Yours & Owls Announces 2017 Line-Up
After a ripper of a line-up in 2016 with the heavy hitting bill drawing crowds to the ‘gong, you would be excused if you thought that Yours & Owls couldn’t get any better…. but you would be wrong!
This year the beachside town is playing host to one of the most diverse and eclectic group of artists to date, featuring an all-star line-up of Aussie talents alongside some of the best international artists from across the globe.
Staying true to its philosophy of bringing people together through the mutual love and shared experience of music Yours & Owls is a true celebration of live music. This year will be no different, making sure the stage and atmosphere is set for one hell of a time. Without further a due, ladies and gentlemen the class of 2017…
Texan titans At The Drive In are back, doing what they do best—rewriting all the rules. Early last year fans were delivered the news they had been longing for… the band had reunited; announcing plans to release new music and to tour the globe, ATDI blew in to the country and stormed the stage at Splendour in The Grass and played to sell-out crowds in Sydney and Melbourne, officially marking their grand return. ‘Governed By Contagions’ was released in December last year, the first taste of what to expect from the band’s fourth studio record ‘in • ter a • li • a’. Follow-up face-melter’s ‘Incurably Innocent’ and ‘Hostage Stamps’ hit the airwaves and finally, the pièce de résistance; fans got what they were waiting for with the release of the full album, just in time to let it sink in before the band hit the stage at Yours & Owls.
Making avant-garde electro music cool since their conception in 2003, The Presets bought it to the mainstream with 2008 album Apocalypso, which managed to pull in six ARIA Awards, including Album of the Year! Hard-hitting club tracks ‘My People’ and ‘Talk Like That’ filled dance floors everywhere, and they were hot commodities on the major festival circuits, playing Splendour in the Grass, Field Day and performing alongside electro-royalty Daft Punk. Expect these guys to take you well in to early hours of the morning……
Multi-Platinum Australian artist Illy has made a habit out of defying expectations, with his latest album Two Degrees debuting at #1 on the ARIA chart, beating out the likes of Leonard Cohen and Michael Buble’s Christmas Album (massive!). Featuring 3 x Platinum and 6 x ARIA nominated hit ‘Papercuts (feat. Vera Blue)’ and Platinum selling ‘Catch 22 (feat. Anne-Marie)’, he took the album to the streets for his largest Australian tour to date. Nominated for six ARIA Awards, including Best Male Artist and Song Of The Year, Illy has proved why he is one of the biggest names in the Aussie hip hop game, pulling crowds at Splendour In The Grass, Groovin’ The Moo and Falls Festival.
Brissie legends and max-chillers Dune Rats will be hitting the Y & O’s stage fresh off the back of their sold-out national Australian tour, regional FUCK YEAH LEDGE YEW! Tour, and a slot at this year’s Splendour in the Grass. Help the Dunies find their mate Scott Green before they pump out the tunes from their ARIA # 1 and triple j feature album The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit, featuring new single ‘Braindead’ alongside ‘Bullshit’ which hit # 34 in the 2016 Triple J Hottest 100 list.
After All Day dropped his debut album Start Up Cult in 2014, it quickly sparked the interest of audiences across Australia and came in at a massive #3 on the Aria Charts, only to fall behind SIA and Ed Sheerhan. Spawning hit singles ‘Right Now’ and ‘You Always Know The DJ’, he quickly caught the ear of seasoned tastemakers like Sway Calloway, Complex, and Pigeons & Planes. 2017 he is back in full force with fresh track ‘Raceway’ off his brand new album Speeding. Following on from his performance at this year’s Splendour in the Grass, see him take to the stage with a bunch of new material to get your ears around.
Northlane will be taking it full throttle so get ready to step it up a notch! Taking out the coveted ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album in 2016, they unveiled their follow-up album Mesmer early this year, featuring track ‘Citizen’. The abiding theme of Mesmer (produced by David Bendeth – Bring Me The Horizon, Paramore, A Day To Remember) is magnetism between all living creatures, something which has its roots in the psychedelic experience and which has been percolating within Northlane’s consciousness since the band’s inception.
Three-piece electronica, indie/pop band SAFIA have been “ones to watch” since they first formed, having supported Lorde and Disclosure, and played coveted slots at Groovin the Moo, Field Day, Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival, The Great Escape (UK), Primavera Festival (SPAIN), and SXSW. Sitting at over 20 Million online streams, landing high rotation with six singles at triple j and placing in triple j’s Hottest 100 three consecutive years in a row, who would have thought this trio only just released their debut album Internal late last year! Lead singles, ‘Make Them Wheels Roll’ and ‘Over You’ have seen them clock over 9 million streams on Spotify on those two tracks alone.
The Preatures burst onto the scene with lead single ‘Is This How You Feel’, which catapulted them as “ones to watch” both locally and internationally. With two acclaimed EPs to their name, sold out Australian tours and a ton of buzz thanks to blistering showcases at CMJ & SXSW in the US, the band went on to release their highly anticipated LP Blue Planet Eyes. Landing themselves spots at Glastonbury, Coachella, Bonnarroo and Jimmy Kimmy Live, The Preatures will be coming in hot with their hip-hugging baselines and choruses, so get ready to pop along to the delicious grooves of tracks ‘I Know A Girl’ and ‘Somebody’s Talking’
Get ready to get reeeeal sweaty when Adelaide’s straight-up rockers Bad//Dreems come to the party, playing their hard hitting debut album Gutful, which features the noisy lead single ‘Mob Rule’, as well as the tracks that saw them championed as one of the country’s most exciting guitar acts ‘Cuffed and Collared’ and ‘Dumb Ideas’. Their renowned, tangled, sweaty and cathartic live shows has seen them hit the road as supports for some of the biggest names including Robert Forster (Go Between), At The
Drive In, The Living End and The Avalanches, as well as being billed on the country’s biggest festivals Splendour in the Grass and Laneway Festival
Born in 2015 at triple j’s Beat The Drum, A.B. Original have quickly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the hip hop game, with their debut album Reclaim Australia clocking up massive praise, earning itself a triple j feature album and winning them the prestigious AMP Award. Tearing up stages, performing their powerful tracks ‘26 January’ and ‘2 Black 2 Strong’, at some of Australia’s biggest festivals including Laneway Festival and this year’s Splendour in the Grass, and enlisting
Australian royalty for a special Like a Version, this is an act you don’t want to miss!
Selling her beloved 1999 Corolla to fund her debut B-Grade University EP, Alex Lahey firmly secured herself as one of the most talked about newcomers of 2016. Embracing a simple, homespun story-telling style, the music industry was set abuzz with the insanely catchy ‘You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me’, getting the nod of approval from Pitchfork, picking up adds across triple j, triple j unearthed and Fbi and finally winning the best female artist category at The Age Music Victoria Awards. Securing slots at Blurst of Times, Groovin the Moo and the Big Pineapple festivals this year, Alex Lahey will be bringing her guitar-driven hooks and fuzzed-out sound straight to the stage at this year’s Yours + Owls.
Like the best of them, singer-songwriter, Ali Barter was a classically trained choirgirl turned rambler and ‘rat bag’, embracing her ‘Girlie Bits’ and showing what she is really made of with her debut album A Suitable Girl, picking up a triple j feature along the way. Teaming up with musical soul mate Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy) to deliver a record that’s reminiscent of a 90’s soundtrack, Ali Barter has been slaying it on the stage front supporting The War On Drugs, The Jezabels and City Calm Down, performing at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival and Beyond The Valley, and stepping it up to take on Tame Impala’s ‘Cause I’m A Man’ for Like A Version.
For their sixth album, garbagepop veterans AJJ (FKA Andrew Jackson Jihad) chose to reinforce their strengths and leave any limp frivolities behind. The change of name cleared a space for new imagery and allowed their music to define them, not their band name, and with that their album The Bible 2 was born. Playing at some of America’s biggest music offerings including SXSW and Coachella, this will be the first time to hit Australian audiences with their new record and new name. Oozing with scuzzy punk screeds, ‘Goodbye, Oh Goodbye’ and ‘Cody’s Theme’ are the perfect tracks to have a boogie on a warm ‘gong day with a beer in hand.
Let alt-pop four-piece City Calm Down’s soaring anthemic-sounds rain down on you as they make their Y + O’s debut performance at this year’s festival. The band’s debut album In A Restless House landed itself a triple j feature album and scored praise from tastemakers NME and Apple’s Beats 1. Lead single ‘Rabbit Run’ has clocked up over 1.3 million streams on Spotify and the band took on Foals’ Spanish Sahara’ for their Like A Version. Picking up sets at Brighton’s The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City and selling out their London headline shows, on the home front the guys have played sunset slots at Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass and played their largest Australian shows to date.
After capturing the attention with their infectious debut ‘Boyfriend (Repeat)’, elusive four-piece Confidence Man are back at it again with follow-up single ‘Bubblegum’. Their much-talked about live show has seen them play a national support slot for Chairlift and festivals, including the coveted triple j unearthed spot at Brisbane Laneway Festival and The Plot, as well as A Festival Called Panama and Golden Plains. Made a triple j unearthed Feature Artist and securing a spot on NME’s Best Songs of 2017 list, you won’t be able to resist the urge to boogie.
Drawing from a vast array of musical influences, Cosmo’s Midnight have cultivated their own twist on electronica so beautifully distinct that it sets them at the helm of the new generation of Australian producers. Twin beat makers’ eclectic taste has seen them handpicked to give their own spin on tracks
from the likes of Flume and Goldlink, and their latest release ‘History’ has clocked up over 3.3 million streams on Spotify and counting. Their engaging live set has seen them grace the festival stages of Splendour In The Grass, Listen Out, Big Day Out, OutsideIn Festival and Field Day, as well as support worldwide tastemakers XXYYXX, Cashmere Cat, Tokimonsta, Porter Robinson and Alison Wonderland.
Live electronic trio Crooked Colours are finally back after a 18-month hiatus! Giving their fans a taste of what to expect from their long-awaited LP, out later this year (just in time for Y + O’s!), lead single ‘Flow’ could very easily be their most captivating production to date. With a slew of festival appearances under their belt including St Jerome’s Laneway, Groovin The Moo, Parklife, Wonderland & Southbound Festivals, they have kicked off this year with a bang, touring the vineyards of AUS with Hot Dub Wine Machine.
HOLY HOLY’s break-out album When The Storms Would Come, featuring ‘You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog’ saw them debut at #11 on the ARIA Chart, hit the top 10 on the iTunes chart, added to rotation on triple j (not 1, but 6 songs off the album) and sell out tours across the country. Touring up a storm with Vance Joy and Boy & Bear; playing coveted spots at Splendour In The Grass and Falls Festival and headlining BIGSOUND, the band have also toured through UK & Europe, selling out London shows and playing festivals such as Dot To Dot, Liverpool Music Week, Primavera Festival (Barcelona), and London Calling (Amsterdam). Unveiling their second album Paint on audiences earlier this year, watch on as they perform crowd favourites ‘Darwinism’ and ‘Elevator’
Led by the enigmatic Teri Gender Bender, Le Butcherettes are more than qualified to unleash their garage punk goodness on to the Yours & Owls crowd this year, having toured with some of the biggest artists in the game including Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age and played both Coachella and Lollapalooza. Their albums have seen collaborations with Henry Rollins, Shirley Manson and fellow Y & O’s artist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (ATDI) and include spitting tracks ‘Henry Don’t Got Love’ and ‘I’m Getting Sick of You’
21-year-old Sydney singer/songwriter Montaigne (aka Jessica Cerro) took the music world by storm last year, with her debut, triple j feature album Glorious Heights, skyrocketing her to super stardom with lead single ‘Because I Love You’ hitting over 2.2 million streams on Spotify and securing her the prestigious award of Breakthrough Artist at last year’s ARIAS. Debuting at #4 on the ARIA charts and nominated for a triple j award, she was also nominated for the Cosmopolitan ‘Fearless Woman of the Year’ award. Playing sold out arenas with Hilltop Hoods and her own sold out national tour, plus the nation’s favourite festivals including Groovin’ The Moo, Secret Garden and Splendour in the Grass, Montaigne proves it’s okay to be a ‘Fantastic Wreck’.
Melbourne six-piece Northeast Party House stay true to their name, bringing the party vibes and forming massive dance floors wherever they go. Certified banger ‘The Haunted’ has featured as the soundtrack to house parties around Australia and the world, and lead single ‘For You’, off their latest album Dare, has managed to pull over a whopping 1.1 million streams on Spotify. Wowing audiences across the US, UK and Europe, playing at major festivals including The Great Escape, Dot To Dot, CMJ, and on their home turf at Falls Festival and Groovin the Moo, let them grab you by the hand and take you on to that d-floor!
Fusing bits of emo and pop-punk with melodic indie rock, US band Sorority Noise released their emotional bulldozer of an album You’re Not As _____ As You Think, an unfiltered, inward look of confusion, anger, life, death, mental health and, most importantly, hope. Touring the US and Europe, playing headline shows and festivals, before touching down for the Y & O’s festival, you’ll get to hear new material ‘No Halos’ and old favourites ‘Blonde Hair No Lungs’
Known for their frenetic live performances, US rockers The Orwells will feel right at home as they smash out their recent offering Terrible Human Beings, wailing and grinding to ‘They Put A Body In The Bayou’ and ‘Buddy’. They will be hitting the road in the US for a couple of headline shows and playing Bonaroo Music Festival, before heading over to Europe to support Weezer on their massive stadium tours.
Trophy Eyes have had an epic five months since they released their acclaimed new album Chemical Miracle, which debuted at #8 on the ARIA Album Chart and has been lauded for its raw emotion, depth of introspection and courage. Backing it up with a chill-inducing set at UNIFY 2017, selling out their biggest Australian headline tour to date, the demand for the boys from Newcastle was so strong that half the tour sold out two months in advance. Getting the taste for packed audiences and sold out venues, they are bringing their wildly successful album to Y + O’s, performing mammoth tracks ‘Chlorine Eyes’ and ‘Breathe You In’
Nomadic pop-punk logo-maniac Bec Sandridge will be hitting the stage at the Yours + Owls festival once again, with her star-status rising each and every year. With a guitar swagger reminiscent of St. Vincent, and the delivery of new wave icons like Deborah Harry and David Byrne, 2017 has already been off to a cracking start. Her latest hit ‘High Tide’ landed high rotation on triple j, with Bec taking to the j studios to put her own little twist on Australia’s other national anthem ‘You’re The Voice’. With a myriad of shows under her belt, including support slots for The Rubens, Montaigne and Highasakite, and appearances at Secret Garden Festival, The Hills Are Alive and Groovin’ The Moo, watch in awe as this boss lady takes to the stage.
Ask Cash Savage how last year was and she’d tell you: “it was fucking awesome, but fucking hard”. It’s a statement that’s been instilled into the Melbournian’s growling alt-country for years, but never so strongly as on her newest album, One Of Us, opening with ‘Falling, Landing’ and featuring insomnia tainted ‘Rat-A-Tat-Tat. 2017 has already been a big year for Cash Savage and the Last Drinks with a sell out show at Sydney Festival, a mighty double bill with The Peep Tempel at Shimmerlands, Riverboats Music Festival and a return to the Super Amphitheatre for Golden Plains. Playing to a sold out Corner Hotel in Melbourne before disappearing to Europe for a string of northern-summer festivals, Yours + Owls audiences are in for a treat as this will be their first show back in AUS!
Armed with a Moog, a moustache and the need to continue the legacy of Moroder, Donny Benet is the dance floor commander that the world needs. Sensual, sophisticated and intoxicating, from festival slots at Vivid Live and Big Day Out to a beer soaked RSL, no space is too strange for Donny Benet to dominate. He will have you swinging those hips to ‘Working Out’ and living out your 80’s disco/travel fantasies with ‘Sex Tourist’. Hold on to your loins boys and girls, because you’re in for quite the ride!
New Zealand’s hottest new electronica/soul act Electric Wire Hustle are bringing their modern twist of hip-hop, psychedelic and soul to Wollongong, with their live shows being in such high demand that they have performed in 14 countries, appearing at festivals such as Glastonbury, SXSW, New York’s CMJ and FINALLY Yours & Owls! Their music has found support from The New York Times, BBC Radio and Wax Poets with ‘They Don’t Want’ skyrocketing to the number 1 spot on the Hype Machine and has had over 1 million streams on Spotify.
Inspired by bands in the classic Flying Nun Roster, New Zealand indie pop group Ghost wave spent their earliest days dealing with gear theft and playing opening sets for groups like Times New Viking and Explosions in the Sky. ‘Honeypunch’, off their 2016 album Radio Norfolk, finds themselves reviving the British explosion of the 1960s…..so just sit back, chill–out and let the music take you away.
Those that have witnessed Gold Class live can vouch that they still maintain the same raw and sophisticated, inventive and precise prowess that saw them emerge from the underground to play to packed crowds at Splendour in the Grass, Golden Plains and SXSW, and headline shows in AUS, US and UK. Their 2015 debut album It’s Not You, featuring lead single ‘Life As A Gun’, was short-listed for the prestigious Australian Music Prize, and their follow-up offerings ‘Kids On Fire’ and newly released ‘Twist in the Dark’ has left fans waiting in anticipation for their second album, which will be out just in time Yours & Owls!
Melbourne’s Ivan Ooze will be bringing the f*ckn ‘Fire’ with his rapid-fire flow and frenetic beats, including an off the charts collab with Ghostface Killah on track ‘Bills’. Coming off the back of a national tour with party legends Peking Duk, you know he will want to keep the party going once it hits the stage at Yours & Owls. You better be ready to party, because there is no slowing down for this rapper.
Brissie alt-indie group Major Leagues are bringing their fuzzed-out rock vibes to Y & O’s, with chiller tracks ‘It Was Always You’ and ‘Sometime Sometime’ setting you up for an afternoon of sun, surf and bevs. They will be out and about, playing a slew of headline shows along the east coast before they head down south to show you a bloody good time!
Arising from Sydney’s grimy warehouse scene, MOONBASE (FKA Moonbase Commander) effortlessly unleashed his first certified banger of 2017 with the massive collaboration ‘It Don’t Matter’ featuring superstar emcee and Grammy Nominated artist, Anderson .Paak. Uniting the worlds of hard-hitting hip-hop and forward-thinking bass music, he has supported the likes of Earl Sweatshirt and Tkay Maidza, picked up airplay on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 and triple J rotation, and performed at Groovin The Moo, Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass and SXSW.
Illawarra locals The Pinheads are bringing back their notoriously raucous, wild screaming live show to the ‘gong (because you know you just couldn’t get enough last year), but this time they are coming in hot with their brand new debut album to sink your teeth into. Unleashing their fury and igniting your loins with first single ‘Gimme Back’, you won’t know whether to run, dance or scream. Well on the way to becoming seasoned road hogs, The Pinheads have toured and shared the stage with King Gizzard, Fat White Family, Tumbleweed, Tomorrow’s Tulips, Hockey Dad, Drunk Mums and Skegss.
Emerging from the seemingly sleep suburbs of Adelaide Horror My Friend just can’t get enough of Yours & Owls, bringing their noisy, indie-rock back for another year! Branded as a pack of upstarts well worth keeping an eye on, the fellas have supported the likes of Violent Soho, DZ Deathrays and Swervedriver (UK), unleashed their 2016 debut album Stay In, Do Nothing, featuring massive track ‘Stay In’ onto excited ears and just recently given you a little taste of new material with the release of ‘DIYS’ earlier this year just in time for Yours & Owls.
Within 24 hours of uploading her debut single ‘I Want’ on to the triple j unearthed site, Sydney songwriter Ruby Fields had already copped a whopping 30,000 views and is already drawing comparisons to Ali Barter. Pegged as a one to watch, with only one single under her belt, she made her festival debut performance at the Blurst of Times Festival.
Seductive and sensual vibes mixed with a dash of hip-hop/electronica is what Melbourne duo Slum Sociable will be offering up as they lay you down with singles ‘All Night’ and ‘Name Call’, which is the first official single off their forthcoming debut album. Having played sets at Sugar Mountain, Laneway Festival and Splendour in the Grass, as well as selling out their own shows, this duo’s seductive charm has also cut through internationally, finding their way at Top 5 on the Hype Machine Charts.
Dreamy two-piece house-pop outfit TEES will make you feel nostalgic with their 90’s acid soaked dancehall vibes of ‘Got The Feeling’. Forging their platonic love from a carefully constructed cup of tea, the Sydney duo will carefully set you down on a bed of clouds with their lusciously ethereal track ‘Playground’. Creating their own path of music that reminds all who listen of a time and a sound that cannot easily be defined.
Giving the Yours + Owls Festival another solid nudge for the second year in a row are Sydney metal core party monsters Totally Unicorn, still hung-over, still overweight and still ready to party! Since the release of their Dream Life album, with blistering track ‘Customer Service Station’, the party doesn’t seem to be slowing down for them with the raucous, manimals kicking off 2017 with their ‘Party Goons’ National tour. Get your shirts off and BYO the tie-dye!
A big thank you to our sponsor family, including; Coopers, Thatchers, Captain Morgan, Smirnoff, Destination NSW, Destination Wollongong and Win TV
Yours & Owls Festival is an 18+ event.
September 30 & 1 Stuart Park North Wollongong NSW
Pre-Release Tickets (available to Y&O mailing list subscribers) on sale May 19
from moshtix & www.yoursandowlsfestival.com
GA Tickets on sale May 22 from moshtix & www.yoursandowlsfestival.com
yoursandowlsfestival.com.au || facebook.com/yoursandowlsfestival || instagram.com/yoursandowlsfestival|| twitter.com/yoursandowls
