Your Crew, Your Tunes, Your Day!

It’s only 19 sleeps until the best day of the year, Breakfest. The boutique festival, which becomes a labour of love for all the Boomtick Crew really is a magical day in the valley. Over the last few months I have been working along side our team to ensure it is the most successful year to date.  The hand-picked lineup is a selection of artists across all forms of broken beat: breakbeat, drum ‘n bass, hip hop, funk, bass and all their offspring!

This year the festival hosts the following acts:

KRAFTY KUTS | A SKILLZ

DJ YODA | LADY WAKS | THE NEXTMEN | JAGUAR SKILLS

SPECIMEN A | PYRAMID | MARTEN HØRGER

Breakfest 2012 welcomes the introduction of its bass-heavy stage packed with the finest artists from Hospital Records.

‘HOSPITALITY’ FEATURING:

HIGH CONTRAST | CAMO & KROOKED | SPY | MC WREC

And the crème de la crème of the Perth local scene: 

N’FA JONES & CHARLIE BUCKET| BLACK & BLUNT 
BREAKAHOLICS ANONYMOUS | BLEND 

D-FUNK | DEAD EASY| DEVO & DART | DNGRFLD
 EKKO & SIDETRACK | FTW | INFORMANT | KLEAN KICKS
MARKO PAULO | MARTY MCFLY | MR ED | MULLER | OLI | TEE EL

Oh and how could I forget STUMPY, the most wanted man, well stump in P-town and maybe, someday the world! Not sure who Stumpy is? Well take a few seconds to watch the little promo reel above...

Tickets are selling like fairy dust! So grab one from the link here to be apart of the magic.

xXx

Parklife Perth 2012

It feels like it was only yesterday the "hire-a-party” youth of our city was enjoying the atmosphere of Parklife Perth. The festival that kicks off the Summer Festivale season was filled with a fresh faced, joyful crowd of punters. My day was exhausting yet rewarding as I was working on site with the Boomtick crew. Mandy was out snapping for the day with her first media pass, here’s how she went…

Banning Black: Wrap Up

I was going so well at the beginning of the week with documenting my outfits for Banning Black. As the week grew closer to the weekend, my dedication to the challenge did not deteriorate. Though my efforts to record and publish posts did. Seven whole days of not wearing any black was indeed an accomplishment. The weekend was hectic. I didn't make snaps of what I was wearing a priority. I did manage to find two in my phone. I really wish I did make more of an effort as both these outfits were super styling! 

On Friday night we had two big events on at Boomtick HQ. 2ManyDJs at Villa which we sold out and 10 at Ambar. 10 was a celebration of Micah, Ben Mac and Wish's ten years of performing as resident DJs at Ambar.

Not wearing black made the WHAT THE HELL DO I WEAR saga, which normally roles out about 6pm most Friday nights, so much more stressful! I decided to purchase a new pastel frock, flat peach sandals and a thin pale pink blazer for the evening. I then curled and pinned my hair loosely back off my face. Pictured above with Dan Dan and Kortni's puppy Manix - so adorable! 

Sunday was the Perth Dance Music Awards 2012 in which we took home Best Nightclub for Ambar and Best Event for Breakfest!!!  I am pictured above with my friend and Ambar Venue manager Nick, with our award. Looking a little intoxicated and a maybe a tad sunburnt. I wore my maroon Etnies, a funky blue dress from Ally, my turquoise Mimco bag and a necklace that my dear friend Xannon's mother gave me. I received it July last year whilst I was visiting Xan. Whenever I wear I think about the delightful time I spent with him, his Mum ,Dad and charming dog Marquez (I hope you are all well).

The track that really sums up the last week is a little off topic and unexpected, if we haven't spoken in the last few days. It's for my Nana. She's not well and it absolutely breaks my heart the way everything is happening so quickly. The women I owe everything to. This song I am sure was written about you.

xXx

Black Out: Day Three

Damn you Black Out, this is actually getting really hard!!! I was all sorted until it rained and the temporary deleting of black stockings really f*cked me up! 

We run our weekly give-away yesterday at Boomtick. Entrants had to post a picture on FB or Instagram with something they were listening to. If they posted successfully with the #breakfest12 hash-tag on FB on Instagram they received the 2012 Breakfest Mix CD in the mail.

The outfit I wore held some sentimental value. The shirt I purchased when I was on a bender last year with my friend James. I think we were on to day 2 or 3 and our mission was to attend Groovin The Moo, Bunbury. It came to our attention that the only possible way we would make it down there safely was to purchase new outfits. We splurged on new jeans, matching kicks from High and Lows and shirts, this obiously mine. The skirt I scored from General Pants Co. when I first got my job at Boomtick - a lil celebration purchase.

The picture above is posted with my friend Creeds business cards. He has a big dirty mo but I like it. He's an amazing and inspiring beat maker. You SHOULD check his Soundcloud out here. The track that I was smashing yesterday was Brother Ali's Letter To My Country Men. My housemate Matt and I listen to this nearly every morning on our way to work. Enjoy it, as we sure do!

xXx

Black Out: Day Two

After yesterdays efforts with the sunglasses, I decided to head to a sweet shop that my friend Charlie managers Friends of Fancy. She suggested yesterday that I come in and check out her range of coloured sunglasses. A grand suggestion it was. 

The store’s fittings are delightful and fun. It’s filled with trinkets and divine frocks, sunnies, skirts, shoe and socks. All at very affordable prices and all very colourful. Yay!  My three favourite items in the store were the pale pink sunnies (which I purchased), a blue bubble bag and glitter tubs in many magical hues!

Today I wore my Melissa shoes, a baby blue skirt from the Salvo’s, which I purchased a few weeks back for 6 dimes! A peach necklace from Friends of Fancy and my purple locks up in a high bun.

Today my dear friend Ashleigh “Funnel Queen” Fanning sent me a link to this SBTRKT track Hold On feat. Sampha…  It's beautiful like her!

Here's a link from me to you. Its for the Friends of Fancy Facebook page. Though I suggest you head to the store yourself and see what all the fuss is about! You will find it at Shop 7  Carillion Arcade, just next to Sumo Salad in the city.

xXx

Black Out: Day One

After only 5 hours of sleep my alarm went off Monday morning. I was sleep deprived due to a massive day of frolicking and drinking in the sun at Sterosonic (for the record Foreign Beggers were my highlight). Anyway, the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed let along choose what I was going to wear for the first day of Black Out.

Sunglasses were a must but the also let me down – being black but other than that I did swell. Pale pink pastel beaded sandals, ¾ length mustard skirt, brown belt, white thick strapped singlet, pink cardi, all wrapped up with a vintage scarf and gold earrings. 

Cat Power’s latest track Cherokee was stuck in my head the whole day. It was somewhat soothing. I am looking forward to seeing her performing live at the Perth International Arts Festival next year. Here's the link to purchase tickets, if you are keen to come with.

xXx

Black Out

 (Mon and Joely)

Now, I don’t claim to be fashionably fabulous. Actually I don’t claim to be fashionable at all. Though I like to dress well and fell good about the way, I look I have always shied away from the outfit posting thang. BUT when I read that Mon was organizing a fashion blogger challenge, I found it hard to resist! Apologies to my music readers as this blog is taking a little step towards the white, bright and neon lights for the next seven days as I partake in Black Out…

“Have you ever wondered what your city would look like if just for one day, not one person was allowed to wear black – not even one iota? Would people behave differently? Would people be less hurried and more carefree?

"Black Out” will be occurring from the 26th November through to the 3rd of December. For one whole week I have challenged a group of bloggers to ban black and embrace the beauty of colour.

The challenge will be documented through their Blogs, Twitter accounts, Instagram accounts and Facebook accounts. You can find associated images by searching the hashtag #blackout, #anythingbutblack and #banningblack.”

Sounds hard right? I am going to endeavourer to do this but I am also going to post a track with every outfit. One that  reflects the way I was feeling that day or had on replay! Did I mention there is a total ban on black shoes and bags too!  You can follow my progress here (on my blog) on Instagram (According2evie) and at the links below:

Facebook

Twitter

Ensure you hit up Mon’s blog here. You will also find a list of other bloggers who are taking part in the challenge oh and check back monday evening for my first ever outfit published post!

xXx

Fields of Stoop Disclosure.

The Stoops – Thoughts From A Stoop. Not only do I manage these talented and inspiring men but I also live with two of them. So glad this track is out on the interweb. It’s been in my head for the last week but I have not been able to listen to it as they have be recording it in our studio at home. Check out more of their tunes here. You can catch their live set at Beaufort Street Festival 17 November 2012.

I will admit I am a little slow off the Disclosure mark but if someone had showed me this track 6 months ago I would have been a lot more attentive to their talent. I have had this on repeat since hearing it yesterday. Disclosure – Latch feat. Sam Smith. I  can not wait to see these two brothers perform live at Summadayze on 6 January 2013! 

My Spring Fling

I am in mad love with this city. Its that spring fling which starts at this time every year and by mid December I’m in a whirlwind of lust and desire for more culture, music and design that she, The City of Perth, offers to me.

Over the next week there are some BIG things happening for me. Saturday night Ambar will host Challenger Ready: Dress-Up Halloween Party. What makes is uber exciting is that dress-ups/costume regulations at the club are normally kept pretty tight but come Saturday its on! We are encouraging all our 12 performing DJ’s, bar staff, door girls, videographers, photographers and all our patrons to get freakishly festive and come fancy dressed for the night! There will be devilish drinks, decorations, prizes, candy and midgets. Midgets have be invited but attendance has not yet been confirmed.

(The Black keys will headline Rock It this Sunday)

I think Rock It was the first every festival I ever attended. I would have been 16. For those who don’t know - Rock It is a totally local, independent, great value, big production, single stage event with a short, hot bill; old school style. No fuss - just incredible music and every effort to keep it comfortable, simple, friendly and affordable. This years headlining act is The Black Keys along with John Butler Trio, 
Birds Of Tokyo, 
The Panics, 
Lanie Lane, 
Last Dinosaurs, 
San Cisco, 
Abbe May, 
The Kill Devil Hills, 
Emperors plus a handful more. Mandy Matlekjak and myself will be headed to the event, this Sunday with a creative concept in mind. WATCH.THIS.SPACE. We both hope to see you there!

Tuesday night at The Bakery, Poetry Slam Australia will hold the WA State finals. A poetry slam is a competition at which poets read or recite original work. Previously selected members of the audience then judge these performances on a numeric scale. It’s only $2 entry loads of fun, you may even get chosen to be a judge! Tuesday night, being the finals, I am expecting some extraordinary talent. For two bucks on a weeknight, how can you really go wrong?

(Highlights from Perth Festival 2012)

Over the next month Perth Festival 2013 Program will be released and The Beaufort Street Festival will host one of the most talked about days of the year. I will post more on both these events in the coming weeks. Over and out xxx

Dearest Perth Emcees and Producers...

You as an artist in the WA Hip Hop scene know our community is extremely active; our city is filled with an array of fresh, talented emcee’s and producers. Though sadly this does not show in annual reports from associations that are setup to support and assist musicians. By not being a member of associations that are vital to your success as an artist such as WAM and APRA. You are not only missing out of royalties and opportunities but it means the states music is being incorrectly documented. This means less funding for the genre, less attention and overall miss representation of the music that is being made/performed. There are some contributing factors that I can put this down to but the person held most responsible is YOU. 

If you are serious about your music, sustaining and growing our scene there are two vital things you need to do, sign up to APRA and WAM.

The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) works to ensure that composers, songwriters and publishers are rewarded whenever, and wherever, their musical works are played, performed or reproduced and help Australian & New Zealand music consumers get access to the world’s musical repertoire. In other words they collect royalties (money) for all your creative works. Offering a heap of other free services and resources such as song writing workshops, mentor programs and funding. Please, please trust me on this one. It’s free to join here and for more information head to here.

WAM, the West Australian Music Industry Association Inc, exists to develop the contemporary music industry in Western Australia. It’s $40 for an individual annual membership, which includes benefits from Virgin and Qantas, Disk Bank, Big Sound Music Conference plus loads more. It offers resources for free such as music legal advice, funding and creates opportunities for workshops and well payed performances at events.  One of my fav’s is the Schools Alive program – you can get paid to play in high schools through out WA! WAM is there to help and assist you, sign up here or click here for more information.

I wrote this post for three reasons. Firstly it will help you on your journey as an artist by signing up to both these associations.

Secondly out of frustration, this is honestly one of the first things you should do if you are serious about your music. I get musicians asking me all the time for advice and it shits me to tears when they have not done these two things, I know I must share this feeling with many that work in the music industry.

Thirdly, I attended the WAM Annual General Meeting at the beginning of the year and true to god I was embarrassed. Embarrassed to be part of a community that holds an exceptional reputation for producing a high standard and quantity of music. I’m pretty sure I was the only person in the room that is heavily involved in our hip hop scene, so I sat there quite proudly. But when the hip hop statistics were read out I was so so disappointed in the results.  There was not one hip hop performance in the Schools Alive Program for 2011, only 6 people attended the Curtis Blow Hip Hop Workshop, only 15 submissions for Urban/Hip Hop Song Of The Year and only 10 hip hop release were documented for the year. And when they say release they mean ANY single, EP, Album, or Music Video.

Pretty much, it’s up to you as an artist and a community. Now that I have shed some light on the situation please do something with the information I have just shared with you. If you find the forms to hard or you don’t get one of the questions hit me up and I will help you out. 

One last thing, if you don't mind can you please like my FB (Facebook page not Finger Banging) page here!

All my love

Evie x

In 12 Months

On the August 24 last year I posted the goals I had planned for myself personally in music industry for the coming 18 months. They were: 

1. Attend South by South West 2012 and establish new contacts national and internationally.
2. Use community support and networks to make the trip to SXSW to its full potential.
3. Write a successful grant application.
4. Put on a successful TAFE assessment event 'Friends with Benefits'
5. Participate in an Internship with a record label such as Modular, Elephant Traks, Illusive Obese Records etc.
6. Pass Cert 4 in Music Business. 
7. Complete an application for the The Seed.

Wow, I really do set the bar high for myself. Dreaming BIG should be my middle name. Though I didn’t make it so SXSW I did attend Big Sound Music Conference in Brisbane (the Australian version of SXSW) and attended Fuse Music Conference in Adelaide. From these trips I obtained an internship with Elefant Traks in Sydney –tick. A second internship in Perth with Jump Climb – tick. And landed the most rewarding job ever with Boomtick – MASSIVE TICK! The grant application is still to happen and the TAFE assessment which ended evolving into a hip hop gig kicked arse! Cert 4 completed though The Seed application was written but I never submitted it due to other commitments.

So I sit here and reflect and regroup. What does the next 12 months have in store for me? I believe in setting goals and smashing them to pieces, fanaticizing about opportunities that are so fair fetched that when I share them with people the roll their eyes but smile politely.  I would have loved to go to the US but that little thing called money sometimes seems to stop me I my tracks. Below are my goals for year to come:

1. Book a working holiday to the US.
2. Write a successful grant application for an artist or project I believe in.
3. SUBMIT The Seed 2013 application.
4. Work as a team with Boomtick to sellout Breakfest 2012. Establish fresh and innovative ideas and concepts for upcomning events and projects.
5. Continue to work on Chics in Music Business with my ladies!
6. Get The Stoops on Big Day Out 2013 Festival line-up and Triple J radio play.
7. Meet Iggy Azelia 

So there they are. Hopefully you will come on the journey with me for another year, thanks for all your support.

Love Evie x

Blogging Lurve

Good Blog: Informative news, real humor or entertainment. Often built and published by someone with a brain. 

Bad Blog: "School sucks", what you had for lunch, why your depressed because your 14 year old boyfriend dumped you and its the end of the world.

I have been writing this little baby for over a year now. Along they way I have come across a few other gems I really adore. I have listed them below, in no particular order, so you can enjoying the sharing experience.

1. Adventure of Ebony – Ebony is the gurl that introduced me to bloggin. Years ago we lived in a small mining town called Tom Price. I introduced her to Frankie mag as she introduced me to blogging. She shares all the sweeter things in life on her charming online log book.

3. Sarah Pellicano is going to be a star, it’s only a matter of time. She’s new to the blogging realm! Sarah started this blog so her friends, family and fans can follow her music journey. Note: Sarah is performing Baby Boy by Beyonce tomorrow night at Hip-Hop Karaoke at The Bird, come down! 

4. The Bootleg Blog. Philly Blunt is a friend, someone I work closely with that I also admire and look up-to emensly. His blog is a result of hours of sifting through tracks to deliver the best bootlegs banging around! 

Happy reading lovers x

Boys Suck But These Tunes Are Great

It’s been a while since I have posted. Though it hasn’t been that long since I have written. I have five lengthy submissions that are incomplete, this is mostly due to busy schedule I have been living and the heavy heart I have been caring with me. My career, family, friends and living situation is beautiful. It’s actually dazzling but it wouldn’t be life if everything lined up, right? So I let a boy in. I know I shouldn’t have but all of a sudden I found myself head over heels but being hurt at the same time. Somehow I forgot that little saying “always look after number one”. Stupid boys or maybe silly me. I got burnt 2 years ago a promised myself I wouldn’t end up back in this situation, suppose we don’t always learn from our mistakes first time round. A break up is never a breakup without the perfect soundtrack to drown or dance your sorrows away too. So here are some little tunes that are helping me get over him that are worthy to be shared.

Micah and Philly Blunt played this last Monday afternoon on their radio show on RTR. It also appears in the Stanton Warriors Summer 2012 Mix, Alex Clare’s Too Close is a stunning arrangement.

Sarah Pellicanio has been singing with The Stoops over the past few months. Her stage presence is energetic and polite whilst her voice is soulful and soothing. Last Sunday afternoon she did a Destiny’s Child cover that brought me to tears. Here is the link to her Soundcloud so you too can see how comforting her talent is.

Last but certainly not least my girl Angel Haze, thanks to Sparkles for putting onto this insanely fast female! She has a 14 track album out called Reservation which I am addicted to(free to stream) My two favourite songs off it this week are New York and Werkin Girls.See the links above and below.

That's all for now X

P.S Boys Suck!