You Can Expect Big Things From WAMFest 2017

Going from strength to strength each year, WAMFest 2017 is looking to be its most exciting event to date, with WAM last week locking in dates and unveiling new festival coordinators Mark Neal and Simon 'Skinny' O'Leary.

We caught up with O'Leary – who's been honing his skills as HyperFest’s coordinator – to get an idea of what to expect this November.

What do you hope to bring to WAMFest 2017? We’re going to be continuing where Greg Sanders left off – lots of great acts playing in some of Perth’s best venues. We do have a few cards up our sleeves – regional aspects, more new and unique spaces… but we’ll save some surprises for later in the year.

Tell us about a memorable WAMFest experience you’ve had in the past? I remember a few years ago attending the Block Party as a punter and seeing Coin Banks for the first time. I turned to a friend and went, “Yep, I’m booking this for HyperFest.” There have been lots of moments like that! 

What’s your view on the WA scene at the moment and where do you see it going? There’s so much going on at the moment, it’s hard to keep track! Lots of cool venues opening, heaps of acts keying up for their next releases and plenty of local festivals doing incredibly well. In The Pines was an absolute blast, we just did our best year at Hyper etc. I think we’ll see a lot more activation of interesting spaces within the wider metro area, and hopefully a lot more collaboration between local acts of different genres. I’ve heard some whispers and I’m excited.

What role does WAM and WAMFest play in the WA music scene’s development and how important is it? WAM is the ‘peak body’ for contemporary music in Western Australia – which basically means that they’re all about promoting opportunities for and representing Western Australian musicians, music workers and music organisations locally, nationally and internationally. WAMFest is a celebration of the industry and is all about showcasing incredible local music to as broad of an audience as possible – which hopefully means more punters at gigs across the year.

Why should punters get involved with WAMFest? There’s going to be so many amazing musicians playing across the festival, which means there’s heaps of opportunities to find your new favourite band, producer or venue.

Three WA acts people should check out now and why? Only three? That’s incredibly hard. Let’s go with Flossy, Boat Show and Carla Geneve, because I’ve seen them all within the last week or two and they’re all incredible live. Boat Show are doing great things on tour with San Cisco and their attitude is just spot on. Flossy impress me more and more every time I’ve seen them and they played in my backyard not long ago. Carla Geneve has more talent in her pinky finger than I have in my entire body. She’s from Albany and was recently included in WAM’s Sounds Of The Great Southern project, and I think she’s going to be huge.

Applications for bands, promoters and venues are open now. Check out WAM website for all the details. WAMFest will run from 2 – 5 November.