June Residency
From humble beginnings Tash Parker has come a long way in the four years since she moved from her home town of Kununurra in the Kimberley to Somers, Victoria. Establishing herself as a sought-after live act she has been invited to open for some of Melbourne’s top contemporary acts. This year she has already supported Gotye at the National Theatre, Missy Higgins at the Trak Lounge and Clare Bowditch at the Fly by Night, as well as performing at the esteemed Nannup Music Festival in WA.
‘Waking Up’ was produced by J.Walker (Machine Translations) and Wally De Backer (Gotye), and released on Tash’s very own independent record label Little Buildings, for which Tash secured distribution in Australia and New Zealand with the highly regarded Inertia Music. Waking Up was featured on iTunes as one of the top new independent releases for 2010 and she also made it into Madison Magazines top 3 breakthrough artists for 2010.
In June Tash will embark on an ambitious run of shows fueled by the idea of sharing the original music she has discovered in each state over the past 12 months. A dual state residency consisting of 3 shows a week curated by Tash will commence on Thursday the 9th of June in Byron Bay. Fridays will see her in Melbourne and Sundays on the Mornington Peninsula in Rye. She will be showcasing a guest performer from interstate each week and entry to all venues is free.
For more info head to the gig page
Related show
Three’s Company this weekend!
Hi!
I am starting to get butterflies in anticipation for this weekends tour with Scott Spark and The Rescue Ships. Why did I have to be the first headliner for the tour?! I am going through the usual series of questions every headliner has. “will people come to my show?”, “will they like my new band?” “will they like my new song?” “what should I wear?”, well maybe boys don’t think about that last one as much as I do. Secretly I think that’s the best bit about going on tour. Three new dresses to wear in three different cities. So many 3′s I think I may have gone a bit cuckoo!
Anyway here is an introduction to Scott Spark incase you haven’t heard of him
As a toddler, Scott Spark hung from Pandanus trees on Australia’s east coast, raised by two Great
Danes. And, at the age when most of us are still drooling and demanding to be dressed as fictional
characters, Scott was taking keyboard lessons, still drooling albeit in his Superman outfit.
Now, minus the tights and cape, he sings about shift-work, strategies for outsmarting death, love,
wanderlust at Christmastime and life’s variety of fuck-ups, while plinking the keys of anything
that has them. As showcased on his debut album, Fail Like You Mean It, his sound is some kind
of threesome between Randy Newman, Fiona Apple and ELO.
2010 was the result of 18 months behind-the-scenes work, culminating in close to 50 shows
throughout metropolitan and regional Australia, including tours with ARIA Award-winning artists
Washington and Tim Rogers (You Am I). Early in 2010, he was unearthed by triple j to attend
the Song Summit conference in Sydney and its masterclass sessions. Soon after, Sydney-based
indie label Other Tongues (You Am I, Lisa Miller, Dereb the Ambassador) picked up Scott’s
work and released his debut album Fail Like You Mean It, with tracks achieving rotation on triple
j and community radio stations countrywide.
You can find Scott’s music and more about him here…….
And The Rescue Ships!
The Rescue Ships fuses Elana Stone’s jazz influenced rock with Brian Campeau’s multi-layered experimental folk, citing influences like Sufjan Stevens, Owen Pallett, and the Dirty Projectors. Brian’s latest album was called “genuine genius” by Drum Media, and Elana has been described by the Age as “one of the best singing voices in the country.”
Three’s Company Tour
Hey Folks,
I’m playing my first headline show for 2011 in a few weeks. I am going to have a full band again and would really love to see you there. Keep an eye out for our sexy posters by the amazing Kat Kallady that will be going up in the area next week. Spread the word.
Cheers
Three's Company Tour Poster
In the first week of May, The Rescue Ships (Sydney’s Elana Stone & Brian Campeau), Scott Spark (Brisbane) and Tash Parker (Melbourne) will ricochet between their home cities for the Three’s Company tour. The idea’s simple – three acts from three states play three shows, three nights in a row, with each artist headlining in their own city.
PRE-PURCHASE ($10) below (or $12 on the door)
Thurs 05 May – Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy, Melbourne
Fri 06 May – The Globe, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane:
Sat 07 May – Spectrum, Darlinghurst, Sydney:
The Rescue Ships fuses Elana Stone’s jazz influenced rock with Brian Campeau’s multi-layered experimental folk, influenced by Sufjan Stevens, Owen Pallett, and the Dirty Projectors. Brian’s latest album was called “genuine genius” by Drum Media, and Elana has been described by the Age as “one of the best singing voices in the country.” The pair join Tash and Scott after a string of shows internationally, and are in the midst of recording their new album.
Unearthed by triple j early last year, Scott Spark released his debut album ‘Fail Like You Mean It’ in September and toured countrywide with Washington, ending 2010 with two Christmas shows with Tim Rogers. Aside from writing plenty of new material for his sophomore album, Scott’s also co-writing the anti-musical OMFG. His sound is some kind of threesome between Randy Newman, Fiona Apple and ELO.
Please sign up on the facebook event so we know you are coming
Related show
Supporting Ajak Kwai
I am so excited to be sharing the stage with this incredible woman on March 30th at The Wesley Anne. Those of you who haven’t heard of her Ajak Kwai is originally from Southern Sudan but has lived in Australia since 1999. Her voice is so unique and contains so much emotion. Here is some more info about her musical career.
Ajak Kwai brings an exciting African vocal style and repertoire, given a contemporary treatment by the local musicians who work with her. In performance, She is a thoroughly engaging artist with a compelling vocal style and a delightfully wry sense of the absurd!
Ajak sings the traditional songs of her Dinka heritage in southern Sudan and her own contemporary work, reflecting on issues of life in the 21st Century. Her history includes childhood immersion in the traditional musical culture of her village, adolescence and early adulthood in exile, in Cairo, followed by humanitarian migration to Australia. Ajak has seen a lot of life, – much suffering and much affection. It’s all good material for a songwriter.
Ajak Kwai and Sarah Blasko have co-written and recorded a song for the album The Key of the Sea, which is an album of collaborations between key Australian artists and artists who’ve brought their incredible musical cultures to Australia. It is a record of a creative process, a searching for common ground between musicians from vastly different cultural backgrounds. A document of shared music and stories exchanged. http://www.keyofsea.com.au/
Listen here: http://www.myspace.com/ajakkwai
Gone Cycling – Raising money for Timor Aid
This is a charity that I have been involved with over the last 6 months. They are releasing a documentary (featuring my music) on February 26th. Unfortunately I can be at the launch but I wanted to show my support for this amazing group of people and the work they do.
This is their message to you.
GONE CYCLIN’ was made up of a bunch of young people living the corporate world – who wanted to make a difference to the world, and inspire other young people to do the same!
To take a break from the desk job – and get out into the world, challenge themselves – and give something back to our earth and our neighbours in developing countries so – joined two UNTRAINED cyclists in the TOUGHEST BIKE RACE IN THE WORLD; The Tour De Timor!
The journey was life-changing – challenging – devastating – and exciting. The spirit of East Timor was so inspirational – even through the areas most affected by poverty, malnutrition and grief from an horrific history – every village burst into life as the teams cycled past – waiving, cheering, while celebrating their independence, and mostly their PRIDE at hosting such an incredible event.
The aim? To raise over SGD 50 000 for TIMOR AID!
We would love to invite you to COME and JOIN THE EXPERIENCE of these riders via the documentary screening of SPINNING DREAMS!!!! There will be Timorese Culture and Artwork on display, LIVE music from the bands which contributed to the Soundtrack of the Documentary (Poca La Pax, The Parking Lot Experiments, Beth King and the Hemingway Collective….) and an Auction of traditional “Tais” made from the women weavers of Timor Leste working with Timor Aid and photography of Timor Leste.
Please help us make this event something to remember forever – 100% of the proceeds go DIRECTLY into our cause – Timor Aid – To help women “weavers” in remote communities receive training and education – creating confidence and hope for future generations!
Much Love,
The Team at Gone Cyclin’ Australia & Singapore
Gotye and Missy Higgins supports SOLD OUT
Friday January 14th @ The National Theatre – Supporting Gotye! SOLD OUT
Sorry to all of you who missed out on tickets for this show. Wally and I hope to play many more shows together in the future. Please jump on his mailing list to make sure you don’t miss out next time.
Sunday January 16th @ Trak Lounge Bar – Supporting Missy Higgins SOLD OUT
This one sold out in 4 days! Sorry I didn’t let you all know earlier. In case you were interested it’s a fundraiser with 100% of the proceeds going towards trying to save the Kimberley from the massive industrial development that the government has planned. I will also be donating 100% of all my merch sold at this gig to the cause. http://www.savethekimberley.com/
Related show
Post tour depression imminent
Hi!
I’m home after an amazing run of shows in Hobart, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron, Rye and of course a Melbourne date or two. I am stuffed! So I’m going to get an early night but will post in the next few days with all the amazing stories, pictures, links etc. Hold tight till then.
Thanks for tuning in
Tash
Yes, you can watch my launch!
So you couldn’t make it to the show tonight but you’re not going to miss out. Thanks wonderful messages, hope you enjoy the show.
Begins 10:00pm EST
xo
Album Launch this Sunday
The album’s international release will be happening this Friday so please jump onto the website and purchase your copy or head to iTunes to download it.
The Melbourne album launch is this weekend! Tell your friends and come on down if you are in town.
For those of you in the east. I’m coming back for shows in a few weeks. Have a look at these shows and if there is one near you, please come down and grab your copy of the album in person.
Release Update
Due to delays with the printing of the album we have decided to release one week later. The official release date for Waking Up is now Friday November 5th.
The good news is that I picked them up on Tuesday and the package looks devine! Here is a sneak peak at the beautiful packaging by Kat Kallady.
I am offering all my lovely fans and friends from the mailing list an exclusive offer to pre-order the album from my website now. The first 30 people will receive a lovely recycled stock sticker of the artwork and a $5 gift voucher redeemable at any of my shows for the next 12 months.
If you are interested in pre-purchasing a copy of the album now just click here.