GYROSCOPE

As an outfit that has long done its growing up in public, Gyroscope know that nothing prepares a band better for the road ahead than hard earned experience. Starting as Gyroscope Sunday in Perth back in 1997, this quartet immediately took on a gigging schedule that could be described as endless. Since signing to FMR in early 2003, the band were eager and ready to take their hard work ethic on the road on a national scale, with tours in support of Blink 182, Thursday, The Living End and The Get Up Kids. “In the last year we’ve grown tenfold,” says vocalist/guitarist Dan Sanders. “The backbone has always been there, having played as much as possible with all sorts of bands and having that diversity.

COG

Organic in the sense that cog play their instruments, some people would say cog's music resembles some sort of progressive rock that flows effortlessly from thick slabs of distorted guitars, twisting rhythms through to vast playgrounds of ambient organospace and back again. Not shy to incorporate sequencing and sampling to propagate more ideas in a live and recording environment, cog feels this has opened the possibilities for more musical exploration.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

The band formed in 2003 when several band members started jamming at the Christmas party at a vinyl pressing plant where they worked. They encouraged now-lead singer Brendan Suppression (real name Brendan Huntly) to ad-lib into a tape recorder. The subsequent tape prompted the band’s first recording, which produced a 7-inch single with A-side Get Up Morning. The band’s name derived from members recalling another employee at the pressing plant stating he had to fix the eddy current suppression ring - a copper ring around a transformer which subdues eddy currents.

TAME IMPALA

Tame Impala are a three piece psychedelic rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The band consists of Kevin Parker (lead guitar and vocals), Dominic Simper (bass guitar) and Jay Watson (drums and backing vocals). Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope. Their musical sound draws from a wide range of influences (most notably Jefferson Airplane and Germany’s Colour Haze) and they like to see themselves as “a steady flowing psychedelic groove rock band that emphasizes dream-like melody.” The band signed a worldwide deal with boutique label Modular Recordings in mid 2008.

PHILADELPHIA GRAND JURY

Philadelphia Grand Jury has always been two friends: Berkfinger and MC Bad Genius. Between these two childhood buddies of some 20 years one observes a strange, tedious and sometimes very complicated relationship that always manages to somehow end up in a smart and ruff pop song. Do they even like each other? No one really knows.

Berkfinger hadn't seen Bad Genius for going on 6 years when one day last year the curious bearded fellow just strolled into one of his solo shows with a bass and plugged himself right back into the singer's life. From there, these two childhood buddies - and a rotating ensemble of drummers - have been writing, recording and touring their own indie punk soul hits around the country and winning fans everywhere they go.

URTHBOY

Urthboy's first solo album Distant Sense of Random Menace was released in 2004 ("Aussie Hip Hop needs this album" The Brag) and featured singles No Rider and Come Around. But it was 2007's The Signal that kicked things up a notch.

In addition to solo material, Urthboy is one of the main lyricists of The Herd, whose four albums The Herd (2001); An Elefant Never Forgets (2003); The Sun Never Sets (2005/06); and Summerland (2008) have seen them build a huge fanbase in Australia. They've sold out national tours, including major metropolitan theatres through to regional venues whilst accepting invitations to every major festival in the country. During this time they've won AIR Awards; landed in the top 10 of the national charts; been nominated for an ARIA award (Best Urban 2008); J Awards and an AMP award.