AWME is an exciting opportunity for bands and industry folk to connect in an immediate way. The annual event brings together musicians, industry partners and festival audiences for three days of non-stop music, networking and conference sessions.
“We played there quite a number of years ago, earlier on in our career, but we didn’t really know what it was,” says chief songwriter and vocalist Mark Lang. “We were away touring a lot and I didn’t even realise it was attached to a conference. We didn’t really maximise the opportunity of it, but last year I went to the actual conference itself because I’d been hearing so many great reports about it. It was just amazing. I loved it. I met a lot of great people and got some really incredible advice about entering back into the international market. In the back of my mind I thought, ‘It’d be great to play the AWME maybe next year’. Now I can’t believe we’re headlining, and not only headlining, but back at the Arts Centre.”
Skipping Girl Vinegar launched The Great Wave at an intimate show at the Arts Centre Playhouse Theatre earlier this year. The performance paired their new material with an immersive multimedia display designed specifically for the show.
“We developed this big, multi-arts project that comes behind us with these wave animations and art animations that help to unpack the new album,” says Lang. “We had beautiful lighting in there. Then for the audience as they came in, we filled the room with soundscapes as people entered the space. It helps to create this holistic feeling as you go into a room like that.”
Having gained a strong reception for the immersive performance, Skipping Girl Vinegar will again offer a multifaceted experience at their upcoming show. “People really loved it, and we’re definitely going to bring it back,” says Lang. “I think we’ve been headed in that direction over the last few years. I think we’ve had more of a realisation particularly on the last record.”
The Great Wave was written during a tumultuous time for Lang. After a successful run in the US, his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and the band was put on hold. After the diagnosis, Lang and his young family decided to move to a small seaside fishing village. In many ways, the record tracks the journey from sickness to recovery, with songs moving between shades of darkness and light.
“Journeying through cancer and coming out the other side, [I was] using the analogy and reference points of the ocean to help unpack that and understand the journey that we had gone through,” Lang says. “For me, being near water, I find it a great healing thing, and quite a restful thing. We all interact with the ocean in different ways. Some people walk beside it, some people swim beneath it, some people ride waves on the top, but we all go back to the ocean for the same thing: to be rejuvenated and to be uplifted. The ocean is amazing because it can be deep fear and joy all wrapped up in the same thing.”
BY JAMES DI FABRIZIO
