2012 WAM Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

WAM as part of the WAMi Festival is proud to announce that three inductees are being honoured in 2012 into the WAM Hall of Fame that recognises important members of the WA music industry.

This year WA musical comedy guru Tim Minchin, influential member of the Australian hip hop community, the late Robert Hunter, and the former, longstanding CEO of WAM Paul Bodlovich will be inducted at an event on Friday May 25 at The Charles Hotel.

Originally from Perth, Tim Minchin has had success across the world, recently winning a record seven Oliver award wins for Matilda: The Musical which he wrote the music and lyrics for. Minchin first found success in Melbourne with his brand of musical comedy, before moving to the UK.

The late Perth rapper Hunter was an established member of the Australian hip hop community and pioneer of the WA rap scene as part of the Syllabolix Crew that featured the likes of Drapht, Dazastah and Layla. Hunter passed away in October 2011 after a long battle with cancer.

Paul Bodlovich was CEO of WAM for more than 10 years from 2002 to 2012, and played a crucial role in building relationships with music organisations worldwide such as CMJ and SxSX to create opportunities for WA musicians, and implementing many of the successful programs that continue to run at the association.

		The WAMi Festival returns to Perth 26 May to 2 June 2012, culminating as always with the prestigious WAMi Awards Night on Saturday June 2 at the Bakery. The full set of 2012 nominees were announced Thursday 12 April at the Kiss My WAMi CD/DVD launch at the Bakery, which saw performances by Sean Pollard, Runner, Husband, Russian Winters and The Stoops. The 2012 nominees showcase the diverse nature of the WA music industry, with triple j darlings San Cisco and Split Seconds leading the charge, collecting 8 nominations apiece. Recently returning from SXSW, the Voltaire Twins took up 5 nominations, as did local boys The Growl. The prestigious Golden WAMi will this year be contested by industry heavyweights Dave Cutbush, Jodie Regan, Aarom Wilson and Jake Snell. The full list of WAMi Award nominees is available online now at wam.asn.au/awards, with public voting opening on the iiNet website from this Monday April 16 at wam.asn.au/publicvoting The Awards ceremony itself will feature an array of performances from iconic WA bands including Eskimo Joe, John Butler and Mama Kin, and Dom Mariani & the Hurricane Fighter Plane.

The annual Kiss My WAMi CD/DVD is also available now, and features three CD’s and a DVD including 62 tracks and 23 videos from over 60 established and up and coming WA bands. Featured on the compilation are some of WA’s best, including Felicity Groom, San Cisco, Split Seconds, Abbe May, Boom! Bap! Pow!, Voltaire Twins, Ruby Boots and Emperors.

WAM produces 4,000 copies of Kiss My WAMi Compilation CD/DVD each year, which are distributed to relevant media, industry (labels, publishers, agents, promoters and associations), key government members and potential buyers across Australia. For the full Kiss My WAMI 2012 list of inclusions, visit the WAM website, wam.asn.au/kissmywami

The2012 WAMi Festival will host over 35 events, all of which will showcase the diverse sounds of Western Australia, as well as seeing the return of the WAMi Business Conference on June 1st.

Tickets for all WAMi Festival events will be on sale Monday April 16 from nowbaking.com.au

For further information, please contact:
Kiera Treloar, WAMi Festival Publicist
p: +61 (0) 8 9443 8611
e: ktreloar@buzzmarketing.com.au
w: wam.asn.au/wamifestival