In the wake of this morning's Queensland Music Awards 2017 finalists' announcement, the event organisers have revealed the batch of acts in contention for this year's Billy Thorpe Scholarship, an annual prize recognising emerging Qld musicians or bands.
Valued at a cool $10,000, this year's scholarship is within reach of resilient local outfit WAAX, hard-rockin' duo Marville, cinematic electro-pop chanteuse Ella Fence and Josh Steward, of garage-rock larrikins The Ninjas and lo-fi indie-slingers High Tropics. It's certainly not a prize to sneeze at — last year's scholarship went to acclaimed singer-songwriter Luke Daniel Peacock (who also won the 2016 Indigenous category with his track Fruits Of Our Labour and has appeared at BIGSOUND for the past two years).
Also announced this morning are the categories and details for the 2017 Bank Of Queensland People's Choice Awards, the voting for which will open right here on theMusic.com.au on Tuesday 28 February, running through till midnight on Monday 8 March.
The public comp is spread across the categories of Most Popular Female, Most Popular Male and Most Popular Group — previously 'Most Popular Songwriting Team'; those respective prizes were won last year by lauded singer-songwriter Deena, the immensely talented Joe Agius (of The Creases) and acclaimed trio AVA (nee Avabereé). Be sure to check back in a couple of weeks for this year's finalists.
In case you're unfamiliar with the scholarship shortlist, since signing with respected local company Mucho Bravado back in 2014, WAAX have steadily built a dedicated following around Brisbane and beyond through a combination of solid riffs and dogged persistence, releasing their EP Holy Sick in late 2015 to warm reviews. New single Same Same, released in November last year, has seemingly reignited the fire beneath the band, and they appear well set to capitalise on that momentum and make 2017 their truly breakthrough year.
If you haven't crossed paths with Marville yet, they've actually been plugging away for several years now, so that's kind of on you. The ferocious two-piece landed their first recorded material in 2013 with their Loser 7", and have since followed up with a further four releases: their debut LP Vayan Con Dios (2013), singles Steve and Fickle — the latter of which picked up #21 in the 4ZZZ Hot 100 2015 — and newest 7" 9-Iron, which dropped back in August last year. The rumblings surrounding the band are ever growing, having supported the likes of Some Jerks, Camp Cope and more over the years, and they're in a position to enjoy some well-earned broader notoriety as finalists for the Billy Thorpe Scholarship.
No stranger to south-east Queensland audiences, acclaimed musician Ella Fence received renown last year as a dual winner at the 2016 Gold Coast Music Awards, picking up the gong for Best Song Of The Year and Best Music Video for her track Unknown Water. A regular on the scene for the past few years, Fence was aboard the artist line-up at last year's Australian Music Week event in Cronulla. (She also appears among the raft of local acts who lent their time for Hey Geronimo's brilliant TISM-tribute clip for their track Boredom in early 2016.) As a purveyor of the audio-visual smorgasbord she dubs 'cinematic electro-pop', Fence makes an impression everywhere she goes, and — like her fellow finalists — would be a most worthy recipient of the cash and prestige that comes with this prize.
Rocketing to prominence in 2015 with The Ninjas' track Cara Delevingne (although they also featured on a Ford Ranger ad back in 2014), Josh Steward is another artist who has been plugging away for several years, earning solid gains with each new achievement and release. The Ninjas put out their first single, Yeah Yeah, in mid-2013, and have maintained a steady output ever since. Their most recent track, Morphine, landed in April last year, around the same time they took part in the 2016 QUBE Effect program. Impressively, they even recently earned a nod from respected German blog Tonspion as one of their 'next big thing' picks. Along with his work in High Tropics, suffice to say, Steward is a more than worthy contender for a shot at the scholarship's $10k.
The winner of the 2017 Billy Thorpe Scholarship will be revealed at the Queensland Music Awards event at the Brisbane Powerhouse on Monday 27 March. See the QMAs' website for more details.
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