Indigenous talent leads this year’s WAM Song Of The Year nominees, with John Bennett’s Country Is Calling single scoring three nods, while rising stars Ziggy Ramo picks up two.
The 2017-18 list is just another snapshot of the state’s worldclass music scene, and all those nominated across the 16 categories will battle it out for a cut of a record-breaking $45,000 in prizes.
Bennett is the only act to score three nominations this year, being nominated in the Best Country, Best Regional, and Best Indigenous categories, while Ramo’s Same Script is vying for the Outstanding Indigenous and Urban/Hip Hop gongs.
Bolt Gun, Carla Geneve, Coin Banks, Farraday's Cage, JFK, Riley Pearce and Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving also scored two nominations each, while WA favourites Abbe May and Stella Donnelly also made the list.
The nominees were decided by a panel of industry experts, featuring talent from Double J, Pendulum, Birds Of Tokyo, UNIFIED, The Music’s Dan Cribb and more who whittled down this year’s 860+ entries.
“It’s great to see such authentic self-expression across this year’s nominated songs, using music to not only share personal stories but also to draw attention to issues close to their heart. This is songwriting at its finest,” WAM Song of the Year Coordinator Claire Hodgson said.
Details of the awards party have also been revealed, this year moving to the Fly By Night Musicians Club at the iconic Victoria Hall in Fremantle on May 16.
Hosted by MC Odette Mercy, there’ll be performances from The Justin Walshe Folk Machine, Feels and JFK.
Head over to the WAM website for more details.
WAM Song of the Year 2017-18 nominees
BLUES/ROOTS
The Fire Inside — Farraday's Cage
Ghost — Kat Wilson Trio
Hometown Blues — Minky G and Rosco
Ask For It — Tracey Barnett
Lies — Carus Thompson
COUNTRY
What Am I Fighting For — Jasmine Atkins
Country Is Calling — John Bennett
Wanted Man — Kim Wainwright
The Great Escape — The Justin Walshe Folk Machine
Maybe I'm Just In Love — The Little Lord Street Band
ELECTRONIC
Juxtapose — Corbelle
Bitter Lake — Doublethink Prism
Prior Engagement — Feels
Formlessness — Mayhills
Calling — Ukiyo
EXPERIMENTAL
Man is Wolf to Man Part 1 — Bolt Gun
Unveiled — feeding/ear
The One — Intenso
Bering (Foreboding) — samarobryn
No Tether — Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving
FOLK
Friends I Want to Tell You (On My Mind) — Bill Lawrie
Red Rocks — Carla Geneve
Trains And Submarines — Carus Thompson
I Only Hide — Helen Shanahan
Misplaced — Riley Pearce
HEAVY/METAL
Man is Wolf to Man Part 2 — Bolt Gun
Uncharted — Make Them Suffer
Quantum Umbrella — Nucleust
Stuck — Odditry
The Alarmist — Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving
Red Light — Ultra Sound
JAZZ
Manzer Fesse — 457 World Jazz
Onward and Upward — Daniel Susnjar Afro-Peruvian Jazz Group
Don't Stop Here — Harry Mitchell
Catalyst — Kate Pass Kohesia Ensemble
Tony Umbridge — MFG
OUTSTANDING INDIGENOUS
Country Is Calling — John Bennett
Culture Child — JoKeria
Little Country Town — Lullabies and Legacies
Wangkatjungka Woman — Rocky Ridge Band
Same Script — Ziggy Ramo
OUTSTANDING REGIONAL
Red Rocks — Carla Geneve
The Mountain — Harry Jakamarra
Country Is Calling — John Bennett
Three Stories to the Truth — Short & Curly
Here and Now — Tanya Ransom
POP
Love Decline — Abbe May
Forgive Us (feat. The WAAPA Gospel Choir) — Coin Banks
A Boy And A Boy — JFK
Misplaced — Riley Pearce
Boys Will Be Boys — Stella Donnelly
PUNK/HARDCORE
Back To The Grey — Hope Street
Make It Right — Incomplete
Witch — Los Solos
Stupefied — The Bible Bashers
Magic Glove — The Bob Gordons
ROCK
Truthless — BATS
Ashes — Camarano
A Boy And A Boy — JFK
Critical — The Tommyhawks
Coping — Treehouses
SCHOOLS 14 & UNDER
Walls — Darcey Morton
The Fire Inside — Farraday's Cage
New Slate — Lily Kate and Amelia Grace
Sometimes — Luna Rozza
I Rise — Sienna Eddy
SCHOOLS 15 - 17
Hannah — Dexter Wright
Ear To Lend — Figurehead
Timeghost — hachi
The Stockman's Grandson — Lachy John
Now I'm Here — MALi JO$E
URBAN/HIP HOP
It's Usually Sunny in Perth — Bluntfield
Be Real (feat. Danny Martin) — Coin Banks
Navigator — Dead Tooth
Money For Portraits — POW! Negro
Same Script — Ziggy Ramo
WORLD
Same Drum — Akolkol Dastan Gesa
Blah — Brassika
FANM — Grace Barbé
Binar — Phil Walley-Stack
Clarity — Rastatrix
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