6 November 2010 - Colin Barnett announces new dates for Wave Rock 2011
The Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett announced yesterday that next year's Wave Rock Weekender will be moved to Friday 28 and Saturday 29 October 2011. The Premier has other comittments that weekend, making it the least likely weekend of the year for him to attend a music festival. Organisers feel they should capitalise on such advantageous timing. More information will be made available as negotiations continue.
22 September 2010 - Get Ready for Adventure!
At last the 5th Annual Wave Rock Weekender is upon us.
We talk about it all year. We tell our friends they are fools if they don’t come.
Our eyes glaze over and we grin knowingly when we reminisce about the good times we’ve had in this sweet spot on the edge of the desert where music, good people, nature and good times collide each September.
Remember there is no ‘us and them’ out here – it’s us and us….we are all in the weekend together. For the uninitiated there are few rules other than be super nice to everyone and everything and don’t BYO booze (or percussion unless you are in a band!).
Other than that be confident that the music is great, the food and booze is inner-city stuff at early 90’s prices, the salt pond is floaty, the movies are non-stop, the landscape is sweet, the people are cool and the wise old rock will watch over us all weekend.
We've just sent out details by email on the menu, pricing, program and other stuff so you can have the greatest possible time. If you didn't get them, please email info@soulhighway.com.au to ask for a copy.
Read if you need.
Feel it.
See you there.
17 September 2010 - Program Schedule
Not long now! Pretty soon we all hit the road and head out to make the best party of the year together.
We will email all ticket holders next week with info on food, drink, artists, film, maps and other stuff, but below is a basic music program schedule.
SATURDAY
12:00 AFL GRAND FINAL TELECAST
15:00 WELCOME TO COUNTRY – Don and Sylvie Collard
15:15 SPLIT SECONDS
16:20 UMPIRE
17:30 ABBE MAY
18:50 THE JEZABELS
20:15 DAN KELLY AND HIS DREAM BAND
21:40 BOB LOG III
23:10 GRAVEYARD TRAIN
SUNDAY
10:00 RUBY BOOTS
11:00 JOE KINGS
12:00 DAVE MC CORMACK
13:15 EMILY ULMAN
14:15 STONEY JOE
15:30 PAUL GREENE
16:45 CHARLIE PARR
18:15 SUNSHINE BROTHERS
20:00 TIJUANA CARTEL
21:45 CHICO MANN
23:00 SHOCK ONE
00:00 DJ CHARLIE BUCKET
If you don't have your ticket yet, simply click the buy tickets tab on the top right of this page to change your life for the better.
24 August 2010 - The Rock Needs Your Help this weekend (28 and 29 August)
WAVE ROCK TREE PLANTING SAT 28 AND SUN 29 AUGUST VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!!!!
Our Hyden friends Sheenagh and Dennis need volunteers to plant some trees at Wave Rock and other sites nearby. Can you come out to Hyden either Friday afternoon or early Saturday morning and spend a few hours on Saturday and/or Sunday helping out?
You need to get yourself out there (3.5 hour drive), and they will supply free accommodation or you can camp. Kids are welcome. We will all be covered by their workers compensation insurance policy. We're aiming for about 10 people, but there is work for a few more, just need to make sure there is enough accommodation...
If you can make it, can you please email karen@supersonicevents.com.au as soon as possible?
Thanks!
24 August 2010 - Number Five Is Alive
WAVE ROCK WEEKENDER 2010
SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER & SUNDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
HYDEN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
NUMBER FIVE IS ALIVE!
FIVE FLAVOURS OF AWESOME!
MUSIC – CAMPING – NATURE – FILMS - PEOPLE
We wait all year so patiently but now it is close enough that we are officially able to turn yearning desire into burning desire for our favourite weekend of the year.
The smart regular Wave Rockers already have their tickets from the private presale but now it's time for the public announcement and on sale for the remaining tickets for the 2010 installment of the Wave Rock Weekender event.
For the uninitiated – Wave Rock Weekender is an intimate boutique festival experience with a soul bigger than the 270 million year old Wave Rock itself; brilliant artists programmed for their position on art (not the charts); incredible remote location; the most progressive festival environmental initiatives in Australia; great booze and food; great films; super high quality caravan park camping with full park facilities; a huge salt pool for swimming and that sweet damn rock.
Wave Rock Weekender reigns supreme in terms of festival experiences because everyone who makes it out there – the artists, staff and patrons – essentially all get it; they all realize you are never ‘too busy’ or too important to have an experience like this, they all know quality isn’t actually found in advertising, convenience, consumption and fashion and they all embraced the call for freedom and adventure by cutting loose and hitting the road.
Wave Rock is like a secret and joyful rebellion against the repetition, commercialism and shallowness of all your other options for a good time.
It’s not a commercially viable event, it’s not a sponsored event, it’s not a funded event – it’s a love event – built by people who love it for patrons and artists who love it too.
Five years in we have worked out that everyone loves love and when that’s at the heart of a weekend it just can’t fail.
Tickets are on sale now and remember capacity is limited to just 800.
* Buy tickets here www.soulhighway.com.au, www.heatseeker.com.au
* Join our facebook here www.facebook.com/waverockweekender
* All details regarding the event can be found prior to the event on www.soulhighway.com.au
As usual the line-up is incredibly diverse but all the acts have been selected because they have something special to offer the Wave Rock Weekender.
There are acts from Tucson Arizona, New York, Minnesota, Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay, Gold Coast and Perth who’ve butchered touring schedules and said no to far more lucrative shows to be a part of the event because they actually want to play for you and they want to be here!
Awesome.
Bob Log III (USA)
He’s done Wave Rock before and of course the high energy mystery man owned it and he’s been bugging us to come back ever since. Bob Log III is a One Man Band Slide Guitar Party. A perverse product of the Arizona desert.
He travels the world clad in his cannonball man, extra tight jumpsuit and signature motorcycle helmet with telephone/microphone attached and unfailingly sweats up a river while kicking on a kick drum, stomping his homemade foot cymbal and playing slide on an old archtop guitar.
We know not who he is but since his most recent album “My Shit is Perfect” hit the stores we couldn’t resist giving this Arizona whirlwind another taste of our very own desert.
Chico Mann (USA)
Member of the world’s greatest afro-beat band ANTIBALAS from New York City – Chico Mann is the James Brown of the Casio and his electro hybrid of afro-beat, afro-cuban and freestyle hip-hop disintegrates cultural and musical borders and puts three decades of underground sounds into one super good time.
It is his first tour to Australia and his three piece live show will set the party on fire Sunday night.
It's like a classic Afro-Soul-Salsa mash-up that has all the jumpin' live energy of Fela Kuti leading a procession in The Shrine with the raw, improvised hip-hop of Madlib flexing on the 303. Urb Magazine
A funky electro-Afrobeat outfit that sends both boom boxes and backsides into glorious tremors. Flavorpill
Dan Kelly & His Dream Band (Vic)
As if we aren’t already daydreaming or seeing things under the wonder of Wave Rock – Dan Kelly and his Dream Band play their first ever Wave Rock and come to take us on a melodic and sonic spree - from the bottom of the sea to the polar ice caps, via alien cities and other strange spaces in the galaxy of his brain.
We need healthy options at any festival and Dan’s fruitiness will be juicy and sweet just when we need it as we launch into the wild frontier of Saturday night.
Irreverent, obtuse, and slightly absurd, but with enough wry wit and delicate melodies to be great at the rock.
Tijuana Cartel (Qld)
Fusing Flamenco guitars, trumpet, percussion and beats – Tijuana Cartel are really running their own race outside of industry and music convention having built a huge and loyal fanbase purely from great live shows and respecting their audience. Their sound fits our sun-kissed State like a glove but throw those Mexican infused sounds out where the WA desert meets the wheatbelt and magic will definitely happen on Sunday after dark (just like those enamel coated, toxic adhesive hippy car stickers promised).
Dave McCormack (NSW)
Formerly of CUSTARD, THE TITANICS and various other quirky, smartarse pop projects along the way – Dave McCormack is a charming, irreverent and welcome addition to our lazy Sunday session. He hasn’t been to WA for a long time and his deep back catalogue of hits and sharp wit will be more than welcome in the afternoon sunshine.
Charlie Parr (USA)
A confused and shy individual, Charlie Parr plays original and traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues, accompanying himself on National resonator guitars, 12-string guitar and sometimes a banjo.
He’s released six CDs, three of which are still available, the latest of which is called Roustabout and contains something like 14 tracks of original and traditional folk music recorded in true monophonic sound.
Charlie Parr has failed at most things in his life. Music seems to have rendered him unemployable and is the only thing he’s ever done with any confidence. A lot of folks have been saying nice things about Charlie, despite the lingering odours and indecipherable comments he makes. It says a lot about folks; they’re hanging in there with him, in spite of himself.
The Jezabels (NSW)
Last seen in WA supporting Tegan and Sara - the Jezabels blend of indie rock, pop and disco is supreme and feels destined for great things.
It’s a big, compelling and expansive sound which will sit perfectly alongside the stars coming out in the big desert sky on Saturday night (right before the usually hoedown/urban exorcism really takes hold).
Graveyard Train (Vic)
As the exorcism of urbania comes to a climax on Saturday night the perfect soundtrack comes in the form of the incredible horror country band GRAVEYARD TRAIN on their first trip to Western Australia and exclusive to Wave Rock.
Graveyard Train ripped chains and hammers from hell to forge Horror Country. They are the pioneers of a new genre that will make you cry and curse and scream. Ghost stories, murder ballads and tales of redemption are crooned through melodies plucked directly from the afterlife. Haunted love, haunted souls, even haunted clothes are typical subjects covered by the songs of the Graveyard Train. These aren’t the kind of ghost stories kids tell around the campfire – they are the tales of horror whispered by inmates in the dark, the tales of bloodlust muttered by the insane, the tales of woe and regret whimpered through dying last words. Six men play men’s instruments just as men were born to do. Chain, washboard, steel guitar, banjo and harmonica – instruments with a long history of storytelling underlay six voices tempered by whiskey, blood and poverty. Graveyard train offer penance to this town of sinners. Beware the plague of locusts, beware the hail of frogs, beware the localized apocalypse that is the Graveyard Train.
Joe Kings
Great hair, skinniest legs on the bill, total passion, fresh faces and all the right influences – the Joe Kings work hard and play hard and are one of the emerging talents to watch out of WA.
Young, smart and full of heart they give every ounce they’ve got to every rock and roll show. There’ll be smiles for miles when they play Sunday morning with stadium sized songs and wild lead breaks in an acoustic duo format. Cool.
Split Seconds
Initially formed as an outlet for well-known Perth songsmith Sean Pollard (New Rules For Boats) to ply his solo tunes, Split Seconds have developed into a cohesive, all-singing and instrument swapping band with a character all their own. Pollard’s songs are brought to life with spacious and understated instrumentation. Guitarist Todd Pickett (Abbe May And The Rockin’ Pneumonia), Rhys Davies (Faith In Plastics), Benjamin Golby (New Rules For Boats) and drummer James Trewenack (Dyslexic Fish, The Jackards) create the effervescent harmonies that energise each song like a fizzing morning Berocca – just the musical kick we need to get into gear as the first band on stage. Jangly, timeless pop.
Umpire
Umpire is an underground indie supergroup of sorts formed from various members of acclaimed WA bands such as Adam Said Galore and O. They’ve been described as sprawling, sunshine filled indie rock so that’s exactly why they are the perfect fit for Saturday afternoon.
Shock One
Drum n Bass producer extraordinaire Shock One hails from Perth but has been crunching dance floors globally these past 12 months with his high-vibe melody-rich production style.
Already a grand master of broken beats he has been playlisted on BBC Radio 1 in the UK and the BBC Asia network with his eclectic collection of drum and bass and dubstep.
Shock One is going to take the Sunday night party to extreme levels!
Abbe May
Perth heroine Abbe May is now a well known musician around Australia for her solo achievements and her time in The Fuzz and Abbe May & The Rockin’ Pneumonia.
She is one of our favorites too and a life member of the Wave Rock Weekender posse for her numerous contributions since the first edition.
Abbe has been working very hard honing her skills and developing her songwriting both in Australia and overseas over the past couple of years and the results are amazing.
Be one of the first people to see her new band in full swing at the rock.
Paul Greene (NSW)
Paul Greene may have represented Australia as a sprinter at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games but he is actually one of Australia’s most valuable musical champions.
Still relatively undiscovered, Paul performs solo with stomp box, harmonicas, a battery of guitars and a ton of soul and is an absolute must to catch if you haven’t seen him play.
We may also use him as the festival rep in any impromptu running races. This is Paul’s first time at Wave Rock and we know you’ll be blown away.
Emily Ulman
Emily Ulman has established herself as one of Melbourne’s finest singer-songwriters. Emily is applauded for her lyrical honesty (ranging from moving and confessional, to humorous and self-deprecating), and the sheer beauty of her clear, distinctive vocal delivery.
Listening to Emily play is like finding your heart between the cushions of your couch and that’s what many of us need on Sunday morning; Emily Ulman, a hug, some toast, a beer. Ahhh.
Stoney Joe
It might be a cliche to call a band unique these days, but if any band fits that description it must be Stoney Joe. Who else would have the hide to mix straight-up fingerpickin' country guitar and ukelele with programmed beats and a vintage sh-101 synthesizer? How many other bands in town have not one, but two ocarinas in the mix (both tenor and alto)? What other bass player triggers samples with his feet? And where else are you gonna find hats that big? This band was made for Wave Rock and Sunday be all the better for it.
Ruby Boots
A singer who can open her mouth to let her life and times roll right out on a melody that's sometimes melancholic and other times heartening, Ruby Boots hitch-hikes on the roads of alt-country, blue grass and folk rock all, with a contemporary spin. She’ll perform as a trio at Wave Rock with two other vocalists, violin, banjo, and mandolin and is sure to rouse you sweetly from your dreams on Sunday morning in the legendary alarm clock set. Always a treat. Sunshine Brothers
Last but not least – the Sunshine Brothers are the resident band for Wave Rock. Their traditional Sunday sunset spot at the Wave Rock Weekender is an unmissable high vibe moment for everyone. They are a dub/reggae band like no other - it’s the unique, irreverent and honest delivery of original recipe reggae music that guarantees fire on the dance floor, smiles on faces and feelings of general glee every time they take to the stage.
The Brothers make you feel supremely good and every show feels like a celebration even though you and the band don’t know what for.
* Buy tickets here www.soulhighway.com.au
* Join our facebook here www.facebook.com/waverockweekender
* All details regarding the event can be found prior to the event on www.soulhighway.com.au
