Hipster Watch: Bigsound 2011

Hipsters love finding bands no one knows, yet are still good to listen to. Bigsound is Brisbane's answer to the South by Southwest festival. For a few days, the Valley is overrun by music everywhere you look. There's live music, there's workshops, there's speeches and it's basically everything you need to be in the music industry in one place. It sounds like the perfect place for a hipster to get the inside knowledge.

The best part for the average punters like you and me, apart from occasionally seeing a famous guest speaker, is the live music event. One ticket, for $55, gets you 80+ bands across multiple venues over 2 days. And the best part is, being a music convention, it's going to be the best of the up and coming bands in our country fighting for attention. No matter what, we, the punters, win. Check out the band list so far:

The Getaway Plan
Horrorshow
Calling All Cars
Emma Louise
Eagle & the Worm
Busby Marou
Trial Kennedy
Evil Eddie
Last Dinosaurs
Adalita
Big Scary
The Adults (feat. Shihad's Jon Toogood) (NZ)
The Sheepdogs (Canada)
Jonathan Boulet
DZ Deathrays
Bleeding Knees Club
Ball Park Music
The Medics
Avalanche City (NZ)
Stonefield
Jinja Safari
Owl Eyes
Boy In a Box
Damn Dogs (Feat. Chris & Mark from Jet)

Okay, granted, the Getaway Plan has been around as long as I've been going to gigs in Brisbane (if we forget when they broke up) but the rest is some of the best of Australia's new music. DZ Deathrays, The Medics, Calling All Cars, Jonathon Boulet, Ball Park Music and Trial Kennedy are getting me excited. I don't even know half of the bands there, but I'm sure it's going to be awesome.

If you want to find great new music before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon, head to this. Not to mention, it's great bloody value. It's happening September 7-9 at various venues around the Valley.

Numbers Radio

Numbers Radio are a great rock and roll band from Brisbane, who blew me away when they opened for the Bronx last year. It was an unexpected combination, as they play more of an alternative/indie rock style than the Bronx's hardcore punk, but they were still great.

These boys are still young, but they've already played in other great Brisbane bands. Numbers Radio started as a side project, but it's starting to go off. They've released a debut album and you can get some of their tracks on their Unearthed website for free.

They've got a few shows coming up in January, touring with some other great Australian bands:
Jan 6, Boys & Girls (X&Y), 18+
Jan 25, Lifeboat (Southbank Ferris Wheel) with Cola Wars
Jan 27, Noosa RSL (with Cola Wars)
Jan 28, Beenleigh Tavern (with Cola Wars)
Jan 29, Runaway Bay Tavern (with Cola Wars)
Mar 18, Step Inn (with Trial Kennedy)

MySpace

Shihad

Another band I saw on this day last year (at the Sounds of Spring, see last post) were the Kiwi greats Shihad. They've been around for over 22 years now and put out one of the great Australasian rock albums ever made in the General Electric in 1999.


If we ignore the few years they changed names to Pacifier to avoid confusion with the post 9-11 jihads, they've probably been one of the most consistent rock acts to come from our Pacific region.

Shihad will be releasing a new album soon and as such will be leaving New Zealand to tour it around Australia, their country of greatest success.

November 12, the Zoo.
November 13, the Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast.

Joining them will be Melbourne's Trial Kennedy, an alternative/emo band, that sounds a lot like Gyroscope.

Shihad
Trial Kennedy