"The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia’s diverse and successful live industry, celebrating the diversity and success of the Australian live scene – recognising the best vocal talents and musicians alongside the best venues, events and festivals.
The awards contain both national and state focused categories, voted on by the live industry (including fellow musicians, media, venues, bookers), with select public voted categories. The national awards will be revealed at a gala event, while the State and Territory awards will be revealed at satellite events in their respective capital cities. The first annual event was held on 29th November 2016, and the second annual event will be held on 7th December 2017."
Sounds pretty damn awesome doesn't it? This year the NMLAs has 54 categories, recognising the best musicians, venues, events and industry members from all corners of Australia. But before we get onto all the details of the Tasmanian nominees let's take a bit of a look at some interesting facts from a national perspective about this year's awards.
A few fun facts about the awards:
- This is the first time the event has been held in Fremantle, Alice Springs or Launceston.
- There are two new awards this year: Best Pop Act and Best Country or Folk Act.
- The All Ages Achievement (AAA) Award, which recognises an individual or organisation who supports and fosters all ages events, has expanded from NSW to Victoria thanks to The Push.
- "The Heatseeker Award" is now "The Best New Act presented by Young Henrys", though the award is still given to an artist who has exploded over the last 12 months.
- The "Hard Rock or Metal" genre category has been shortened to just "Hard Rock", however this encompasses a wide range of genres including Punk, Metal and Hard Rock.
- The previous "Roots" award is now the "Blues & Roots" award, with Country and Folk nominees given their own category for the first time.
THE TL;DR:
- Gender Balance: A whopping 63% of the artists nominated in the national categories, and 51% in the State/Territory Categories, are either female or are a group led by a female vocalist.
- Strong Indigenous representation, with nominated artists including Electric Fields, Kardajala Kirridarra, Dan Sultan, The Lonely Boys, Tjupi Band, Eleanor Dixon, Yirrmal, William Barton and A.B. Original.
- Gang of Youths lead the nominees with 6 nominations.
- Julia Jacklin, Amy Shark, Camp Cope sit right behind with 5 nominations.
- All Our Exes Live in Texas, Stella Donnelly and the St Jerome's Laneway Festival all have 4 nominations.
Okay, here's what you're waiting for. The Tasmanian nominees for this year's NMLAs. In the following categories...
TAS Awards
Presented in partnership with Edge Radio 99.3FM
Live Act of the Year
A. Swayze and The Ghosts
Ani Lou
EWAH & The Vision of Paradise
The Sleepyheads
Sumner
Live Voice of the Year
Emma Waters (EWAH & The Vision of Paradise)
Maddy Jane
Mary Shannon (Bansheeland, Disrepute)
Seth Henderson
Tyler Richardson (Luca Brasi)
Live Venue of the Year presented by OzTix
The Brisbane Hotel
Club 54
The Grand Poobah
The Homestead
The Republic Bar
Live Event of the Year
A Festival Called Panama
Dark MOFO
Mona Foma
Party In The Paddock
Til The Wheels Falls Off
The winners to all categories will be announced at simultaneous events around Australia on Thursday, the 7th of December.
Melbourne, VIC: Grace Darling (Invite-Only Gala)
Sydney, NSW: Leadbelly
Brisbane, QLD: Lefty's
Fremantle, WA: Mojos
Adelaide, SA: Grace Emily
Launceston, TAS: Club 54
Alice Springs, NT: Epilogue Rooftop
Canberra, ACT: Smith's Alternative
Tickets to all events, bar the invite-only Melbourne gala, are free and will be available exclusively through NLMA's official ticketing partners OzTix from Monday, October 23rd. More details about who will be performing and what time doors will open at each venue will be revealed as we approach the night.
Keep an eye on nlmas.com.au for the full list if national nominees and future updates on the awards. Keen to hear tracks from the Tasmanian nominees and any future news on the NMLAs? Edge's Tassie music program The Map is where to get all the lowdown on all the new tunes being made in our fine state. Listen live every Tuesday at 7pm or stream on demand anytime via the Edge Radio website.