WAM Festival Unveils First Details For 2014

The annual WAM Festival has released a swathe of details pertaining to its 2014 event, including an impressive array of industry speakers as well as performers for its several showcase events, including a block party led by The Love Junkies.

Arriving on Thursday, November 6, on the heels of last year’s successful reworking of the event, the 2014 WAM Festival boasts an even greater focus on local music, spearheaded by the inaugural Block Party shindig, as well as moving the WA Music Awards to new venue the Capitol and the WA Music Craft Awards to the State Theatre Courtyard. In addition, the festival has announced that the WAM Music Conference – also moving to a new home – will now be held on the Friday and Saturday of the event, with a Saturday Spectacular designed to be the perfect opportunity to rub shoulders with the stars, regardless of whether you’re an industry or general attendee.

The festival officially kicks off with the WAM Festival Opening Party on November 7, held from 7pm-1am at The Bakery Northbridge, which features performances from a smorgasbord of rockin’ prospects including Mt Mountain, Usurper Of Modern Medicine, Pat Chow, Tired Lion, the amazingly named Hideous Sun Demon, Fait and Scalphunter, and DJ work from Jamie Mac.

On November 8, the Saturday Spectacular takes over, and joining The Love Junkies for that performance-centric component of the festival will be the esteemed likes of Slumberjack, Coin Banks, KUČKA, Gunns and more yet to be announced.

From there, it widens out to include the WA Music Conference, held from November 7-8 at the Central Institute of Technology. The conference has just revealed its first-round line-up of speakers, including RTRFM’s Adam Christou, Red Rock Music’s Bel Skinner, Esti Zilber of Sounds Australia, Warner Music’s Heath Bradbury, BIGSOUND mastermind Nick O’Byrne, and theMusic.com.au’s own Scott Fitzsimons, plus several other prominent industry personalities.

Attending the conference is a boon in itself – pass-holders will be granted priority entry to free events, plus free entry to all ticketed events as part of the WAM Festival sideshows, WA Music Awards, Opening Party and more. Early-bird tickets for the conference component of the WAM Festival are on sale via Moshtix until 5pm on Friday October 10. The second release will then commence and run through till 5pm on Thursday, November 6.

Get across the comprehensive spread of events on offer, including the WA Music Craft Awards, WA Music Awards (presented by theMusic.com.au), Block Party and more by checking out the WAM Festival website.

full list of announced speakers

Adam Christou (RTRFM)
Al Dawson (Earache Records, US)
Alex Paioff (Pilerats Records/Circo/Metric)
Bailey Lions (Lionizer)
Bel Skinner (Red Rock Music)
Bob Gordon (X-Press Magazine)
Bryte MC
Candice Lorrae (Abmusic)
Clive Hodson (Perfect Pitch Publishing)
Damian Cunningham (National Live Music Office)
Danny Estrin (Estrin & Saul)
Esti Zilber (Sounds Australia)
Gina Williams
Hayley-Jane Ayers (Cool Perth Nights)
Heath Bradby (Warner Music Australia)
Jake Snell (Monster Management/AAM)
Johnny Au (The AU Review)
Jordan Campbell (The Harbour Agency)
Kat Murphy (Retro Robot Services)
Katie Rynne (Select Music)
Larry Heath (The AU Review)
Luke Rinaldi (Sweet Mate Music)
Matt Johnson (Walking Horse Music)
Michael Szumowski (Alberts)
Nick O'Byrne (BIGSOUND/Look Out Kid)
Pete Guazzelli (Department of Culture and the Arts)
Reggie Ba-Pe (S.T.D./Arcade/Arkham/R3, China)
Scott Fitzsimons (theMusic.com.au)
Stephen King (Media Arts Lawyers)
Yvette Myhill (AAM)
Plus more TBA