Splendour in the Grass is an annual Australian music festival held in July at Belongil Fields, outside Byron Bay. In 2010 and 2011, the festival was held in Woodford, Queensland due to restrictions at the Byron Bay location, but will return to its original location for 2012. In its beginning, it was promoted by Village Sounds and Secret Service. The festival began in 2001 as a one-day event and evolved into a two-day event in 2002.

With a current capacity of 30,000 and an event spanning three days, Splendour in the Grass is generally considered to be the country's largest winter music festival.

Splendour in the Grass won the FasterLouder Festival Award for 'Favourite Line Up' in 2009.^[1]

Ticketing Issues[link]

The 2005 festival sold out its 14,000 tickets within 26 hours. Soon after the sell-out, festival tickets that initially cost $125 were offered on eBay at inflated prices of up to $3000. Lawyers for the festival organisers responded by sending cease and desist letters to eBay and some 150 ticket resellers, citing a breach of the conditions of sale. However, eBay refused to block the ticket auctions, claiming it was the seller's responsibility to ensure that they have the ability and right to sell products. Radio station Triple J encouraged its listeners to sabotage the bidding process and disgruntled music fans responded, listing bogus bids of up to $10,000 in protest against ticket scalping.^[2]

After much media coverage, the NSW Department of Fair Trading became involved in the issue and met with eBay representatives. The then Fair Trading Minister, John Hatzistergos, instructed the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the reselling of tickets and determine whether resellers were in breach of the Fair Trading Act. Festival promoters hope the investigation will result in changes to event ticketing by way of the introduction of anti-ticket scalping legislation.

In response to the events of 2005, organisers altered the ticketing system for the 2006 festival in the hope of stamping out ticket scalping. In an unprecedented move, ticket buyers were required to register their name and date of birth at the time of purchase. These details were printed on the event tickets, which had to be provided with valid identification in order to gain admission to the festival. Tickets to the 2006 festival went on sale at 9AM on Monday 15 May 2006. All camping tickets to the weekend event sold out within three hours, and all general admission tickets sold out after 48 hours. The 2006 festival was held on the weekend of 22–23 July.

The 2007 festival sold out in its first release by 2.25pm on the first day, approximately 5 hours and 25 mins after being released.

2008 would be festival goers were frustrated by difficulties obtaining tickets from ticketing provider Qjump, resulting in many missing out on tickets, despite waiting many hours^{[citation needed]}.

Qjump later issued an apology on the Splendour forum saying, "We would like to sincerely apologise to everyone affected by the issues experienced with the online sales of Splendour in the Grass tickets. We understand and acknowledge the frustrating time that many Splendour fans have experienced. Unfortunately an issue with the bank’s payment gateway prevented some customers who had successfully queued from completing their purchase of tickets. Our team has been working around the clock to respond to each and every email and call. We hope you can be patient with us while we complete this process. The demand for tickets far outweighed supply, with over 70,000 people trying to purchase 17,500 tickets and for many people the problems encountered with the queue and payment gateway meant that people were kept waiting for several hours only to miss out. For that we are very sorry."

In 2012 the festival sold out in record time of 43 minutes, with camping tickets being sold out within 10 minutes.

2009 Festival[link]

On 31 July 2008, Byron Shire Council moved to approve the DA from Splendour in the Grass organisers to hold a one off trial event at Yelgun in 2009.

That development consent was the subject a challenge in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court by a group of residents and environmentalist and the Environmental Defenders Office of NSW. The Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court, Justice Brian Preston, ruled that Byron Shire Council had exceeded its powers by granting the development consent where the land included parts zoned for conservation purposes. The development consent was ruled invalid, prohibiting the festival from being held at the new Yelgun site.^[3]

As a consequence, the festival remained at the Belongil site in 2009.

Artist lineups by year[link]

2001[link]

2002[link]

2003[link]

2004[link]

2005[link]

2006[link]

2007[link]

2008[link]

2009[link]

2010[link]

2011[link]

2012[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Splendour In The Grass Official Website
• Rip It Up Magazine | Splendour In The Grass Review

Tame Impala
Tame Impala at the V Festival, 2009
Background information
Origin	Perth, Western Australia
Genres	Psychedelic rock, Neo-Psychedelia
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Modular Recordings
Associated acts	The Dee Dee Dums Pond Mink Mussel Creek Space Lime Peacock Giant Tortoise Allbrook Avery
Website	http://www.tameimpala.com/
Members
Kevin Parker Dominic Simper Jay Watson Nick Allbrook

Tame Impala is the psychedelic rock project of Kevin Parker^[1] from Perth, Australia. They are signed to Modular Records. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their debut album, Innerspeaker. Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope.^[2] They like to see themselves as "a steady flowing psychedelic groove rock band that emphasizes dream-like melody."^[3]

Biography[link]

Early Career[link]

Tame Impala were formed from Kevin Parker's original blues/jazz/psychedelic band, the Dee Dee Dums. The Dee Dee Dums consisted of Parker (drums ) and Luke Epstein (guitar), with the band getting second place at the 2005 AmpFest^[4] and winning third place that year in the state final of The Next Big Thing.^[5] In October 2006 Epstein was replaced by drummer Sam Devenport, Epstein going on to play with Sugarpuss. The Dee Dee Dums went on to win the WA state final of the National Campus Band Competition.^[6] In late 2007 the band renamed to Tame Impala unveiling another new drummer and replacing the two-guitar attack for the more traditional guitar/bass/drums format. Devenport went on to pursue an acting career.^[7]

In July 2008 the band signed a worldwide deal with independent label Modular Recordings.^[8]

[edit] Tame Impala EP

The signing was soon followed by the release on their self-titled debut EP in September 2008.^[9] Due to Kevin Parker's original artwork there was some confusion with the EP title and many believed it to be called Antares Mira Sun.^[10][11] The artwork is an interpretation of a slide he saw in an astronomy lecture, which demonstrated the difference in size between the stars Antares, Mira and the Sun.

The cover art is meant to be a painting; an interpretation of a diagram, so those labels are just there to make the diagram make sense. But lo and behold, there were reviews coming out saying "And Tame Impala's new EP 'Antares, Mira, Sun".

—Kevin Parker^[12]

Tame Impala went to number 1 on the Australian Independent Record Labels (AIR) Chart and number 10 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart,^[13] with three songs, "Desire Be, Desire Go", "Half Full Glass of Wine" and "Skeleton Tiger" which received national radio airplay on the Triple J Network.^[14][15] Tours in 2008 included supports for You Am I, The Black Keys, Yeasayer and MGMT, as well as performances at Southbound, Meredith Music Festival, and Falls Festival, as well as a national headline tours in support of their EP. 2009 tours include a sold out 6 date 'Skeleton Tiger' national headline tour, a 5 date UK tour including Nevereverland UK, V Festival, Groovin The Moo and a stadium tour with The Living End and Gyroscope.

Tame Impala appeared on Triple J's Hottest 100 2008, their first appearance on the list, with "Half Full Glass of Wine" reaching number 75. The song is also on the Hottest 100 compilation.^[16][17]

[edit] Sundown Syndrome

Tame Impala’s first single, "Sundown Syndrome", was recorded at Toerag Studios in London, with recording engineer Liam Watson, whilst the band was there in March 2009.^[18] "Sundown Syndrome" was premiered by Richard Kingsmill on his 2009 show on triple j on Sunday 10 May. It was released in July 2009 on vinyl and electronically along with a cover of Blue Boy's "Remember Me".^[19]

The band embarked on a national tour supporting the single through September and October 2009.^[20]

"Sundown Syndrome" was included on the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated film "The Kids Are All Right."

"Half Full Glass Of Wine" was used in HBO's hit TV series Entourage as the closing song for an episode.

Tame Impala appeared at Big Day Out in early 2010, performing alongside bands Muse, The Mars Volta, Kasabian and Rise Against, among others.

"Remember Me" appeared at number 78 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2009.

[edit] Innerspeaker

Tame Impala's debut album, Innerspeaker, was released on 21 May 2010. In the U.K. it's official release date was 28 June, however iTunes accidentally made it available to buy immediately (not pre-order) on 12 May. The album was released in the United States on 8 June to general and critical acclaim. Pitchfork named it Best New Music.^[21]

On a interview with Triple J talking about the album's recent nomination for the J Award, Parker stated that they have secretly been recording a new album. "Jay and I have been recording pretty compulsively and album number two is nearing potential completion already and I'm so excited about it that I'm having trouble keeping myself from telling you all about it." This comes as a big surprise as this statement was released only months after their debut album, Innerspeaker, was released.

The band has been busy touring during mid 2010, with their 'Innerspeaker album tour' commencing on 13 May 2010, as the opening band for MGMT's 2010 American tour. The band returned to Australia to play at Splendour in the Grass festival, which was followed by a European Tour in July (including an appearance at the Reading Festival) and a national Australian tour in October. In November they returned to the UK and Europe for a fifteen date tour, including their largest London headline show to date which was attended by Noel Gallagher, Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno, Noel Fielding, Alexa Chung and Alison Mosshart,^[22] the band then went on to the United States for twenty headline dates including sold out New York, LA and San Francisco. They also received four 2010 ARIA Music Awards nominations which include, 'Album of the Year' and 'Best Rock Album' for Innerspeaker, 'Best Group' and also 'Breakthrough Artist'.^[23]

On 29 November 2010 Tame Impala's debut album "Innerspeaker" won Australian youth-oriented radio network Triple J's highest honor, taking out the J Award for Album of the Year ^[24]

Second Album[link]

On 7 December 2011, Kevin Parker began mixing a new album with producer Dave Fridmann.^[25]

On 2 March 2012, they stated via Facebook that the new album was "finished, mixed, mastered, mooged, broinged, and beeped". Drummer Jay Watson expects it to be released in Mid 2012. Stated in an Interview posted on their website, Kevin Parker said that the next batch of songs "Represents a departure from his previous work by incorporating an expanded sonic palette, more emotional song writing, and a more pronounced narrative perspective." The album, set to be released in October 2012 was created by a similar set up as the debut album, being that Kevin Parker wrote and recorded the great majority of the album by himself at his home in Perth, Australia. ^[26]

In an article published in April 2012 by Triple J Magazine, Kevin Parker revealed some details about the forthcoming, currently untitled second album by Tame Impala. The majority of recording had taken place in France, and as a result, one of the tracks are titled, Un, Deux, Trois. Other song titles revealed are, Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control, and Apocalypse Dreams, one of the first songs Parker has co-written with drummer Jay Watson.

Band members[link]

Live[link]

• Kevin Parker – vocals, guitar, kazoo
• Jay "Gumby" Watson – drums, backing vocals
• Dominic Simper – guitar & synth (previously bass)
• Nick "Paisley Adams" Allbrook – bass (previously guitar & keys)

Studio[link]

• Kevin Parker – vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keys
• Jay Watson – drums, keys, guitar
• Dominic Simper – percussion, bass, guitar, effects

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Innerspeaker - Modular Recordings (21 May 2010) AUS #4^{[27][28][29][30][31]}
• Untitled (TBA) - Modular Recordings (October 2012)^{[32] [33]}

Live albums[link]

• Live at the Corner - Modular Recordings (May 2010)^[34]

EPs[link]

• Tame Impala [H.I.T.S. 003] - Hole in the Sky (August 2008) (12" vinyl)^[35] (limited re-issue April 2009)
• Tame Impala EP - Modular Recordings (September 2008) AUS #82^[36]

Singles[link]

• "Sundown Syndrome"/"Remember Me" - Modular Recordings (July 2009) (7" vinyl)^[37][38]
• "Solitude Is Bliss" - Modular Recordings (April 2010)^[39]
• "Lucidity" - Modular Recordings (July 2010) ^[40]
• "Expectation" - Modular Recordings (December 2010) ^[41]
• "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind" - Modular Recordings (February 2011)^[42]

Remixes[link]

• "Mammalian Locomotion" - Abbe May (October 2010) [Track 2 of "Mammalian Locomotion" single]^[43]
• "End of Line" - Daft Punk - Walt Disney Records (August 2011) [Track 11 of Australian version of "Tron: Legacy Reconfigured" CD]^[44]

Collaborations[link]

• "Big City Lights" - Canyons - Hole in the Sky (May 2008) [Track 3 of "The Lovemore EP"]^[45]
• "Tonight" - Canyons - Modular Recordings (November 2011) [Track 8 of "Keep Your Dreams"]^[46]
• "When I See You Again" - Canyons - Modular Recordings (November 2011) [Track 9 of "Keep Your Dreams"]^[46]
• "Children of the Moon - The Flaming Lips - Warner Bros. Records (April 2012) [Track 5 of "The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends"]^[47]

Awards and nominations[link]

WAMI Awards[link]

ARIA Awards[link]

J Awards[link]

Rolling Stone Awards[link]

APRA Awards[link]

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters".^[53]

References[link]

External links[link]