Rocket Sauce Launches at Alice Desert Festival!

A new NT band formed at Alice Desert Festival, which wound up on September 20. "Rocket Sauce now launched" was posted yesterday on the MuNT Forum by member Matt Hill. It was his way of cryptically tipping us off that there's a new kid on the block... 

Matt and three other NT musicians formed an impromptu band for the Alice Desert Festival. "Rocket Sauce" explains Matt, is "honky-tonk crooner, roots n' toots, dirty surf n' swingin' funk, with about 45 seconds of drum n bass!" He continues, "it was meant to be a solo set from me but Dr Flouride (Sandridge Band), D-Day (Dr. Strangeways) as well as Danilla Ice popped a band together in 3 days." They then "took the festival by surprise! We are now... ROCKET SAUCE! (rocket sauce!) 'Cause everytime we say it, we say it again!" Watch out for gigs...

More NT bands played on Radio National

ABC radio presenter Tim Ritchie continues his love affair with NT music, post-iNTune Music Conference. Under the banner "Northern Blasts", this Friday 25/9/09 he will feature tracks by Blastcorp, Semishigure and Red Plum & Snow on his program 'Sound Quality'. It will be also be available online from Sound Quality website.

Spotlight on 5 NT artists on triple j Unearthed.

triple j presenter Dom Alessio (Home & Hosed) presents a podcast of Unearthed, featuring five NT artists: Cooperblack (pictured above), 2 Cats 1 Hat, The Moving Targets, Jess Riberio & The Bone Collectors and The Aviators.

Download the podcast (Episode #29)

Grind - now online!!

Darwin's 'for youth by youth' magazine Grind has reincarnated online.

This week it launches its first online Local Music Page, about the local music scene in Darwin. The Aviators are the first feature artists, and you can win a copy of their album, Here There Everywhere. Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors are up next month. An initiative of Darwin City Council, "GRIND wants to spread the love and promote local music," offering free CDs and listing to subscribers. Visit Grind.

Blastcorp starts national tour.

Music NT Forum member Blastcorp aka Kris Keogh kicks off an East Coast tour this week, visiting Newcastle, Melbourne and Sydney through the month of October. Kris will be speaking - and demonstrating his beloved Monome contoller - at This Is Not Art festival in Newcastle, and collaborating with other electronic artists throughout the tour. For further details visit his MySpace and Blastcorp sites.

Dave Garnham wins Darwin heat of Road To Tamworth!

King of the road... Fresh from the NT Songwriters Retreat, on Sunday September 20th MuNT Forum member Dave Garnham (The Moving Targets) won the Darwin heat of the 'Telstra Road to Tamworth' Competition. Visit here for the full report. Read the NT News article on Dave's win, and watch a video of Dave singing 'Phantom Limb' below, produced by MuNT Forum member James Dunlevie.

Music NT wishes Dave the best of luck!

Boys with Cow.....

Robbie Collins (APRA) and Dave Garnham (The Moving Targets) working hard at the inaugural Music NT/APRA Songwriter Retreat at Mt Bundy Station. 10 Songwriters, 3 Days, 1 Cow. More here...

Writing a Music Business Plan

At some stage in everyband you need to have a plan. You can go along and gig, record, tour etc but if there is not plan in place no matter whether its detailed or on one page this soon becomes unstuck. Check this link for a great guide to making Music specific business plans.. and remember also that Music NT is here to help with this stuff. Use us :)

AWME announces first round of performers.

Now in its second year, the Australasian World Music Expo (AWME) in Melbourne is one of the Australia-Pacific region's biggest music industry conferences. It's also a Festival and showcase of Indigenous, roots and world music.

AWME recently announced its first round of showcasing artists and international delegates for 2009, with more announcements to come. Line up includes: Blue King Brown, Archie Roach, Djan Djan (featuring Jeff Lang), Laya Film Project and many more.

Visit the AWME site for details. Online registrations close 5pm Monday November 16. The Expo dates are Nov 19 - 22, 2009.

AMRAP announce AiriT

Recent iNTune Music Conference Speaker Nadia Onus from AMRAP (Australian Music Radio Airplay Project) today announced a new initiative at Big Sound music conference in Brisbane.

AirIT is community radio’s exclusive catalogue of new release Australian music. Music ordered by broadcasters and music directors for airplay will be delivered on CD or via digital delivery. AMRAP will foot the bill for this initiative and the service will remain 100% free for record labels, stations and broadcasters. 

For more info visit the AMRAP site.

Music NT e-news ushers in a new era!

Formerly the iNTune newsletter, Music NT e-news is the brand new version! It's better, bolder and will keep you up to date every month with specific developments, opportunities and news happening in NT music. So sign up now! Open to all Forum members, Music NT members and anyone interested in NT music, to subscribe it's simple. Just fill in your details in the subscription fields above this news feed, under the banner music nt e-news. You can't miss it!

Rhubee Neale featured on NIRS website!

Music NT Forum member Rhubee Neale is one busy lady! Recently nominated for the 'Song Of The Year' award at the 2009 NT Indigenous Music Awards, the Alice-based singer/songwriter was recently interviewed by Kylie Henry at National Indigenous Radio. 

Listen to Rhubee's interview.

Rhubee will also be performing Sunday September 13 with a choir at the Alice Desert Festival, as part of 'Desert Voice' at The Pod from 6pm. For more details consult page 6 of the Alice Desert Festival program. 

Telstra Road to Tamworth

The 2009 Telstra Road to Tamworth competition is now open and we are keen to get great local talent entering the next HEAT in Darwin on September 20

Overall prizes for the Telstra Road to Tamworth include a return trip to Nashville with the opportunity for both the performer and songwriter winner to record a track, get great Telstra products and services plus a raft of other prizes.

As you could win a place to perform, please ensure that you are available on Sunday September 20 between 3:00pm – 8:00pm.

So, if you’ve got country music stars in your eyes then now’s the time to jump online to telstra.com/beinvolved and enter the 2009 Telstra Road to Tamworth competition TODAY!!

New video for Jessica Mauboy

NT R&B artist Jessica Mauboy releases the video for her new single 'Up/Down'. It is the fifth release from her album 'Been Waiting' with the new clip shot in LA. Jessica won 'Song Of The Year' and 'Album Of The Year' at the recent NT Indigenous Music Awards.

View the video.

We're excited! MuNT Forum has 200 members!

Dean Metcalfe from Darwin is the 200th member of the Music NT Forum! He wins a great prize from Music NT - the 'Music NT Golden Ticket'!! (Yes, it's all very Willy Wonka, we know..) Dean will gain free entry to any gig that Music NT is officially partnered in, anywhere in the Northern Territory, for one year, from January 1st - December 31st, 2010. Read more here.

triple j features 2 stories about NT music!

As part of a special 2 week series featuring the Northern Territory, triple j's current affairs program Hack has broadcast 2 stories on original music in the NT! Hear Mega-Jess, Alex Brindell and Dave Garnham discussing the future of Happy Yess... And a story about hip hop workshops at Yuendumu. Stories by Hack reporter Kaitlyn Sawrey, who was in the NT recently attending Garma Festival.

Calling all submission writers!!

Music NT is developing a new initiative to team up Central Australian Bush Bands with experienced grant submission writers, for mutually beneficial outcomes. 

Writers can meet Bush Bands during the  Alice Desert Festival to discuss ways of sourcing funding for activities such as touring and recording, and to assist contemporary Indigenous musicians reach their full potential. 
Click here for more info or contact:
Rory Davis - Coordinator Music NT
rorydavis@musicnt.com.au,  0413 754 264