BY THE C is coming to Newcastle, Wollongong, Coolangatta, Geelong and Adelaide – it’s a celebration of live music, food and community on iconic coastal locations around Australia. We are thrilled to unveil this concert event line-up with some of our greatest bands including electric live performances from Australia’s finest, ICEHOUSE; our favourite party band, the Sunnyboys; the brilliant Do Re Mi and pop legends Mental As Anything, with an additional killer act to be announced on 2nd December.
ICEHOUSE was formed by Iva Davies and is one of those bands who have managed to transcend age groups with a career spanning 40 years. Generations of music lovers have been brought up with hits such as Crazy, Electric Blue, We Can Get Together, Great Southern Land, Hey Little Girl and Man Of Colours to name a few. ICEHOUSE has sold over three million albums locally, more than nine million internationally have achieved 28 platinum album sales in Australasia. The band has had eight Top 10 albums and more than 30 Top 40 singles. ICEHOUSE and Iva Davies have won many awards including the Countdown Award for the Most Popular Male Performer and ARIA Awards for the Best Album and Highest Selling Album for Man of Colours. The band was inducted in the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006. In June 2013 Iva was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for ‘significant service to the music and entertainment industry’ as a songwriter and performer, and to the community. One of Australia’s greatest live acts, ICEHOUSE is set to present a show not to be missed.
After a 21 year break, Sunnyboys re-entered the fray in 2012 at the behest of a Hoodoo Gurus invitation after agreeing to regroup “just for fun and for old times’ sake”. Six years later and Sunnyboys 2.0 have notched up a resume the envy of any band – contemporary or vintage – including a co-headline appearance to 45,000 people for A Day On The Green 2015; a succession of sold-out shows at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre and the Sydney Opera House, a venue attendance record at the Coolangatta Hotel (previously held by Noiseworks) plus sold-out shows (multiple times over) in Melbourne, Byron Bay, Perth and venues across the nation. The current edition of Sunnyboys features all the original members who are making the most of their second chance as a touring outfit.
Legends of 80’s alt-pop Do Re Mi gave us danceable and thought-provoking songs like Standing on Wires, Man Overboard, Warnings Moving Clockwise and Adultery. Their two totally unique albums, Domestic Harmony and Happiest Place in Town, showcased the band’s funky and melodic songs plus featured the power and passion of Deborah Conway’s voice and Helen Carter’s bass. A reinvented Do Re Mi features Deb and Helen, plus female drummer, guitarist and keyboard player to complete the line-up. Why the all-female line-up? Put simply, it is a well-timed moment to showcase women playing the type of strident, challenging music the songs of Do Re Mi represent.
Still as brilliant ever, award winning Mental as Anything are going strong with sell out performances. Their entertaining and timeless music will have you enjoying songs such as the classics The Nips are Getting Bigger, Too Many Times, Mr Natural & Live it Up, to name a few. As members of the coveted ARIA Hall of Fame, they started out as a group of art students who passed themselves off as a band in order to con the local publican into giving them a gig, in exchange for free beer. The deception worked better than intended, and the group came to be known as Mental as Anything. More than three decades later, their music is still highly listenable and recognisable with their identifiable brand of garage pop. A self‐explanatory single to reflect their success, The Nips Are Getting Bigger, rose through the charts both nationally and internationally as did their fundamental understanding of the old adage that ‘for every action there is a reaction’. The talented members of the band culminate in a sound unequalled or paralleled by any other band.