JSS WIN JAWARD

Levity® artist, The John Steel Singers were recently awarded the Triple J Unearthed Artist of the Year for 2008! This award goes to the Unearthed artist demonstrating the most musical growth and potential to contribute to Australian music.

Co-front man Tim who was there on the night to receive the award said “The band has put in a lot of hard work this year so it’s really good to see this recognised. There were some really great bands nominated so to be in such good company was amazing then to actually win was amazing times two!”

This award tops off a massive year for the band since winning the original Unearthed competition to play the Big Day Out on the Gold Coast early in 2008. 12 months on they have been signed to Levi’s® record label Levity®, supported the Grates on tour, released a new EP “In Colour”, finished a sold out national tour of their own as well as being added to the Falls Festival and Laneway line ups.

If you haven’t already, check them out as part of the Falls Festival or Laneway Festival and see what for you what all the fuss is about!

13th Dec – MAN MAN SUPPORT @ Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
30th Dec – Falls Festival, Lorne, Victoria
2nd Jan – Southbound Festival, Busselton, Western Australia
31st Jan – St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Brisbane
1st Feb – St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Melbourne
6th Feb – St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Perth
7th Feb – St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Adelaide
8th Feb – St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Sydney

Levity® is an independent record label created by Levis®, who have been committed to supporting the best new music and artist development since 2007. www.levis.com.au

Levity signs The John Steel Singers!

Hold onto your hats, folks.

It is with the greatest pleasure that we unwrap the latest Levity artist signing…

THE JOHN STEEL SINGERS

Levity will be steering the release of the shiny new EP for the Brisbane sextuplet, as the boys take their catchy blend of Brisjanglian pop to the nation with ‘The John Steel Singers: In Colour ‘ (Out November 1^st, 2008)

Produced by Scott Horscroft (The Panics, The Presets, Wolfmother), the EP takes the unique pop sounds honed on their mini LP, ‘The Beagle and The Dove’ to a new level on an epic scope.

The new tracks bring more instrumental focus to each track. Treading the fine line of indie-pop, reminiscent of the Go Betweens, Dexys and Wilco, but with their own special twist of horns and harmonies, The John Steel Singers bring their unique style to life in full colour.

“We’ve worked on the tone colour of the arrangements a lot more. We also made a conscious decision to make the rhythms more direct and simplified. The songs to me seem a little more forward thinking than our first record, distilling the obvious ‘60s influences and letting the songs dictate themselves by the rhythmic structures and melodic variations. There seems to be a darker mood to these tracks, both lyrically and sonically. We’re quite proud of the work we’ve done and hope that it represents a transitional period for us,” says songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Scott Bromiley.

Single ‘Strawberry Wine’ saw them picked up on triple j rotation and community radio and kicked off a bevy of fans and media jumping on board The John Steel Singer’s fan boat. The band went on to win the triple j Big Day Out Unearthed competition and have since toured with the likes of the Polyphonic Spree, The Panics, Yves Klein Blue, Built To Spill, The Brunettes, Young and Restless and many more.

“They have the rare ability to merge quirky arrangements with rich songwriting depth….a sextet that understands the genius and simplicity behind a quality pop song.” Rave Magazine

With a national support tour with The Grates hitting the road in October, The John Steel Singers continue to spread their songs across Australia. Check out their website www.myspace.com/thejohnsteelsingers for all tour dates.

‘The John Steel Singers: Now In Colour’ is released on November 1^st, 2008 through Levity®/Inertia.

www.myspace.com/thejohnsteelsingers

WOW EP OUT AUG 23

Levity®, Levi’s® Jeans artist development label, is excited to announce its third release: the debut EP from Sydney punk-clubbers WOW. Following on from Levity’s® acclaimed releases from Cut Off Your Hands (Blue on Blue), and Mercy Arms (Kept Low) – both of which were named by Drum Media as EPs of the Year in 2007 – WOW bring you My Holiday In Space.

Taking their strobe light with them, Sydney duo WOW (Matt Cribb – vocals/electronics/guitar & Bree Carter – vocals/bass), moved their recording from the bedroom to the studio to work with renowned producer Scott Horscroft (The Presets, The Panics, The Sleepy Jackson) at his Big Jesus Burger studio in Surry Hills Sydney. Maintaining the bedlam but polishing up their bass and beats, WOW turn up their in-your-face, dirty-pop attitude and deliver a punchy debut complete with skuzzy guitar fuzz, and pimped-up laser gun fun.

WOW were chuffed with their first professional recording experience, singing the praises of Scott Horscroft, “Scott was amazing, he waved his magic wand on the songs and they transformed from bedroom demos to huge sounding club bangers and pop wonders with great choruses. It was a great experience to work with someone who totally understood the music and what we wanted to do with it.”
It’s been a busy year thus far for WOW with the release of their 7” single Common Species as well as playing gigs in Australia and overseas. My Holiday In Space EP showcases exactly what this band is about – a multifaceted mix of grinding bass maneuvers up against banging pop rhythms that bring the dance floor back to life.

Track highlights:

My Holiday In Space opener Icy Cold gets the party started with scuffed-up synths and a grinding groove punctuated with a blaring part-sung, part-yelled twin vocal bringing a catchy rough-and-tumble to the dance floor. Track three, rock-dance onslaught No Aspirations delivers Gen X ethos Gen Y style and could well become the slacker anthem of the year. While Werewolf’s ominous synth bass drives a dirty fairy tale as WOW is let loose and takes over the night!
It’s pop, it’s pissed off, and it likes to party. So hide away your breakables and only invite friends who know how to get down!

Levity® is an independent record label funded by Levi’s® Jeans. As an artist development label we help set up the careers of artists who we think can rise above the rest.

MY HOLIDAY IN SPACE
1. Icy Cold
2. Future Ghost
3. No Aspirations
4. Werewolf
5. Insomniac

Pissed off Punk Pisses off Granny

Levity’s latest signing, disco punk two-piece WOW, proved too much for the Hotel Hollywood last night when they shut the band down mid-set during their Levity Nights appearance.

Doris Goddard, veteran licensee of the iconic Hotel Hollywood, bewildered by WOW’s unabashed and blaring party-disco fun, took hold of the mic during the band’s third song and ordered them to stop playing immediately.

Surprised and confused WOW politely asked Doris for permission to play just one more song, to which a relenting Doris agreed, before completely shutting the show down.

Goddard who has owned the Hotel Hollywood since 1977, is a live music supporter (and herself a performer) playing host to up to four gigs a week. In order to maintain her live music licence and friendly relations with neighbours, Goddard must adhere to strict sound levels.

WOW notched the shutdown up to experience, and in the end kissed and made up with Doris promising to hand deliver her a copy of their debut EP when it is released on Levity this August

Levity Nights continues at the Hotel Hollywood every Thursday night.

GREMLINS ATE OUR LIST!!!

Hello there!!! If you signed up to our newsletter, could you pretty please enter in your email again? Some nasty email gremlins came and chewed them all upppppppp!!! xx

SOMEONE SAY… NEW BAND SIGNING?

Are there whispers that we have just signed our new band? Whispers would be right. Stay tuned….

DJAM PARTY WERE YOU THERE?

If you weren’t at the DJAM party last night, then you would be kicking yourself!!!! Lucky for us, this month Martin from Boundary Sounds lets us into his world, so check out his blogs in our backstage bloggers. ALSO, if you’re a fan of music from ALL AROUND AUSTRALIA and not just the city you live in, make sure you check out the weekly blog from Perth Music Scene Queen – Steph Edwardes, she’ll give us the low down on what’s happening on the WEST SIDEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

HAMISH FOR THE VINES GETS ARRESTED?

You read it here first – check out his blog in the ‘Backstage Bloggers’ to see what happened.

Cory Kennedy Our Backstage Blogger is up!

Cory Kennedy, one of our very own backstage bloggers this month has put up her 1st 3 entries! It’s the 3 days from Coachella covered – Cory Style… head to it from the homepage on levityland.com

Our own Gossip Girls…

If you’re addicted to inside industry gossip on the hottest new bands, who’s kissing who, and what band is hating what band – check out our Backstage Bloggers. You’ll find them on the main page of the levityland website. This month, Josh – who is our friend from SpeakNSpell music (and has impeccable music taste) gives us the lowdown on what is making his heart beat, as well as Hamish from the Vines (who hopefully has some juice for us on all those parties we can’t get into)!!!

We’re also eaglerly awaiting our very first blog from jetsetting party girl and music lover Cory Kennedy. Stay tuned… she’s probably busy watching some cool superband we haven’t heard of yet, but we’ll know about them soon thanks to Cory! We’ll let you know when the first one gets up.