Another One Bites The Dust: Your Complete Guide To Everything We Saw At BIGSOUND 2015
It was A LOT.
Well, BIGSOUND is done for another year. The 2015 event at times felt like the most massive in its storied history, so it's understandable if — amid all the madness and hangovers and sleeping it off — you're yet to make your way through all the coverage we put up over the back half of last week.
Don't worry though, probably-still-quite-tender (if our own bodies are any indication) delegate — we've trawled the breadth of our site to compile all the BIGSOUND action for you right here, so you can minimise the impact on your mental faculties this bleary, unusually loud Monday.
news
Former Midnight Oil frontman and ex-politician Peter Garrett made little mention of his former band and past political activity as the opening keynote speaker at this year's BIGSOUND, but did question the Abbott government's commitment to music and the arts, saying the "current government doesn't show any enthusiasm" for the creative sector.
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Taking to the main stage at BIGSOUND for her 2.10pm keynote, Pitchfork Senior Editor Jessica Hopper delivered a hard-hitting and emotional speech to a full house about the misogynistic experiences of women in the music industry.
American hip hop artist and activist Brother Ali delivered a mesmerising keynote on the second day of the annual BIGSOUND conference, taking his captivated audience on an insightful geo-political history of hip hop, sprinkled with many references to the importance that Islam has played in the role of his life in music.
Facilitated by photographer Kane Hibberd, panellists included Eli Chamravi of Wild Thing Presents, Andy Farrow of Northern Music Co., Luke Logemann of UNFD, Trad Nathan, owner of Crowbar, and Rebecca Reato of Deathproof Presents.
These were the bands that had us the most excited on the way out of the event — plus, since we were so fortunate as to be comprehensively spoiled for choice, a few sneaky honourable mentions for good measure...
As expected from a conference where the entire music industry congregates, a few exciting signings eventuated this week - and West Australian wunderkinds Methyl Ethel, fresh from dominating their Wednesday-night set, were among the lucky acts to walk away from BIGSOUND with a fresh deal.
Technically announced before this year's event got under way, the addition of industry veteran Maggie Collins to BIGSOUND's programming team for 2016 has us pretty dang excited even a full year out.
overheard at bigsound
reviews
Featuring Grenadiers, Halcyon Drive, Big White, WAAX, Mike Waters, Anthonie Tonnen, Green Buzzard, Tempura Nights, High Tension, Timberwolf, Pearls, Rainbow Chan, Charles Murdoch, Ben Salter, Super Best Friends, Food Court, All Our Exes Live In Texas, Methyl Ethel, Harts, Polish Club, Babaganouj, Sahara Beck, Avaberee, Shocking Pinks, NGAIIRE, City Calm Down, Cosmic Psychos, Holy Holy and JAALA.
Featuring Morning Harvey, Stonefield, Tiger Choir, Muscles, Koi Child, BANFF, Astral Skulls, Tiny Little Houses, Major Leagues, Tired Lion, The Snowdroppers, Fanny Lumsden, The Pretty Littles, The Belligerents, Perch Creek, Guards Of May, Dorsal Fins, Mojo Juju, Sui Zhen, Caulfield, The Goon Sax, Totally Mild, Jonny Telafone and Immigrant Union.
videos & interviews
keynote speeches
Aussie music icon, former politician and long-time activist Peter Garrett spoke to the delegates at the BIGSOUND 2015 keynote speech but left us asking: is there still any real musical fire left in the belly, or has the midnight oil long burnt out?
Pitchfork Senior Editor Jessica Hopper was one of Thursday's keynote speakers, taking to the Judith Wright Centre's Performance Space to speak about the struggles of women trying to make it in music.
The keynote for the William Morris Endeavor head of music began with his introduction to the Australian music scene, which started when stumbled across The Church while working for the record store and radio station at his university in San Diego.
According to hip hop star and activist Brother Ali, all contemporary music forms are "vanilla", "cheap", "watered down" versions of music that black cultures originated. "Every single form of music that exists in this modern context is a stolen version of somebody else's music."
interviews
After touring the country together, it’s no surprise that High Tension and Cosmic Psychos are best buddies.
Both showcasing at this year’s BIGSOUND, we got them to interview each other, because why wouldn't we?
As expected, it’s seven minutes of pure chaos...
BIGSOUND is a gold mine of information for Aussie acts, and among the industry folk dishing out advice, you’d struggle to find someone better qualified on international touring than UNFD manager Luke Logemann.
Co-founder and promoter of the uber-popular Laneway Festival, Danny Rogers, stopped by to chat with Mitch Knox about using BIGSOUND to put together future line-ups, as well as the acts he's keen to watch flourish.
Jesse Coulter and Phil Meakin of Adelaide trio Grenadiers stopped by to chat to our digital editor Uppy about Bloody Marys, judging a person's height through email communication and making friends at BIGSOUND.
Gordi makes her BIGSOUND debut in 2015. There’s no denying it’s a chaotic gig, but even after just one show, the Sydney artist has it figured out pretty quickly. We get her gig picks and what she hopes to achieve from her time at BIGSOUND.
Harvest Records general manager Jacqueline Saturn steps foot on Aus for the first time for BIGSOUND 2015. Her experiences in the US give her the perfect platform to comment on the Australian music scene, which she describes as “vibrant” and “exciting”.
Melbourne buzz band City Calm Down bring their new album to BIGSOUND but forget to pack some essentials. We have some shots with Jack Bourke and Lee Armstrong, chat burgers, bands on their schedule and their debut record, In A Restless House, which drops November 6 via I Oh You.
Sydney outfit Polish Club landed in Brisbane and the first thing we did was pump them full of booze and grill them prior to their official showcase. They were on our list of must-see acts at BIGSOUND, and we had a quick chat about the festival and their new EP.
We asked people on the streets of Fortitude Valley who they'd caught at BIGSOUND Live and got an array of amazing answers about the 150 artists hand-picked to showcase this year.
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galleries
around the festival
Twitter and Instagram were alight with insights and asides from artists, media and delegates last week. Catch up on all the idle chit-chat and happy snaps below.
That about does it from us for another instalment of BIGSOUND - we hope this helps tide you over till next September.
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