Friends of Josh Pyke existed from 2006 to 2016. Here are some highlights from the 10 years.
It all started back in 2006. Mary jokingly mentioned the idea to Josh after a gig. Mary and sabi had spoken online a few months prior (we bonded over a mutual love of Josh’s music) and were both keen to get something happening. Fast forward to September and ‘Discover Josh Pyke’ began. We soon renamed it ‘Friends of Josh Pyke’.
In 2007 word of Friends of Josh Pyke spread quickly. We reached over 2,000 Myspace friends and held our first competition with Josh judging the top 5.
2008 was a big year for FOJP. We held even more competitions, continued growing our online presence and we even got thanked on Josh’s second album ‘Chimney’s Afire.’ We ended the year by launching this website, a place for fans to contribute and keep up to date with Friends of Josh Pyke.
In 2009 two of Josh’s songs made it into the Triple J’s Hottest 100 and he gave Mary and sabi a shout out live on air. When Josh hit the road for the Chimney’s Afire tour we were there bringing you the behind the scenes footage for the first time. We also had FOJP reps helping us out. In May, sabi and Mary met for the first time, and had the pleasure of meeting the folks at Wonderlick Entertainment. A nice way to end the year, Josh took home the ARIA for Best Adult Contemporary and Friends of JP was mentioned in his acceptance speech which was a definite highlight for us here at FOJP HQ.
2010 came along rather quickly. 4 years of Friends of Josh Pyke & although things were a bit quieter that year we were still around. Most of Josh’s time was spent with Basement Birds while here at FOJP HQ sabi had made the move from Perth to Melbourne and was now running FOJP solo. In August, sabi was flown to Sydney to attend Busking for Change, a very appreciated surprise from Josh and his management. Our website turned two at the end of the year.
We got ourselves a Facebook page in 2011. Josh Pyke released his third album Only Sparrows in August and yet again FOJP was thanked. In September, at his sold-out Melbourne show he dedicated Silver to sabi. (which was pretty damn amazing) That month we celebrated our fifth birthday with a small website makeover and Josh wrote a tour diary for us! The Daily Telegraph described us “Friends Of Josh Pyke (it’s a website, social network, musical community)”
In 2012 we launched a new website design to bring in the new year. In May we finally got FOJP cards, something we’re super proud of. We were there again to bring you behind the scenes footage at the Love Lies tour and some footage from Only Sparrows Solo tour. We held even more competitions including a meet & greet, and turned six in September!
At the beginning of 2013 we found ourselves with an invite to join Josh in the studio as he recorded his fourth album. We were thrilled to bring you some photos & videos from the studio. In April we got to announce via our mailing list that Josh’s new album was going to be released in July & that FOJP would be presenting the Melbourne Fans First show. In May the Fans First tour took place and we had a ball at the Melbourne show, we held a raffle & a live Q&A, which we streamed to youtube. In July Josh released ‘The Beginning & The End of Everything’ and we were blown away to receive another thank you in the album. We had the pleasure of organizing photographers for the album tour and before we knew it, September had arrived and we were celebrating 7 years.
Somehow it became 2014 and the year was a little quieter at FOJP. We were still around to bring you the news of Josh’s touring, and the news that Josh had begun writing a new album. We also celebrated our eighth birthday, and we compiled a bunch of your stories.
We made it to our ninth year, 2015. In between recording his new album, Josh was busy rehearsing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for their Opera House shows. The incredible performances took place at the end of April, and in August, Josh dropped his album “But For All These Shrinking Hearts”. FOJP also got another sneaky thanks in the album.
2016, our tenth and later announced, final year. In July the Friends of Josh Pyke website got a massive redesign, thanks to Nicely Done Sites! We also joined the 21st century with a mobile version. That month also saw Josh & SSO release the Live at the Sydney Opera House album. In early August we launched a competition (with it’s own hashtag #fojpturns10) to celebrate 10 years of Friends of Josh Pyke. August 30th was the day we celebrated #fojpturns10 with an intimate show at Sony in Sydney. We had fans fly in from across Australia, and the best bit? We live streamed it to Facebook, resulting in a combined view of over +22K, +580 comments and an audience from all over the world. In December we were bringing you some behind the scenes (and live streams) from Another Evening With Josh Pyke & Bob Evans. As the year came to an end, we announced we were calling it a day. What a ride. Read our thank you post here and watch our final video here.
