HOMEBAKE 2006 TAKES SHAPE

With rumours abounding that Homebake’s 2006 edition will be the last to go by that name before it retitles itself fully to ‘Party in the Park’ to join the ever-growing list of festivals in Australia capable of attracting international headliners, Homebake has confirmed its 2006 date and headline bands.

Silverchair will launch their fifth album at their headlining set at Homebake’s twelth year. The album, still untitled, is in the final stages of recording, with the band having recorded with Nick Launay (producer of the band’s best album, Neon Ballroom), with Paul Mac joining the band in Los Angeles as confirmed in these pages a few weeks back as we celebrated Splendour in the Grass 2006.

The band are currently in Prague tracking orchestral pieces on three songs, before they will return to Los Angeles to start the mixing process. Silverchair last played Homebake in 1999, with frontman Daniel Johns wearing a pretty damn spectacular purple mirrored suit.

Others on the bill are Eskimo Joe, Scribe who has his second album out just before to follow up the 100,000 selling The Crusader, Youth Group whose Casino Twilight Dogs album debuted at #10 last week, Hilltop Hoods whose own tour is virtually sold out, rising Melbourne act Gotye , The Butterfly Effect, You Am I, The Presets, Bob Evans, Little Birdy, Infusion, Midnight Juggernauts, Kid Kenobi & MC Sureshock, Parkway Drive, Augie March, and siblings Angus and Julia Stone, with more still to be announced.

Amongst a number of curiosities, Homebake 2006 will feature a reunion set by the Models, one of the most popular of Australian bands during the early 1980s. Homebake 2006 will also find Abba tribute band Björn Again hitting the Australian festival circuit, having performed over 4,000 concerts in over 60 countries over the last decade.

Toni Collette & The Finish will make their debut too.

Meanwhile, a DVD documenting the first ten years entitled Homebake - The First Ten Chapters will be released in August. It features footage from Silverchair, The Finn Brothers, Powderfinger, Wolfmother, Jet, Grinspoon, 1200 Techniques, Eskimo Joe, You Am I and many more.

There’s also bonus footage and it all comes in a case with insert illustrating the ‘art of Homebake’ over the first ten years.

This year’s Homebake charity is Youth Off The Streets, which supports chronically homeless and drug addicted young Australians as they work to turn their lives around.

The festival will also focus its attention on the forthcoming Australian release of the shocking movie, Invisible Children. It’s about the effect of the 20 year old war in Uganda on children, who are abducted to fight.

Dates:
Saturday December 2 - The Domain, Sydney

MOSS NEVER TIRES

Having just completed a national sell out tour of a massive114 dates with label mates Jon Stevens and The Choirboys, Ian Moss will be back in Sydney to perform a run of solo dates showcasing his beautiful acoustic album Six Strings before he heads back into the studio.

Six Strings, which was Ian’s first album in eight years, was recorded at Sydney’s iconic Sandringham Hotel last year and Ian is returning to the Sando in August for another residency.

It will be a very up close and personal experience which the bigger venues can’t provide.

On performing solo, Ian says, “Only once in a blue moon would I try doing a solo show in the old days, and that was with an electric guitar. I thought this would be easy it wasn’t. You have to reappraise the whole thing, play differently, change your soloing style. You have to go back to the song, look at what the lyrics are about, find a new way to express them. It’s a real challenge but a rewarding one.”

In his recent tour, Ian had every punter in every venue singing along to classic Ian Moss and Chisel tracks which included “Tuckers Daughter”, “Out of the Fire”, “My Baby”, “Bow River”, “Saturday Night” and Ian’s incredible version of “When the War Is Over” brought the house down every night.

The shows have been a surprising revelation with a lot of his fans saying his recent acoustic shows have been the best live show they have ever been to - and these are hard core chisel fans that have been to most chisel shows over the years. People are walking away from these shows completely blown away by the quality of Ian’s voice. It’s common knowledge afterall that he’s an amazing guitarist but many haven’t realised his vocal talents are just as astounding.

Dates:
AUGUST 2006
Friday 4 - Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba
Saturday 5 - Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba
Wednesday 9 - Sandringham Hotel, Newtown
Thursday 10 - Sandringham Hotel, Newtown
Friday 11 - Sandringham Hotel, Newtown
Saturday 12 - Sandringham Hotel, Newtown