The Queensland music industry converged on the Brisbane Powerhouse for the third year running last night for the annual Qld Music Awards event, with major winners including Violent Soho, Gold Coast songstress Amy Shark and more.
Soho took out their second Album Of The Year prize for latest record WACO, following 2015's win for Hungry Ghost and a Song Of The Year gong last year for Like Soda.
This year, Song Of The Year went to Amy Shark for her lauded track Adore; absent from the ceremony due to gig commitments down in Victoria, Shark accepted her award — along with her wins for the Regional and Pop categories, the latter of which she also won last year — via video message.
It was a fruitful night for opening performers Good Boy, who walked away with the award for the Rock category for their excellent track Poverty Line, while young up-and-comer (and closing act) Tia Gostelow conveyed genuine excitement and gratitude when picking up her awards for Folk/Singer-Songwriter and Schools.
The evening comprehensively celebrated the diversity of music that comes out of the state, with acclaimed singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara earning the win for the Indigenous category with Ngayuwa Ngelyeyiminama (I Love You), Moreton Bay muso Sean Foran taking out the Jazz category (Une Fille), hard-rockin' pirates Lagerstein getting the nod for the Heavy category (Drink The Rum), evergreen rockers Halfway picking up the Country award for Three In & Nothing But The Stars, and Sunshine Coast artist Hayden Hack — aka the creative core of High Life — walking away the winner of the World category, for Aware.
Also implicitly a celebration of the breadth of Queensland music, Hey Geronimo's excellent clip for Boredom — the one that features a bunch of local bands and is based on a idea from TISM — earned them the win in the Music Video category.
Also among the evening's excellent musical performers were Blues/Roots nominees Kingfisha — that category ended up going to Cairns troubadour Leanne Tennant, for her song Gentle Annie — as well as Urban winner ROMY (Wild Heart), indie darlings Cub Sport and state icons george, whose performance doubled as tribute for recently departed friends Ritchie Yorke and Carol Lloyd. Yorke's presence was also felt as the posthumous recipient of this year's Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award.
Further on the industry front, Ash Kerley (of local two-piece rockers Marville) was named as this year's winner of the $10,000 Billy Thorpe Scholarship for her work as the primary driver of Girls Rock Australia in Queensland and her potential to continue to positively influence emergent female musicians in some of the state's more isolated pockets.
"I believe for Ash Kerley this will be a life and career changing moment," Screamfeeder co-founder and Scholarship judge Kellie Lloyd said of the decision. "Ash is already the main driver behind the Girls Rock Australia program in Queensland, and this scholarship gives her an opportunity to take her loud guitars and the punk rock attitude of her band Marville to regional Queensland playing shows and doing workshops with young people as she goes.
"I do think Billy Thorpe would be very proud to know his legacy is being honoured in such a way with such a person."
Also noteworthy from an industry standpoint were The Amity Affliction's two wins — Export Achievement Award and Highest Selling Album, for This Could Be Heartbreak — and The Veronicas, who came away with the year's Highest Selling Single in In My Blood.
As for the publicly voted categories, although The Veronicas were finalists in the category, it was Cub Sport who walked away the winners of the BOQ People's Choice Award for Most Popular Group, flanked by Most Popular Female Dami Im and Most Popular Male Jarryd James.
See a full list of category winners below.
Qld Music Awards — 2017 Winners
Pop
Amy Shark — Adore
Rock
Good Boy — Poverty Line
Electronic/Dance
Confidence Man — Boyfriend (Repeat)
Blues/Roots
Leanne Tennant — Gentle Annie
Heavy
Lagerstein — Drink The Rum
Jazz
Sean Foran — Une Fille
Schools
Tia Gostelow — State Of Art
Indigenous
Emily Wurramara — Ngayuwa Ngelyeyiminama (I Love You)
Urban
ROMY — Wild Heart
Country
Halfway — Three In & Nothing But The Stars
World
High Life — Aware
Folk/Singer-songwriter
Tia Gostelow — Vague Utopia
Regional
Amy Shark — Adore
Music Video
Hey Geronimo — Boredom
BOQ People's Choice Award for Most Popular Female
Dami Im
BOQ People's Choice Award for Most Popular Male
Jarryd James
BOQ People's Choice Award for Most Popular Group
Cub Sport
Export Achievement Award
The Amity Affliction
Highest Selling Single
The Veronicas — In My Blood
Highest Selling Album
The Amity Affliction — This Could Be Heartbreak
Album Of The Year
Violent Soho — WACO
Song Of The Year
Amy Shark — Adore
Billy Thorpe Scholarship
Ash Kerley (Marville)
Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award
Ritchie Yorke
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