King Gizzard, The Drones, Camp Cope and Alex Lahey celebrate wins at the 2016 Age Music Victoria Awards 

Published by: Sarah Guppy - This Much Talent | 17-Nov-2016
King Gizzard, The Drones, Camp Cope and Alex Lahey celebrate wins at the 2016 Age Music Victoria Awards. Last night saw the best of the best from the Victorian music landscape come together in celebration of the diverse talent being produced by the state over the last 12 months. With more than 46,000 votes across the public nominations, The Age Music Victoria Awards brought together a plethora of music identities to congratulate winners from more than two-dozen categories. Held at Melbourne's 170 Russell, the award ceremony was followed by a sold out after party to celebrate the achievements of states flourishing music industry. @musicvictoria #theagemusicvictoriaawards
The evening also provided further cause for celebration, with iconic Melbourne radio station RRR being inducted into the Age Music Victoria Hall of Fame, Chair of Board of Directors, former long-term broadcaster, and the station's first Music Coordinator Geoff King was humbled by the recognition, showing his gratitude to the station's loyal support base of listeners and volunteers:

"I'm really proud of the contribution Triple R has made to our musical and intellectual life so it's great to have such a public celebration in its 40th year. The Music Victoria Hall of Fame induction is a powerful way of recognising Triple R's achievements when placed alongside earlier inductees, particularly the likes of Stan Rofe and Bill Armstrong, without whom Melbourne would not have developed such a strong music scene."

In 2016, The Age Music Victoria Awards introduced a new category to its diverse awards list, with 'Best New Venue Under 500 Capacity' making its awards night debut on Wednesday night. Taking out the inaugural publicly voted gong for the category, iconic Collingwood hub The Tote, proving the venue is one of Melbourne's most sought after live music hotspots.

For the second consecutive year, eclectic jazz/blues soloist C.W. Stoneking took out the award for 'Best Male Artist', nudging out a tough nominee list, which included Briggs, Remi, Al Montfort and Henry Wagons.

Filling their pockets on more than one occasion during the night was the genre bending outfit King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, who walked away with 'Best Album' for their Nonagon Infinity release, 'Best Band' and 'Best Live Band', capping off a remarkable 2016 for the world beating psychedelic group.

The Drones also took to the stage on more than one occasion, picking up awards for 'Best Song' wit their offering 'Taman Shud', and landing the 'Best Regional Act' accolade.

Best Emerging Act winners Camp Cope received a showcase opportunity at BIGSOUND 2017, $2,000 Virgin Australia Voucher via Travel Beyond Group, Instore gig at Allans Billy Hyde, Crumpler bags.

Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan congratulated the of the nominees and winners, ''Congratulations to all of finalists and winners which included some usual suspects like the Drones, Melbourne Ska Orchestra and Kylie Auldist and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. And it's great to see some newer acts also picking up gongs like Camp Cope and Alex Lahey, who on stage tonight showed us why they are receiving rave reviews oversees for writing some of the freshest tunes around.''

The night was capped off by a number of special performances featuring the likes of soloist Tash Sultana, emerging rock trio Camp Cope and party ensemble Melbourne Ska Orchestra concluding the celebration of Victorian music.

Music Industry charity, Support Act received $5 from every ticket sold and every nominee was gifted a rehearsal / pre-production package from The Awards studio partner, Bakehouse Studios.

A fantastic night acknowledging the great local talent and industry, capped off by great performances from artists the world can expect to hear a lot more from says Martin Boulton The Age EG editor "The Age Music Victoria Awards takes pride in celebrating the great music talent here - talent the world is hearing more about every year. Congratulations to all our nominees and winners, we look forward to hearing more from you."

Public Voted Award Winners

Best album: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Nonagon Infinity
Best song: The Drones, Taman Shud
Best band: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
Best male artist: C.W. Stoneking
Best female: Alex Lahey
Best emerging act: Camp Cope
Best regional act: The Drones
Best live band: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
Best regional venue: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Best venue (over 500 capacity): Corner Hotel
Best venue (under 500 capacity): The Tote"¨
Best festival: Meredith Music Festival

Industry Selected Genre Award Winners

Best Heavy Album: Be'Lakor "“ Vessels
Best Folk or Roots Album: Oh Pep! "“ Stadium Cake
Best Experimental or Avant Garde Act: Inland (Alex Garsden and Rohan Drape)
Best Country Album: Tracy McNeil & The Goodlife "“ Thieves
Best Hip Hop Album: Plutonic Lab "“ Deep Above The Noise
Best Electronic Act: Harvey Sutherland
Best Jazz Album: Peter Knight "“ Way Out West
Best Aboriginal Act: Benny Walker
Best Global or Reggae Album: Melbourne Ska Orchestra "“ Sierra Kilo Alpha
Best Soul, Funk, R'n'B, or Gospel Album: Kylie Auldist "“ Family Tree
Best Blues Album: Nick Charles "“ The River Flows

Newsletter Sign Up

Join Our Growing Community

ART NEWS PORTAL is a global crowd sourced art news feed.
Everyone is welcome to share their art and culture related news.