Only three days after the launch of his debut album ‘Sinatra’, Alice Springs artist Seldom Party received funding to tour interstate.
The funding came from the Federal Government’s Contemporary Music Touring Program.
Seldom Party is the solo project of Will Kendrew, an ex-Londoner who settled in Alice Springs 7 years ago.
Called ‘Sinatra’, the CD features 8 original tracks and is the first album to be released under the ‘Seldom Party’ band name.
The tri-state tour will take place in September-October over 23 dates, and will take in Darwin, Melbourne, Adelaide and regional centres and towns around the capital cities.
Will was also one of the participants in the landmark A Long Way To The Top End tour in February 2011, when 13 Northern Territory artists and bands journeyed south to play a series of showcase gigs in Adelaide as part of the Fuse Music Conference & Festival.
The tour was supported by Music NT and was designed to provide an interstate touring opportunity to a diverse range of emerging contemporary NT music acts.
In Adelaide, Will previewed material from ‘Sinatra’, playing to a diverse range of audiences in a number of venues across the inner-city.
Prior to the CD launch in Alice Springs, Will said that he was “feeling ready, excited and the forecast says the clouds will go away!” afterwards he said that the gig “went well!”
Compared to Badly Drawn Boy and Radiohead, Will performs solo with a guitar and effects pedals – and balloons! – creating a unique acoustic/melodic/noise sound. His songs are poetic and filled with yearning and hope.
Will wrote the album while living and working in Alice Springs and in the remote community of Yuendemu (approx.300 km northwest of Alice Springs).
Cover art for 'Sinatra'.
Will also raised funds to finish the CD with pre-orders online at Bandcamp.
He says that the album was mixed and mastered “by a guy in Albuquerque.”
Will also writes a Seldom Party blog and is the Project Coordinator of the annual Bush Bands Bash concert at the Alice Springs Desert Festival, which showcases emerging Indigenous bands from the Central Australia region.
Download Sinatra at Bandcamp and check the Seldom Party blog for gig and the September tour dates.
Read interview with Seldom Party on the Music NT Forum, and visit the A Long Way To The Top End website and Facebook Group.
Words: Megan Spencer. Thanks to Will Kendrew for the quotes.
