The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl, Harry James Angus, Will Hull-Brown (drums), Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala, Ollie McGill and Ryan Monro. Monro retired from the band in March 2021, while Angus, Hull-Brown and Khadiwhala all left in April 2022. They are often supplemented by The Empire Horns, a brass duo composed of Ross Irwin (trumpet) and Kieran Conrau (trombone), among others. Their sound is a fusion of jazz, funk, ska, and rock with heavy Latin influences.
Byron Bay is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located 772 kilometres (480 mi) north of Sydney and 165 kilometres (103 mi) south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. At the 2021 census, the town had a permanent population of 6,330. It is the largest town of Byron Shire local government area, though not the shire's administrative centre.
Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While the festival's lineup historically focused on blues music at its inception, it has increasingly showcased mainstream pop, hip hop, reggae, rock and EDM in recent years. Bluesfest has become the second largest music festival in Canada and the third largest music festival in North America.
WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of Music, Arts and Dance, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is a four-day event that presents a diverse selection of music from artists around the world, as well as side events like talks and discussions.
Weddings Parties Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Australian rock debut since Skyhooks' Living in the 70's.
Splendour in the Grass is an annual Australian music festival held at the North Byron Parklands in Yelgun, New South Wales. Since its inauguration, the festival has also been held in various locations near Byron Bay, New South Wales, and Woodford, Queensland.
David Joseph Campbell is an Australian singer, actor, and TV personality. He is the son of singer Jimmy Barnes.
Irma Thomas is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans".
Michael Robert "Mojo" Webb is a multi-instrumentalist blues musician, based in Brisbane, Australia. On 8 February 2007, Mojo Webb was awarded the Australian Blues Music Chain Award for 'New Talent of the Year'.
Ash Grunwald is an Australian blues musician. He has released nine studio albums and has received five nominations for ARIA Music Awards. Five albums have charted in the ARIA Albums Chart top 50; Fish out of Water (2008), Hot Mama Vibes (2010), Trouble's Door (2012), Gargantua (2013) and Mojo (2019).
Kate Melina Miller-Heidke is an Australian singer and songwriter. Although classically trained, she has generally followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK, but since 2014 has been an independent artist. Four of her solo studio albums have peaked in the top 10 of the ARIA Albums Chart, Curiouser, Nightflight, O Vertigo! and Child in Reverse. Her most popular single, "The Last Day on Earth", reached No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart after being used in promos for TV soap, Neighbours, earlier in that year. At the ARIA Music Awards Miller-Heidke has been nominated 17 times.
The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday, February 27, 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to five Australian cities—Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle—as well as Auckland, New Zealand and Singapore.
The Byron Bay Film Festival is a popular AACTA Awards accredited independent awards-based film event held in the late Australian summer at the Byron Community & Cultural Centre, in the coastal town of Byron Bay.
Owen Orford is an Australian booking agent and concert tour promoter. Orford transitioned from lead singer in Australian touring bands Finch, Contraband and Toys, to venue booker of Sydney venues The Astra Hotel, Bondi Beach and Sydney Cove Tavern from 1979–1982. He went on to promote tours for local and international acts and has booked shows for more than 150 Australian artists.
Peter Bruce Noble is an Australian entrepreneur active in the music industry for almost 50 years. He is best known as the festival director of the annual Bluesfest Byron Bay, which has been running since 1990 & that he became a partner of in 1994. The 5-day festival is now held every Easter at the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, just north of Byron Bay, a New South Wales beachside town.
Irish Mythen is an Irish-born Canadian contemporary folk singer-songwriter. In recent years, Mythen has performed with Rod Stewart, Gordon Lightfoot and Lucinda Williams at major festival stages the world over. Mythen's first two full-length albums were Sweet Necessity in 2008 and Open Here in 2011. She moved to Prince Edward Island in 2007, where she won the Songwriter of the Year Award in 2016 for her song "Gypsy Dancer". Her third album, released in 2014 titled Irish Mythen, won the East Coast Music Association 2015 Roots Album of the Year. Mythen is described as "rambunctious, thoughtful, tender and loud" by ABC Radio National. She was one of several female artists at the 2018 edition of the legendary Cambridge Folk Festival, who were singled out by the Guardian newspaper in their praise of new festival booker Bev Burton's female-heavy line-up for the festival. Australia's premier folk and roots festival Byron Bay Bluesfest call her a 'must see artist' and she is booked to make a third appearance at the festival in 2019.
Collard Greens & Gravy are an Australian blues band which formed as a trio in 1995 by James Bridges on guitar and fiddle, Ian Collard on lead vocals, harmonica and guitar, and Anthony Shortte on drums. Their second studio album, More Gravy (2000), won Best Blues & Roots Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2001. James Bridges died in September 2016 of pancreatic cancer, aged 57. Collard Greens & Gravy reformed in 2017 with Collard joined by Sean "Juke Boy" Emmett on guitar and Jason Liu Soon on drums.
Shaun Kirk is an independent Australian soul and blues singer, songwriter, and musician. He has released four albums: Cruisin′ in 2010, Thank You For Giving Me the Blues in 2011, The Wick Sessions in 2013 and Steer the Wheel in 2014.
The COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales, Australia was part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first confirmed case in New South Wales was identified on 19 January 2020 in Sydney where three travellers returning from Wuhan, Hubei, China, tested positive for the virus.
