WAMAwards: Everything You Need To Know About WA's Most Popular Live Acts

Carla Geneve

Carla Geneve is a singer-songwriter hailing from the songwriter affluent Great Southern coastal city of Albany. Carla's music is shaped by her experience as a South West teenager, though her peers, local industry and music fans of all ages are touting her as the best talent to come from this music town in decades. Her debut EP,  Storm In A Teacup, was released when she was 15 years old and it pricked ears locally and across West Australia’s South West, producing offers from Fairbridge Festival (2016) and the Nannup Music Festival (2017). She dominated at BIGSOUND in September following the release of acclaimed singles Greg's Discount Chemist and Listening.

Command A Panda

A duo that has been performing and breaking stages all across Perth, Command A Panda have certainly gone far over the past 12 months. With lots of guitar rhythm sections and smashing cymbals on every beat, Matt and Tim have engraved their indistinguishable hard rock blues into the minds and bleeding eardrums of the people of Perth.

FOAM

FOAM are an alternative band from Perth. Their heavy yet melodic performances deliver a filthy wall of sound reminiscent of the alternative rock boom of the late '80s/early '90s. With influences including Nick Cave, The Breeders,The Drones and anything Steve Albini, FOAM tread the line between infectious melody and vicious punk. With a solid reputation as a strong live band, FOAM have supported acts including The Rubens, DZ Deathrays and Sleepy Sun. They have also played at festivals including Big Day Out, Groovin The Moo and PIAF. FOAM released their debut album Coping Mechanisms last year to much acclaimed.

I Call Val

I Call Val are a high energy pop rock band from Perth. The four-piece outfit really found their sound after locking in their final member in 2015, mixing dynamic vocals and melodic lead guitar, with political themes and a punchy rhythm section. With a culmination of experienced musicians and a shared passion for the stage, ICV are already making an imprint on their local music scene.

MattyTWall

The blues is music that travelled on trains and steamboats from the Mississippi Delta to the neon streets of Memphis, Chicago and St. Louis. For MattyTWall – a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader – it is the supernatural sound that crossed the ocean to Perth, Australia to ignite his imagination and give power to his art. A young man with an old soul: Matty is connected to music with a wealth of history as he distils a diversity of genres into his own blues-influenced soul, jazz and rock signature.

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are a four-piece psychedelic rock band who’ve been described by The Music as “resembling Jimi Hendrix fresh off the end of a light globe.” Highlights so far include supporting King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Dune Rats, Black Mountain, Goons Of Doom, Skegss, Black Mountain, releasing their debut album High Visceral Part 1 and completing a national tour around Australia.

Spacey Jane

Spacey Jane came to life in 2016 when mates Caleb and Kieran re-visited their teenage musical ambitions. Ashton and Meils were picked up through uni friendships and the ball rolled on from there. Since their first show in Caleb’s backyard, the band has shared the stage with the likes of Car Seat Headrest, Alex Lahey, British India and The Stems, along with festival appearances at Wave Rock Weekender, Gizzfest 2017, Falls Downtown 2018 and WA Day's SOTA Festival.

Stella Donnelly

Stella Donnelly is well on her way to becoming a global superstar following the release of her debut EP Thrush Metal. After being the buzz act at BIGSOUND 2017, the Perth singer-songwriter visited SXSW earlier this year and made headlines across the globe.

Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving

Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving’s music demands attention. Whether it’s through a live performance or a recording, the music demands that the listener devote their undivided consciousness to the experience. Vocals are scarce - but this is not background music. By way of a piano-led amalgamation of prog, post-rock, jazz, noise, metal and classical film soundtracks, TToL have crafted something of their own: sometimes intensely heavy, relentless and epic; at other times fragile and intricate…

The Southern River Band

In a world where starting off a biography with "in a world where" is the norm, The Southern River Band are apparently no different. In the very same world, where labelling one's self is encouraged, where being able to describe one's style is expected, The Southern River Band neither know, nor care how to fit themselves into these pigeonholes. Head south on Perth's so-called "freeway", jump on Roe Highway, hang a right on Nicholson Road, go through the busiest roundabout in Australia, and you'll find yourself in Thornlie, the home of The Southern River Band. A country town in the heart of the suburbs, where the jukeboxes stock very little other than the very same songs you would've heard reverberating out of them in the 1970s. They say you're a product of your surroundings, who are "they"? Nobody knows. But, they're not far wrong. You're bound to find one of the boys recycling their spare change, putting on Come Back Again for the third time in the space of four hours on any given Friday arvo.

The Wilds

The Wilds are stirring. Mixing a potent cocktail of earthy rock'n'roll, this rag-tag band of brothers came to prominence in their native Perth on the back of their emphatically raw and captivating live shows. By the end of 2015, they seemingly had the world at their feet - and then they disappeared. Whispers of burning out and fading away circled like vultures, but those underestimate the transformative power of music to heal and revive. By April this year, whispers had become proclamations: The Wilds are alive!