WA Music Launches Demos from The Wheatbelt Compilation 30th August at Cummins Theatre, Merredin.
In March this year, ten artists from WA’s Wheatbelt region travelled to Merredin’s iconic Cummins Theatre to record their original songs. The fresh harvest of new tracks was recorded under the watchful ears of award winning producers Matt Gio, Dan Carroll and Andy Lawson. For some of the artists, it was first chance they’d had to set foot in a professional studio.
With the recordings now in the bag, Demos from the Wheatbelt, the 10th iteration of WAM’s much-loved and respected ‘Sounds of’ and ‘Demos from’ regional recording project series, will be launched at Cummins Theatre in Merredin on Friday 30th August 2019. Featuring all of the acts on the compilation, Georgia McAlpine (Buntine), Gracie B (Gwambygine), Hayden McGlinn (Lake Grace), Kelea (Gingin), Polly Medlen (Wagin), Refractory Road (Northam), Sue Munns (Beacon), Tim Beckingham (Wialki), Tom Caughey (Nukarni) and Primary Collective (Merredin), the launch will be a great way to celebrate the project, WAM’s second full length Wheatbelt compilation album.
The first seed to germinate is local Merredin band Primary Collective’s single “Grass Is Greener”, a song with all the hallmarks of a great indie Australian rock tune that takes you back to your roots, which will be available for airplay and streaming from Tuesday July 9th. In a further outcome for WAM’s regional pop-up studio, Primary Collective took the opportunity to work with the engineers during the evenings to produce their debut EP. Listen to a stream of “Grass Is Greener” here.
The ABC’s state-wide Regional Drive program will be hosting an outside broadcast from the heritage-listed foyer of Cummins Theatre, helping to share the festivities of the compilation launch across regional WA. The outside broadcast will take place immediately before the event from 4-6pm; you will then be able to catch the show’s presenter Andrew Collins MCing the main event alongside fellow ABC Mid-West presenter Dominique Bayens.
So far, WAM’s regional recording projects have uncovered 100 tracks that have been broadcast on radio stations across the country and racked up over 80,000 plays across digital streaming platforms. They’ve helped 147 regional musicians realise their potential and sparked many successful music opportunities for Wheatbelt artists such as Hayden Sprigg (The Eastern Line) WAM 2019 COUNTRY SONG OF THE YEAR WINNER and Pete Byfield, who has just completed a 46 date National tour.
Tickets are available now at the Central Wheatbelt Visitor Centre, and online through the Cummins Theatre website. As an entrée to the official launch, each of the songwriters will feature in solo mode as part of the Wheatbelt Songwriter’s Showcase, taking place at the annual GWN7 Dowerin Field Days 2019 on the 28th and 29th of August. A limited quantity of the Demos from The Wheatbelt CD will also be available at Dowerin for those who get in early.
WAM delivers Demos from the Wheatbelt with the ongoing support of the State Government Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Australia Council for the Arts. WAM would also like to thank project sponsors Collgar Wind Farm (Collgar), through the Collgar Community Fund (CCF), the Shire of Merredin,and WEROC who have all come on board to raise the volume on supporting Wheatbelt artists.
Get your tickets now: https://www.trybooking.com/BDRAK
For pictures, quotes, or other media requests, please contact:
Nigel Bird – Regional Officer e: nigel@wam.org.au p: (08) 9227 7962
Matt Johnson – Regional Assistant e: matt@wam.org.au p: (08) 9227 7962
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
