AUSTRALIAN MADE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION will screen …

AUSTRALIAN MADE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

DIGITALLY RESTORED FEATURE FILM ON

AUSTRALIAN MUSIC’S COMING-OF-AGE

INXS, JIMMY BARNES, DIVINYLS, MODELS

THE SAINTS, THE TRIFFIDS, I’M TALKING

For release – Sunday, 30 October 2016: 30 years ago, two significant moments in Australian music industry history arrived out of a passion for Australian contemporary music.

The first was the inaugural ARIA Awards in 1986. The second was the staging of a major series of outdoor festivals in the summer of 1986/87 under the banner AUSTRALIAN MADE. They were both ambitious ideas borne out of a frustration for the lack of respect for, and recognition of, our country’s musicians.

To celebrate this milestone, AUSTRALIAN MADE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION will screen exclusively at 40 Event Cinemas and Village Cinemas on Friday 25 November for one night only. Click here to view the trailer.

Both events back in 1987 not only broke the rules, they forever changed the perception about how we, as a country, viewed our place on the world stage when it came to music.

As INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence said during the AUSTRALIAN MADE Tour: “It’s grown-up time. We’ve come of age. This has proved that we’re part of the world music scene.”

AUSTRALIAN MADE saw nearly 140,000 fans in six cities witness performances from a potent and imaginative line-up including INXS, Jimmy Barnes, Divinyls, Models, The Saints, The Triffids and I’m Talking.

AUSTRALIAN MADE: THE FEATURE FILM

Acclaimed director Richard Lowenstein and a 50-strong film crew captured the on-stage performances and backstage camaraderie between artists for production of a feature film of the AUSTRALIAN MADE Tour.

AUSTRALIAN MADE was a critical and box-office success when it was first-released nationally in July 1987:

“An expert mixture of on-stage appearances, inspired
selection of music and behind-the-scenes interviews”
Rob Lowing, The Sun-Herald (1987)

“Those forceful images of Jimmy Barnes belting it out are
as memorable as anything I’ve seen in a rock film”
Paul Le Peitit, Sunday Telegraph (1987)

Academy Award® winner Jill Billcock was responsible for the rapid-fire editing, with music production by the legendary Mark Opitz, who’d previously collaborated with AUSTRALIAN MADE producer John McLean on Cold Chisel’s Last Stand – the country’s first theatrically-released rock film.

AUSTRALIAN MADE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

30 years on AUSTRALIAN MADE has been brilliantly restored for a 21st century audience. Sony Music Australia, in partnership with the film’s producers and assistance from the National Film & Sound Archive, have undertaken a major digital restoration of AUSTRALIAN MADE, including a 2K widescreen scan of the film negative and remastering of the soundtrack.

The restored film features 15 live concert tracks, including explosive performances from INXS and Jimmy Barnes – both of whose profiles are as strong now as 30 years ago. The 30th Anniversary Edition includes ‘never-before-seen’ outtakes and intimate behind-the-scenes ‘home movie’ footage that’s recently been unearthed from the archives.

AUSTRALIAN MADE is a rare ‘time-capsule’ of our music history – a soundtrack to the lives of many who were there, and a unique way for a new generation of music fans to discover the best of Australian music in the 80s.

AUSTRALIAN MADE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION will screen exclusively at 40 Event Cinemas and Village Cinemas on Friday, 25 November for one night only.

Hi res photos, the original program, tracklisting and bio information can be downloaded here.

For a full list of cinemas, session times and to purchase tickets, go to
www.eventcinemas.com.au or www.villagecinemas.com.au

#AustMade30

AUSTRALIAN MADE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

NOTES …

AUSTRALIAN MUSIC THEN & NOW

Australia is now plugged into the world and we’re considered a serious player in the global music industry. We’ve got the likes of Sia, 5 Seconds of Summer, Iggy Azalea and Tame Impala, to name but a few – all bona fide international artists – Australian artists no less, all walking the world stage. And before them the likes of Silverchair, Jet, Savage Garden and Wolfmother as further proof we as a nation could equal the best the world had to offer.

But it wasn’t always like that.

Back in the 80’s it was a very different world to the world we live in today. For starters, 1986 was, well, last century – an analogue world where news travelled slowly from one corner of the globe to another, particularly in the world of music. Unlike today, back then no other country knew, let alone cared, if you were “big in Australia”.

AUSTRALIAN MADE TOUR (1986/87)

On 26 December 1986, one in ten of Hobart’s citizens attended the very first of six outdoor concerts staged in the summer of 86/87; an ambitious national tour under the banner AUSTRALIAN MADE that featured some of the hottest music talent this country had to offer. The idea was conceived and borne from a frustration and visceral reaction to Australia’s perceived cultural cringe and sense of self-worth; a widely held belief that when it came to the arts and in particular contemporary music, we as a country were maybe not quite good enough to match what the rest of the world had to offer.

Over Christmas drinks in 1985 two young managers got talking; and from that bull session came the seed of an idea, a very ambitious idea – to showcase the best Australia had to offer in contemporary music, not only on the biggest stage possible but with the same production values afforded international acts who toured Australia constantly. And in doing so once and for all (at least when it came to music) maybe help slay this silly myth called cultural cringe.

Settling for second best was no longer an option for a creative industry that was fast finding its feet and its voice and hungry for new worlds and markets to conquer. “I’m not saying that Australian bands are better than any other or that the music is particularly unique,” said INXS manager and co-producer Chris Murphy at the time. “But what we are saying that our country’s music is as good as any being produced and promoted around the world”

From that chance spark, came a year of planning and preparation, of major breakthroughs and (on the odd occasion) soul-destroying setbacks as this audacious idea grew from an abstract concept into something very real. Fuelled by nothing more than belief, passion and determination this little idea evolved into an unstoppable force of nature called AUSTRALIAN MADE – a national outdoor tour that would feature INXS, Jimmy Barnes, Divinyls, Models, I’m Talking, The Saints and The Triffids

Somewhere buried deep in the nation’s music industry’s archives the record shows that in that summer of 86/87, these seven Australian artists played to an audience of over 139,000 Australian fans in 6 capital cities over 5 weeks and along the way captured the media’s attention, the nation’s attention, and for a brief moment even the international music industry’s attention.

AUSTRALIAN MADE was much more than just a collection of one day music festivals. Way back in the mid 80’s AUSTRALIAN MADE was a first, in fact the first of its kind to feature an all-Australian line up and presented on such a grand scale.

By the end of 1987, and with it the international breakthrough from INXS, AUSTRALIAN MADE proved to be a milestone marker in the support for and recognition of our nations musicians and their craft. And on reflection and in hindsight some 30 years later, it also proved to be a pivotal turning point when we as a nation knew when it came to contemporary music, Australia was blessed with as good as any the world had to offer. And in doing so, the myth that was cultural cringe was once and for all, slayed.

It’s a fundament of the human condition to seek out our roots, our heritage, to learn where we came from.

So too with a nation. It’s called history.

Thankfully this particular moment in Australian music history was filmed and recorded in the summer of 86/87. But afterwards, due to contractual issues, was pretty much buried and quickly forgotten. Until now.

AUSTRALIAN MADE TOUR DATES 1986/87:

26 December 1986 – King George Oval, Hobart
1 January 1987 – Thebarton Oval, Adelaide
3 January 1987 – Olympic Park, Melbourne
10 January 1987 – Subiaco Oval, Perth
17 January 1987 – Chandler Velodrome, Brisbane
24 January 1987 – Endeavour Field, Cronulla

Rina Ferris