Mushroom Music Publishing

Mushroom Music Publishing's MD Ian James [pictured left] and Mushroom Marketing's MD Carl Gardiner [pictured right] have been invited to speak at the 'Advertising Marketing and Media Summit' to be held on the 27th and 28th of July 2006 at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne.

This summit is primarily for the advertising, marketing and media industries along with those serving these industries. This summit will look at where Australia's communication landscape currently sits and where the three sectors are looking to be at in 2020.

Ian and Carl will be speaking about the effective use of music with advertising - what music can bring to a brand, how music can help sell products, and providing some case studies on effective marketing via links to music.

Mushroom Music proudly announces the signing of Devastations. Having previously worked with Tom Carlyon since the acquisition of Festival Publishing, the new agreement extends to the band's remaining members/writers; Conrad Standish and Hugo Cran. This follows from Devastations' recent signing to Beggars Banquet worldwide and news of their relocation to Europe.

Devastations' sound shines on their two highly respected and critically acclaimed longplayers; 2003's eponymous debut The Devastations and last year's brilliant sophomore effort Coal - which was shortlisted for the inaugural AMP Prize. Loaded with sad, beautiful and violent ballads, the beautifully arranged Coal features contributions from New Zealand songbird Bic Runga, and violinist Padma Newsome (Clogs). The band is familiar with collaborations, having previously worked with Alexander Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten) on a score for German film Sehn Sucht, as well as providing backing tracks on German electro-cabaret act Cobra Killers third album 76/77.

Following a massive UK tour with the uber-hot Editors & rave reviews in the UK press, Howling Bells make a triumphant return to Australia to celebrate the release of their acclaimed self-titled debut album; released locally on July 1. NME called the Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Gomez) produced album "extraordinary"and duly rated it a rare 9/10, Drowned in Sound boasts "Yeah Yeah Yeahs have nothing on this grace", whilst Mojo, The Guardian and The Metro have all given the record four stars and similarly lavish praise.

The band will play a handful of select Australian dates to support the release, before heading back to the UK for the summer festival circuit, including slots on the monstrous Reading and Leeds Festival bills. Based upon the spectacular reviews coming out of the UK, this is certainly one show not too be missed.

'They're on the verge of unequivocal magnificence' THE GUARDIAN (UK) ****

'their blues-noir desolation is allied to a firm grip of melody' MOJO ****

HOWLING BELLS TOUR DATES

Thurs 29th June - Northern Star, Newcastle www.bigtix.com.au

Fri 30th June - The Rev, Brisbane

Thurs 6th July - Annandale, Sydney Venue - 9550 1078 www.annandalehotel.com

Fri 7th July - ANU, Canberra Ticketek 13 28 49 www.ticketek.com.au ANU Union - 6125 2446

Sat 8th July - East Brunswick Club, Melbourne Venue Box Office - (03) 9388 9794 www.eastbrunswickclub.com

In the midst of on-going success and rigorous touring, critically acclaimed Melbourne songstress Clare Bowditch signs with Mushroom Music.

Still riding the amazing response of last year's album 'What Was Left' and its subsequent national radio hits; 'Divorcee at 23' and 'On This Side', it's a wonder how she ever found the time. Bowditch recently embarked on a solo tour of Europe leaving The Feeding Set behind, her band comprised of Marty Brown (Art of Fighting) and J Walker (Machine Translations) amongst others, before heading home on a high note to receive personal invitations to support singer-songwriter heavyweight James Blunt and to play the coveted Splendour in the Grass festival. All this seems hardly a surprise considering Bowditch's amazing talent for crafting hypnotically beautiful and heart stopping pop-folk gems. The songwriter has an unmistakeable natural ability to unravel complex narratives, delivering them in an achingly personal and powerful way in which nothing remains sacred. Such talent has been evident since her 2004 debut album 'Autumn Bone'.

Mushroom are excited to have the opportunity to share such a talent and look forward to watching it flourish.

From 1974 to 1987 at 6pm on a Sunday night the streets across Australia were deserted. Mums, Dads, kids, housemates, and sometimes complete strangers congregated in lounge rooms across the nation as everyone prepared for the hour long, almost religious, experience that was the ABC television show Countdown.

Fast forward to 2006 and The Frontier Touring Company is putting together the ultimate celebration of the iconic television show in the form of the much anticipated live concert tour, The Countdown Spectacular.

Promoter Michael Gudinski from The Frontier Touring Company said he was excited to be producing The Countdown Spectacular; 'I've been waiting to create this tour for years. I wanted to get the lineup and timing just right. I think everything has come together perfectly for this year and the positive response I've had from the artists has been overwhelming.'

The ABC's Director of Enterprises, Robyn Watts, said that 2006 - the year of the 50th birthday of television in Australia - was the perfect time to celebrate the landmark success that Countdown was... and bring it back to its countless fans in a live concert environment.

Across Australia this September, The Countdown Spectacular will enable fans to relive the glory years of Countdown as leading acts of the 70s and 80s come together in a three hour extravaganza performing the hits that made them Countdown favourites. Headlined by the specially reformed Sherbet, the tour will also include Hush, John Paul Young, Leo Sayer, James Reyne, Mondo Rock, Jon English, the Chantoozies, Cheetah, Joe Dolce, Choirboys, Jo Jo Zep, Swanee, Renee Geyer and Paul Norton.

Also appearing with a sizzling hot, house band are Alex Smith from Moving Pictures, Shane Howard from Goanna, Scott Carne from Kids In The Kitchen, James Freud & Sean Kelly from the Models, Brian Canham from Pseudo Echo, Dave Sterry from Real Life, Brian Mannix from Uncanny X-Men, Grace Knight and Bernie Lynch from the Eurogliders, Wendy Stapleton from Wendy & The Rocketts, Frankie J Holden & Wilbur Wilde from Ol' 55, Stephen Cummings from The Sports and Billy Miller from The Ferrets.

Of course it wouldn't be Countdown without the host Ian 'Molly' Meldrum, the voice of Gavin Wood and the legendary Countdown dancers. Former Skyhooks member Red Symons will narrate a special tribute segment in the show.

The Countdown experience will also be extended through a range of merchandise releases throughout the year. Australia Wide Licensing (AWL) will be releasing a great range of T-shirts, trivia/DVD games and various memorabilia. The interest in product is already very strong and AWL plan on introducing phased product ranges over the next 12 to 18 months. Other Countdown products include The Wonder Years book (available July), CDs, DVDs, audio and tour-branded merchandise.

Do yourself a favour and snap up your tickets to The Countdown Spectacular when they go on sale on Monday 29 May!

THE COUNTDOWN SPECTACULAR TOUR DATES 2006
Wednesday 30 August
Newcastle Entertainment Centre

Friday 01 September
Acer Arena Sydney (formerly the SuperDome)

Thursday 07 September
Rod Laver Arena Melbourne

Sunday 10 September
Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Wednesday 13 September
Burswood Dome Perth

Sunday 17 September
Brisbane Entertainment Centre

TICKETS ON SALE 9AM MONDAY 29 MAY

ALL SHOWS THROUGH TICKETEK 132 849

OR WWW.TICKETEK.COM.AU

Mushroom Music Publishing's acts in Bold

The first Writer's Bloc song writing sessions to be held in New Zealand have proved a resounding success. Held in the first week of New Zealand's music month May by the stunning panorama of Bethells Beach, the sessions saw 22 well known songwriters from Australia and New Zealand converge to do exactly what they do best - write songs.

Over the course of the week, 32 new songs were written and recorded, spanning genres from rock to hip hop. Writers attended the sessions for two to three days across a one week period. Temporary recording studios were set-up in cottages to help facilitate the writing process. A work experience MAINZ student engineered one studio supplied by Protel and Apple and the other was helmed by award winning engineer Luke Tomes.

The sessions were put together by Mushroom Music New Zealand's Managing Director Jackie Dennis. 'We achieved what we set out to do - to inspire our writers and give them the opportunity to create new working relationships and new opportunities.'

Staying a few nights at this west coast location meant creativity flowed; the writers didn't have to think about everyday concerns. They were turning out more than one song a day which is the minimum hoped for and laptops and microphones were pulled out to catch the spontaneity of the moment when two or more writing duos converged at the end of the day.

Michael Gudinski, head of the Mushroom Group, whole-heartedly believes in the importance of the sessions. 'One of the most important things we can do for our songwriters is to give them the opportunity to express themselves creatively. These sessions do just that. They're brilliant.'

Writer's sentiments similarly reflect the success of the event:

Whilst Robert Scott [The Bats] commented,'I would just have to say that weekend is in my mind all the time, the inspiration was flowing you could feel it in the air. I had such a ball. And the contacts I made were cool. I will be using some of the songs I wrote.'

Paul Barrett: I had such a great time... as a matter of fact I'll be using "Falling Out with You"(which I wrote with Justyn Pilbrow) for my next album. I've also been talking to Luke about his engineering and mixing my album.

The first Mushroom Music Writers Bloc was held in 1994 at Mt Macedon in Victoria, Australia and was also run by Dennis and has been a regular event ever since. With Dennis opening a Mushroom office in Auckland last year, the time was right for New Zealand to host Writers Bloc.

The success of this year's sessions has helped ensure their continued return for years to come.

Writers who attended in alphabetical order:

Ashley Anderson - Katalyst
Paul Barrett
Rueben Campbell - RuCL
John Chong Nee
Annie Crummer
Jamey Ferguson - Katchafire
Flowz
Renee Geyer
Merenia Gillies
Anthony Gold
Nathan Haines
Angie Hart-Holidays on Ice and ex-Frente
Andy Kelly - Andy Clockwise
Chris Knox
Justyn Pilbrow - Elemeno P
James Reid - The Feelers
Boh Runga - Stellar*
Robert Scott - The Bats
Adalita - Magic Dirt [PICTURED]
Bill Urale - King Kapisi
Tama Waipara
Greg Walker - Machine Translations

Mushroom Music are delighted to announce their latest signing, singer/songwriter Lior.

Lior's debut album, Autumn Flow, was released in late 2004. Being an independent release with no marketing budget, Lior set out to tour the album until people took notice. He played back to back shows throughout late 2004, then in early 2005 Triple J picked up the album opener, This Old Love, and put it on high rotation on the station. The response was amazing. Occasionally, a track comes along that needs no fancy gimmicks or incentives to make itself heard - and This Old Love was one of those. Shortly after, Nova 969 picked the track up and put it on high rotation. No one had asked them to, as Lior's budget still didn't allow for a radio plugger - but the audience continued to phone in, tracking down the album, and sending it up to the top 5 of the AIR charts where it has stayed ever since.

Early in 2005, Lior played to a packed out Basement nightclub in Sydney (still some what shell-shocked!) - then three months later his fans pack out Sydney's Metro Theatre on the home run. Venues around the country follow suit. Another song goes to radio titled Daniel, and Lior's star continues to rise.

Now, his reputation as one of Australia's finest singer songwriters and live performers is cemented. His album has been certified Gold and continues to sell, his latest tour culminates in a show at Sydney's Enmore Theatre, and his song Daniel has been nominated for an APRA award.

We are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with this incredibly talented writer.

Pictured is Ian James (Managing Director), Paul Harris (A&R Sydney), Lior and Nick Boshier (Lior Management).