Why Do The Amp Judges Hate Punk And Metal?

The long-list for 2013's The Coopers Amp has been finalised, but not one punk or metal album has been deemed good enough to make the cut.

The award is arguably Australia's most prestigious album prize and PPCA's $30,000 cash prize goes a long way for any band, not that anyone who released a punk, metal or generally heavy record in Australia this year will have to worry about how to spend it.

While there are undoubtedly some brilliant Australian albums in the list, the closest thing we get to punk or metal is the rock of The Delta Riggs. There's plenty of indie on the list (Dick Diver, Big Scary), a decent representation of hip hop (Jimblah, Horrorshow), great singer-songwriters feature (Abbe May, Adalita) and there's even splashes of dance (Jagwar Ma, PVT) and country (Sara Storer) although they're arguably under-represented as well.

The glaring omission of punk and metal is a shame given the strength of the scene in the last 12 months. Growing from strength-to-strength, waves of young bands are leaving their mark on Australian and international listeners while the scene also boasts some of the industry's top young innovators.

Karnivool were good enough for ARIA, not for The Amp. Pic by Josh Groom

The heavier side of music has always been on the fringes, but it's starting to push in elsewhere. The ARIA Awards recognised Karnivool's Asymmetry in their hard rock/heavy metal category, while Airbourne's Black Dog Barking and Northlane's Singularity were also nominated and both eligible.

Northlane, in particular, were not only nominated for an ARIA Award this year, but they became the first band to win the end-of-year polls for both of triple j's heavy programs, punk's Short.Fast.Loud and metal's The Racket. They were also the first band to win both Short.Fast.Loud's end-of-year and mid-year polls. Blunt magazine's readers crowned them the band of the year.

The Amp judges gave Northlane nothing to smile about. Pic by Ben Clements

In Airbourne's instance their home country is one of the only major music markets that doesn't connect with what they do – they're one of our biggest rock exports.

Triple j listeners also enjoyed I'm Not Right by Clowns and Rainbows In Space by The Bennies, both bands from Melbourne – a town Amp judges are certainly familiar with.

Violent Soho's world class heavy effort Hungry Ghost was released in time for the 1 November Amp cut-off, as was Bodyjar's Role Model.

But they didn't get a look in on the long-list of 44, not even on the 'Highly Regarded' almost-made-it list that featured the likes of Jinja Safari, Emma Louise and RÜFÜS. In August, the latter just beat much-loved Brisbane prog-metal band Dead Letter Circus's The Catalyst Fire to #1 on the ARIA Charts – but they struggle to get industry recognition as well.

Dead Letter Circus' comeback was huge. Pic by Jay Hynes

Artists like Sticky Fingers and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (who actually won the hard rock, heavy or punk category at the Independent Music Awards – although they're not really a punk band) also feature on the list of those who just missed out, but it still leaves large chunks of the scene unconsidered.

Perth's Eleventh He Reaches London released their dark opus Bánhús in October, which despite being a brilliant – and quintessentially Australian – album didn't get anywhere near the recognition of the likes of The Drones. Featuring members The Nation Blue and Young & Restless, High Tension's Death Beat is also a highlight of the year.

The Amp has worked hard on improving its submission process in recent years – it's now free to enter, anyone can submit albums – and the judging panel has also been reduced in number and refined.

But having overlooked some of the most celebrated and successful releases of the year they risk becoming irrelevant to an entire scene, and that would be quite a shame. As it stands, it's a sad indictment of The Amp.

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE COOPERS AMP

2005: The Drones – Wait Long By The River And The Bodies of You Enemies Will Float By
2006: Augie March – Moo, You Bloody Choir
2007: The Mess Hall – Devils Elbow
2008: Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours
2009: Lisa Mitchell – Wonder
2010: Cloud Control – Bliss Release
2011: The Jezabels – Prisoner
2012: Hermitude – HyperParadise