We are asking for your help, we might not have influence over the heavens but we sure can do our bit to Make It Rain in dollar bills!

Bernard Fanning & Ian Haug, Wolfmother, T’N’T, Tim Rogers, Tex Perkins & The Loose Rubber Band, ARC (members of Spiderbait/You Am I/Jet/Even), Jackson Carroll, Jimmy Willing & The Real Gone Hick-Ups feat. The Buffalo Gals, Monica Frances will take up at The Beach Hotel in Byron Bay. To join them, head to MAKEITRAIN2020.COM.AU and donate $49 for a single night or $89 for two nights to secure your tickets.

Local independent brewery Stone & Wood is donating several fundraising Karma Kegs for the evening, plus a prize of lunch and drinks at the brewery and four cases of fresh beer.

Can’t make it to Byron? We also have an online Auction featuring some money CAN’T buy items and experiences, that you CAN buy! Including an original etching from award winning artist Ben Quilty, a personal training session with Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky, a tennis lesson or game for three with Pat Rafter, a song writing session with ARIA Award winner Bernard Fanning, and more to be added! Head over to www.makeitrain2020.com.au bidding starts Dec 17th and closes Jan 17th.

“A few months ago I was asked to play at a fire relief benefit called Ewingar Rising” explains Tex Perkins. “I was aware that the area had been devastated by fire storms. It’s always an honour to be asked to help people in hard times and to use my music for good, not only for fundraising, but for healing.

Then the rest of NSW started to burn. Suddenly fires were everywhere. Places that had never burned, and should never burn, and it hit really close to home, literally. A small bushfire in the national park near where I live quickly became a 2000 hectare blaze, it’s now over 6000 hectares and growing.

We evacuated our animals, children and prepared as best we could. The fire still burns but we’ve been lucky…so far.

My local fire brigade announced an outpouring of thanks to the local people for their $1000 donation, as a result of that generosity, they could buy short wave radios to use out there whilst fighting fires!

I was shocked! Fucking hell! These guys are out here and deserve the best equipment!”

If they want equipment let’s get them what they want, let’s fund the firies!

Let’s MAKE IT RAIN”

Make it Rain – Fun the Firies, A Bushfire Fundraiser
8 January 2020 – The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay
Featuring WOLFMOTHER, ARC (members of Spiderbait/You Am I/Jet/Even), JACKSON CARROLL, MONICA FRANCES

9 January 2020 – The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay
Featuring BERNARD FANNING, T’N’T, TIM ROGERS, TEX PERKINS & THE LOOSE RUBBER BAND JIMMY WILLING & THE REAL GONE HICK-UPS (feat. The Buffalo Gals) and guest MC CHRIS HEMSWORTH

All ticket sales donated to NSW RFS Northern Rivers and Far North Coast Brigades.
Tickets and Online Auction: www.makeitrain2020.com.au

Looking at the gap between memory and reality, Isn’t It A Pity neatly shifts between mellow verses and a glorious chorus driven by a gritty soul groove. The idea of renewal and forward motion is captured in the final verse: “Now all your fabled advice rings of emptiness and studied lines…But I have resolved to erase all the bitterness and venom in my veins’.

“I was listening to Bobby Blue Bland’s ‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City’, Bernard explains, “and I loved the way the Philly strings gave it a lot more melody and power without making it beefy. When we recorded it we were deliberately trying to keep it from rocking too much so we replaced what were horns, with strings and it did the trick. Clare Bowditch helped on the weird minory backing vocals which helps it all sound big, without being heavy. It was a bit of an arm wrestle this song, but I love where it ended up.”

Produced by Nick DiDia and recorded at La Cueva studio (located near Byron Bay), Isn’t It A Pity also features his band The Black Fins: Salliana Campbell providing fiddle, Matt Engelbrecht on bass, Andrew Morris laying down guitar and Declan Kelly on drums and a special guest appearance by good friend Clare Bowditch who provides backing vocals.
www.bernardfanning.com

The ‘Sooner or Later’ tour kicks off this week in Tamworth and we are delighted to welcome Garrett Kato who will be supporting the superstar duo throughout the regional tour. Ziggy Alberts will also be joining the bill in Ballarat exclusively. Tickets to the Albury show are now sold-out, with Bendigo, Canberra, Wollongong, Toowoomba & Grafton shows soon to follow suit. Tickets to all other shows can be purchased via soonerorlater.com

Garrett Kato is a Canadian born musician and songwriter who has lived in Byron Bay, with his Australian partner and daughter, for the last four years. In 2015 Kato released his second LP That Low and Lonesome Sound, with Rolling Stone Australia praising the album as a “Gentile gem rich with songwriting nous and emotion leaking from every pore”. Kato has toured extensively throughout Australia including a 33 date sold-out tour supporting Pete Murray and a recent headline national tour.  Kato’s single ‘Sweet Jane’ was recently featured in the Hollywood Motion Picture Bad Moms and has racked up over 1 million Spotify streams since the film’s release.

And for a special treat for Ballarat locals Ziggy Alberts will be joining the bill for a one-off support slot. Ziggy is a coastal folk singer/songwriter, free surfer & environmental enthusiast from the East Coast of Australia. Now touring nationally and internationally with headline shows, accompanied by performances at Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass (2014, 2015, 2016) and PIKNIK (Norway, 2015). Ziggy has released an impressive 3 records, reaching 11 million Spotify plays, 56 thousand followers on Instagram and consistently appears in the top 10 ‘Singer/Songwriter’ charts on iTunes. Highly anticipated following his hit single ‘Runaway’, Ziggy’s latest record Four Feet In The Forest went to no. 1 in the singer songwriter charts and proves to be a favourite compilation by many of his listeners.

Both Bernard and Kasey will also be playing at this year’s 45th annual Country Music Awards of Australia – the Toyota Golden Guitar Awards.

With a sold out national tour behind him, Bernard was honoured to receive an ARIA late last year, taking home the Best Adult Contempory Album award, for his third solo record Civil Dusk (Dew Process / UMA), part one of a two part project (the second LP Brutal Dawn is due 2017).  While Kasey’s August EP release, Ain’t No Little Girl gave fans a taste of her eleventh studio LP, Dragonfly, a double album that sees her collaborating with Australian music legend Paul Kelly in the producer’s chair for one session, and Nash Chambers producing the other. Dragonfly is now available via Warner Music.

Don’t miss two of Australia’s most lauded and loved singer songwriters on their ‘Sooner or Later’ Tour this February 2017!

Bernard Fanning & Kasey Chambers ‘Sooner or Later’ Tour 2017
Tuesday Feb 1 – Orange Ex Services Club, Orange
Wednesday Feb 15 – Albury Entertainment Cent, Albury
Friday Feb 17 – Eastbank Centre, Shepparton
Saturday Feb 18 – Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo
Sunday Feb 19 – Lakeside Twilights, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat
Tuesday Feb 21 – Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra
Wednesday Feb 22 – Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul
Friday Feb 24 – Empire Theatr,  Toowoomba
Saturday Feb 25 – Saraton Theatr, Grafton
www.soonerorlatertour.com