Ainslie Wills

Festival Gallery: The Gum Ball – Lower Belford, NSW (21-23.04.23)

The Gum Ball festival held at ‘Dashville’, near Lower Belford in the Hunter Valley is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding festivals on the calendar. The property is owned by the local Johnston family, and as the name would suggest, it is held amongst many mature eucalypt trees, with the added advantage of being only…

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Gum Ball

Baby Animals, Dande and The Lion & more added to Gum Ball 2023 lineup

The Gum Ball festival is an absolute gem of an event and will be held amongst the eucalypts at Dashville at Lower Belford, over the last weekend of the April school holidays, 21-23rd April 2023. The final round of announcements has been made with the legendary Baby Animals being added to the bill. Featuring Suzi…

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Live Review: Ainslie Wills + Gold Bloom + Lisa Salvo – The Workers Club (12.05.12)

Running a little late on this rainy night, I tried not get the water on my jacket rubbing up amongst other punters who were for whatever reason all close talkers tonight. Stunning voices on stage within a pub/bar setting has been slightly unusual lately. It’s either gravely voices or a dude behind a computer/decks bobbing…

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Alice Ivy, Gang of Youths, Gordi and more round out this year’s Vanda and Young Songwriting comp shortlist

The shortlist for this year’s Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition has been unveiled today, with submissions from all over the globe being considered for the ultimate prize – AUD $50,000 cash from APRA AMCOS, Alberts and BMG, not to mention an AUD $5,000 travel package from the Show Group. For this year’s competition, 3,296 songwriters entered…

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Jen Cloher, Amy Shark, Gang of Youths & more up for APRA Song of the Year

The APRA Song of the Year nominees have been revealed this week, with 20 tunes penned by Australian songwriters up for the main title. With the results being announced in Sydney in April, the APRA Song of the Year has been decided upon by a panel of industry judges, whose task it is to now whittle…

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Sounds Australia makes another impressive impact during the first day of The Great Escape

The SOUNDS AUSTRALIA crew have always maintained an impressive presence internationally, The Great Escape proving to be no exception to the rule for another year. Kicking off their time in Brighton with the annual Sound Gallery at Komedia, a great array of Australian artists took to the stage in the underground venue and upstairs in the studio…

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Our Top Acts to Watch at The Great Escape Festival

The Great Escape festival returns to Brighton and Hove this year, bringing with it over 450 new and up and coming bands. Here at the AU, we love Australian music, and couldn’t be prouder of the Aussie acts that have been selected to perform, in the midst of such a sheer volume of talent. Honourable mentions to…

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Sounds Australia outlay huge Sound Gallery & Aussie BBQ plans for The Great Escape

The Sounds Australia crew return to the UK for The Great Escape this year and once more, they have curated some incredibly showcases for the British to see what the Australians have going. Two showcases have been planned for Brighton – the Sound Gallery returns to Komedia on Thursday, May 18th, while the Aussie BBQ hits…

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Ainslie Wills chats international touring and new music ahead of her UK return

Ainslie Wills has been pegged as one to watch in 2017. Not only has she played Queenscliff Music Festival, Falls Festival, WOMADelaide and Splendour in the Grass, just to name a few, as well as a successful run opening for Grouplove in the UK last year; she, and key collaborator Lawrence Folvig, have signed on to…

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Sampa The Great, Tired Lion among new additions to The Great Escape

A hundred new artists have been added to this year’s line up for The Great Escape out in Brighton, UK in May. Widely regarded as the biggest festival in Europe for new music discovery, we’re stoked to see the likes of Sampa The Great, Tired Lion, Slaves, Marika Hackman and more join a stellar group of artists from all over the…

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From Brisbane with Love: Larry Heath’s musical highlights from the best BIGSOUND ever

The few days we spend at BIGSOUND in Brisbane is best described as an annual escapade into a fine slice of the best in Australian music – a sample of what’s been round the traps recently, what’s returned after some time away and what’s coming next. Across the three nights of live music – two official…

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The Top 10 On Ground at BIGSOUND 2016!

Now that the BIGSOUND dust has settled and the industry has returned to some sense of normal; our on-ground team have been going back through notes jotted down on phones, ‘Definitely check out…’ style messages sent back and forth, in determining the selection of bands who stood out as strong winners across the board. With many of these…

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Artists at BIGSOUND 2016: Ainslie Wills (Melbourne) on her must-see showcase artists & new music!

Representing for Melbourne at BIGSOUND this year, the talented Ainslie Wills and her collaborator and guitarist Lawrence Folvig will be hitting up the massive conference and music festival for the first time. Currently in the process of writing and demoing some new music to follow on from their acclaimed release, Oh The Gold, Ainslie tells us how she’s…

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Bernard Fanning touring Civil Dusk through October & November

Off the back of his recent double-album release news, Bernard Fanning has announced a brand new Australian tour (alongside the awesome Dustin Tebbutt and Ainslie Wills) for October and November. The first of the two albums, Civil Dusk, is set for release on August 5th and has already spawned the well-received tune “Wasting Time” – check out the music video…

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12 Aussie Album & EP releases you may have missed…Part I!

2016 has been producing some strong music already from some of our favourite Australian artists while some new kids on the block have also been coming through strong and making their impact known with some solid debut albums. Over the past few months, we’ve been looking back at the year that was, 2015, sifting through…

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De La Soul, Asha Bhosle, Alpine, Sarah Blasko feature on latest WOMADelaide announcement!

One of the best festivals on the Australian calendar is undoubtedly WOMADelaide and today, the crew behind the annual world music and dance celebration have revealed another bunch of diverse and stellar artists joining the bill in 2016! The music line up already featured the likes of Ibeyi, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Violent Femmes, but…

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The Wombats, Dune Rats, Tuka & more announced for Falls Festival Lorne!

It goes without saying that the Lorne edition of the Falls Festival always stands out as the favoured site of the tour’s three for many people. Almost always a sell out event, the coastal Victorian site boasts a great environment for campers and a unique little Falls vibe all its own. This year, Falls Lorne sold…

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Live Review: Michael Kiwanuka + Ainslie Wills – St Stephen’s Uniting Church Sydney (27.03.13)

British soul-singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka was hailed by the BBC as the winner of the BBC Sound in 2012. With his no nonsense, simplified approach to good music, showcasing it in such a beautiful hallowed establishment was sure to be a magical experience.

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Live Review: Husky + Ainslie Wills + Cilla Jane – Northcote Social Club (21.05.11)

Things started out chilled enough. Cilla Jane and her acoustic guitar were charming, with her cutesy vocals and tunes about the important things in life, like riding your bicycle. She had the seated crowd in quiet wonder, with songs that meant so much more than that, such as “‘Til The Morning Comes”, and “One Deep…

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