Gotyettes
Welcome to our website, dedicated to the phenomenon that is Wally De Backer
Home>News Archive>Apr-Jun 2013
Photo: John Shearer
Photo: 2SERFM Radio
HIP HIP HOORAY, IT'S WALLY'S BIRTHDAY!
May 21, 2013
We were so pleased to be able to collaborate with other Gotye fan groups to create an original birthday message video for him. He was impressed with the artwork and the inclusion of rubber chickens!
We send our many thanks to all the creative fan groups for participating, The National Music Centre, and Travis and Jena at Lunatic Entertainment (Wally was particularly chuffed with the inclusion of these two organisations) for joining with us. Happy Birthday Wally!
Photo: John Shearer
BIG BILLBOARD AWARDS NEWS
May 19, 2013
Wally’s world dominating song STIUTK snagged four trophies at this month’s Billboard Music Awards - Top Radio Song, Top Hot 100 Song, Top Streaming Song (Audio) and Top Rock Song. Congratulations once again, Wally!
May 2013
Photo: theage.com.au
NEWS FROM WALLY: "STATE OF THE ART" VINYL & NEWSLETTER
May 6, 2013
It was a tough task for many to snag one of the pink limited edition State of The Art vinyl’s at a local record store on Record Store Day, but not to worry. If you weren’t able to find one you can purchase a copy from the Aus/New Zealand and Europe/Asia Gotye online stores. But be quick, limited numbers available. There was also a spanking brand new Gotye newsletter for you to enjoy and have a few or more laughs over. They’re always so much fun to read!
SLAM'S FIGHTING FUNDS CAMPAIGN REACHES ITS GOAL
May 5, 2013
SLAM have offered a special evening with Wally, via Pledge Music, that is to be purchased with all monies going to the cause of saving live Australian music. Four lucky people will get the chance to have dinner with Wally at his favorite Melbourne Japanese restaurant and then enjoy a live show, Wally’s treat! These four spots are sure to be snapped up quickly. Also in SLAM news, the Fighting Funds campaign for Gotye / Perfect Tripod’s ‘Quasimodo’s Dream’ has reached its goal. Great news indeed!
WELCOME TO THE WORLD, SWEET MATILDA SHIEL
May 5, 2013
Wally’s close friend and touring band member, Tim Shiel has welcomed his first child into the world, a daughter named Matilda. Congratulations to the new Dad and his wife on their precious baby girl.
COMMUNITY RADIO, YOU ARE LOVED
May 9 - 16, 2013
On May 9 Wally also spoke to Triple R about its importance, but unfortunately due to budget failure, community radio services face the axe. Tim Shiel was certainly feeling the love this month, writing a love letter to community radio and what it means to him.
WILL HEARTS A MESS MAKE IT ON TRIPLE J'S HOTTEST 100 OF THE PAST 20 YEARS?
May 8
‘Hearts A Mess’ has received many glowing reviews as part of The Great Gatsby soundtrack, and has even re-entered the Australian Indie charts, several years after its release. Also, Richard Kingsmill, from Triple J has announced you can vote on Hearts A Mess, and any other Gotye song (maybe STIUTK?) in Triple J’s 20 Years of Hottest 100 countdown all this month. It will be a fun countdown full of great music, no doubt.
WALLY'S RESIDENCE AT THE NMC NOW ON VIDEO
May 8
The National Music Centre (NMC) in Calgary, Canada, have uploaded a video of Wally’s time as the Artist in Residence from a few weeks ago. He and Nick Launay certainly seemed to make the most of their time there, recording many new sounds which will hopefully become new Gotye music sometime soon.
WALLY ON "SPICKS AND SPECKS" (2008)
NOW ON YOUTUBE!
May 5, 2013
Uber Gotye fan James Thompson has uploaded to YouTube for the first time this month an episode of Australian music quiz show, Spicks and Specks, from 2008 featuring Wally as one of the contestants. So much fun to watch a super young Wally in action! (Part 1; Part 2)
WALLY, SUPPORTIVE OF MANY
As per normal, Wally is there to support many a worthy cause and this month sees no exception. He purchased a brick from Pure Pop Record’s fundraising campaign to help rebuild their legendary live music space. He also donated a signed copy of his favorite childhood book, Roald Dahl’s ‘The Boy’, to Monkey Baa Theatre Company and supported the development of Antiquity Music’s promising new instrument, The Wheelharp.
THE GOTYETTES' NEW EMBLEMS
This month we unveil two brand new and original Gotyette emblems, one for our international account and the other four our account in Spanish, created with love by our talented friend and artist, Sonia Beauchamp. Wally was impressed with Sonia’s work, and described the piece as “quite hypnotic”. Thanks Sonia and Wally!
KRIS SCHROEDER & FRANC TÉTAZ MEDIA APPEARANCES
Kris from The Basics spoke with both Groundsounds and Parx-E Web Zine, and Franc Tétaz divulged recording and mixing details on Pensado’s Place. This was a particularly interesting and in depth interview about the behind the scenes of recording a record.
MORE ACCOLADES AND NOMINATIONS THIS MONTH!
APRA announced on April 9 that both Save Me and Easy Way Out have been shortlisted in the category of Song Of The Year at the APRA Music Awards. The Billboard Music Award nominations were also announced on April 25 with our G man nominated in 7 categories, including Top New Artist and Top Digital Song. The ceremony will air on May 19. Also, Oh Yeah Wow's video for Gotye's "Easy Way Out" has been selected for the Annecy Animation Festival (April 4). We wish them all the best of luck.
VISITING (WITH) FRIENDS
April 25 - 28, 2013
On April 25, musical mate Jonti joined Wally in The Barn for some work and, no doubt, a lot of fun. Wally also took time to visit the quaint Darnum Musical Village in country Victoria, with his friend and collaborator Franc Tétaz. You can see them in the photo with the owner, Albert Fox.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY COBURG HOTEL!
April 20, 2013
A secret gig took place on the 20th April at The Coburg Hotel, where the ‘Coburg Allstars’ (including Wally, fellow Basics member Tim Heath, Davey Lane and Paul Dempsey from Something For Kate) helped the hotel celebrate its 3rd birthday.
WORLD PREMIÈRE OF "QUASIMODO'S DREAM" COVER
April 18 -22, 2013
Wally has also worked recently with Perfect Tripod to release a special cover of The Reels, Quasimodo’s Dream, a collaboration in support of SLAM and Australian live music. The world premiere of this beautiful a capella tune was on Triple J on April 18. We have also learned that the vinyl artwork is by Patricia Piccinini (on the right). You can help SLAM (Save Live Australia's Music) by pre ordering your own copy via: www.pledgemusic.com/projects/slam
BACK HOME IN TIME FOR RECORD STORE DAY
April 16, 2013
Wally comes home to Australia after his musical adventures to begin gearing up for Record Store Day (April 20), with a special limited edition pink vinyl release of "State Of The Art", which includes a remix of this tune by The Chap. He thought it was sweeeeet when the first shipment arrived at The Barn.
FRACTURED HEART GOES STATE OF THE ART
April 15, 2013
Wally and Illuminart’s Fractured Heart interactive light and sound sculpture at NFSA has been updated to include State Of The Art, a perfect choice of song to accompany STIUTK. NFSA have just uploaded a playlist from Wally’s videoconference from back in February. That same night, Wally curated and hosted a visual music screening, which he has included on his Vimeo channel. Take your time to watch and enjoy!
THE GREAT GOTYE
April 4, 2013
It's been announced that a Gotye classic, Hearts A Mess, is included in The Great Gatsby original score and soundtrack, and Gotye fans are rejoicing at the news! The OST album drops on May 6.
GOTYE, RAIDER OF THE LOST SOUND
The beginning of April sees Wally continue his musical explorations in the US. He is spending time visiting Antiquity Music, hanging out with his talented friend Diego Stocco, and recording sounds at Seedy Underbelly Studios, partly owned by producer Nick Launay, where he reportedly "felt at home."
April 2013
MUSIC & ARTS FOR FUN!
On a personal note, Wally and Tash enjoyed a night out at the Circus Oz show and also spent some time in Sydney for the VIVID festival.
Also, virtuosic guitarist Mike Dawes, whose memorable cover of STIUTK on a guitar caught Wally’s attention, visited Wally at his home on the Mornington Peninsula.
WALLY'S HUMANITARIAN WORK GOES ON
June sees Wally continue with his humanitarian work. We heard that he once again worked with the young people at Aardvark, mentoring and helping them express
themselves through music.
The SLAM rally dinner was held on June 24, with Wally hosting fans at a Japanese restaurant in Melbourne and then a live show. These fans had purchased the night out by pledging their financial support to SLAM.
Wally also acknowledged the plight of community radio, with the Government announcing funding cuts to the sector. He wrote an open letter to Senator Conroy, asking for the budget shortfalls to be rectified. Fingers crossed we get a positive outcome from the Government here!
Wally making da hitz with E. Rose
Photo: E. Rose.
TRIPLE J'S HOTTEST 100 OF THE LAST 20 YEARS REVEALED
June 9, 2013
Long time supporters of Gotye music, radio station Triple J, asked listeners to vote on their ‘Triple J Hottest 100 of 20 years’ countdown. Hearts A Mess was voted in at number 12, while STIUTK snuck into the top ten at ninth spot. Not bad at all for such a recent tune, in a countdown spanning 20 of music! Stream Part 4 of the programme, including Gotye's words on the creative process he followed for STIUTK.
COLLABORATING WITH WALLY
Wally has collaborated on various musical projects recently. You can now pre order
Spender’s EP, Modern Pest on which Wally lends his lead vocals to the dreamy tune Hotel Home. Seja’s 'When You Said You Were Mine’, which was arranged by Wally, is now available on iTunes and Jake Rush’s musical project Louis Spoils, sees Wally play drums/percussion on his debut EP. Take a look at this amusing behind the scenes video from Louis Spoils. It was also revealed that Wally and electronic artist Elizabeth Rose were writing together.
MORE AWARDS?! WHAT A SURPRISE!
It wouldn’t be a news update without some awards news, right? On June 24, Wally was nominated for Best Australian Contemporary Concert at the prestigious Helpmann Awards to be held on July 29 and he also made an appearance as a presenter at the 2013 APRA Music Awards on June 24. Somebody That I Used To Know took out the APRA for Most Played Australian Work Overseas. What a surprise (not!). Meanwhile, Oh Yeah Wow continue to take out awards for their Easy Way Out video, this time snagging three at the St Kilda Film Festival on June 1 and winning Best Australian Video at the Melbourne International Animation Festival on June 30.
THE BASICS' RETURN
June 7, 2013
The big news for this month (or for the year, for that matter!) is the return of Wally’s rock and roll band, The Basics, after nearly three years! Kris, Tim and Wally announced a run of Australian East Coast shows and festival appearances kicking off in September at The Brisbane Festival. Melbourne shows in particular are selling fast and a third show at The Corner has been announced. Read more about the return of The Basics’ in this Billboard article.
June 2013
Wally and fans supporting SLAM. Photo: L. Milton
Wally on the Mornington Peninsula.
Photo: Mike Dawes