" and "Some People'", plus a reworking of the Aussie Crawl song "Reckless".

James joined country music star James Blundell and recorded the classic Dingoes song "WAY OUT WEST" which exploded into the number 1 position on the Australian charts in 1992.

He next joined Daryl Braithwaite, Jef Scott and Simon Hussey on the very successful album "THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS" in 1993 which included the top 40 hits "Motor City", "Sweet Love" and "Daddy's Gonna Make You A Star".

James then returned to Los Angeles to record with renowned producer Stewart Levine, arriving back in 1994 with the critically acclaimed CD "THE WHIFF OF BEDLAM". The album was a departure in sound for James and featured a more organic sound, complete with brass section. The album spawned the hits "Red Light Avenue", "Day In The Sun" and the final single "It's Only Natural" in 1995.

While touring the album in Australia and overseas during this period, James released the energetic and profilic double Live album titled LIVE IN RIO, recorded in Brazil. A single "Oh No Not You Again" was featured from this CD.

Throughout his career James has appeared in several and varied theatrical, film and television productions and concert events, the more visible of these including "Return To Eden", "Tina; What's Love Got To Do With It?", television drama "State Coroner" and "The Little Shop Of Horrors" (1996)

While signing to Roadshow Music in 1997, James headed into the studio with famed producer and produced a single "Brand New Emperor's Clothes", to be featured on a forthcoming album.

In 1999 James recorded and released the CD "DESIGN FOR LIVING" with friends and brothers Scott and Brett Kingman. Arguably the most critically applauded album of his career, it further cemented his position as a unique, witty, thoughtful and challenging songwriter and singer. This album featured the singles "Wonderful Today", "Not Waving, Drowning" and the classic live favourite "Reno".

2004 saw the completion of "SPEEDBOATS FOR BREAKFAST", released on Liberation Records. It was a self funded project and saw James break free of the record company restrictions and allowed to him to be in control creatively. Radio-only singles "Bug" and "Rainbows Dead End" were featured on this CD.
Rainbows Dead End Music Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFaXnfZbBAs

As part of the Liberation Blue Accoustic series, James released two highly successgful accoustic albums in recent times. …"AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON"" which allowed James to revisit many of the above titles with little more than a lone acoustic guitar underpinning the most distinctive voice of his generation.
More reworkings of his solo and Australian Crawl material were sounded on "GHOST SHIP" released in 2007.

2007 saw the release of James 8th Studio album. "EVERY MAN A KING" closing a 30-year circle since James first led Australian Crawl into the front line of the Oz rock boom. His eye and pen grew sharper through a platinum-lined solo career, but never have his wit and poignancy been on more consistently solid musical ground than they are here. Stand-out tracks include "Little Man You've Had a Busy Day", "Light In The Tunnel" and "The Postman".

Following a live DVD release in late 2007, titled "One Night In Melbourne", a CD/DVD of the show was available in 2009. The show was filmed and recorded at Melbourne's Palais Theatre and saw James perform 30 songs from his vast catalogue.

One project, titled JAMES REYNE SINGS THE KING has James performing and re-interpreting 14 classic Elvis Presley songs. The album TCB was released in April 2010. A dedicated website has been set up to support the project. http://www.jamesreyneTCB.com

A new album, Thirteen was released in March 2012.

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