While WAMFest 2016 – i.e WA’s biggest celebration of local music and the people who make it – was a big four days, the 2017 edition is set to top that, with an even more wide-ranging focus giving more regional bands the opportunity to play on one of the state’s biggest stages.
As always, supporting regional acts is a priority, and this year the team at West Australian Music (WAM) are after even more acts from outside Perth, including the current hotbed that is Mandurah.
As well as this, there will be a series of region-based gigs leading up to WAMFest itself, including in Mandurah and Bunbury.
The Prince of Wales will host the show on Saturday October 28, while the Mandurah leg – set to be held on the same night – is to be announced.
Best of all, in true WAM fashion, bands will be paid to perform – all that’s expected is the ability to travel to Perth for the festival.
The expansion of the festival has come with the installing of the two new coordinators, long-time musica collaborators Mark neal and Skinny O’Leary.
Both have been involved in numerous festivals over the years, including Hyperfest and WAM’s Saturday Spectacular.
“WAM has a long history of supporting regional musicians and artists,” Mr Neal said.
“It's how we both got started and we love idea of nurturing and growing regional talent through this year's festival.
“We are also looking at the possibility of doing mini conference workshops around this your so we can give even more opportunities to the budding musos of Mandurah.
“There's some great art creators in our region that deserve opportunities to shine, and we wanna be able to give them a taste of what this WA music scene can offer them.”
The showcases are open to any musician or band of any genre – know style is held above another here, the only advantage is quality music.
Submissions for all showcases close at 11.59pm on Wednesday August 2.
For more information, go to WAM’s WAMFest regional showcase page and top register go to the regional showcase SurveyMonkey submission page.
Keep an eye on the WAM Facebook page as well for updates on the regional showcase; the time and venue for the Mandurah leg will be published here when announced.
