The Year That Was..2015

We once again find ourselves at the end of another year. And once again I’m rushing to finish off to-do lists before heading over to Perth for the Christmas holidays.

But there’s always time for this yearly wrap up.

Lets rewind all the way back to January. Josh was working through some arrangements with Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the lead up to the April performances. Entries for the JP Partnership also opened, and Josh performed alongside Washington and Emma Louise for the Mercy Campaign Concert in Sydney.

In early February, Josh and producer John Castle met to begin planning album number 5. Over the month we were treated to crafty lyric snippets, giving us an insight to the forthcoming tracks.

Bright and early on the first of March Josh headed to the Sony Studios to start the first day of recording! With his trusty iPhone, Josh made an effort to keep us update throughout the recording, we got a moving studio panorama, random dog gospel and of course some snippets of the songs he was recording. In the studio downtime, Josh kept himself busy making paper planes and even had friends like Jack Carty and Jefferton James drop by.

In mid March, Josh moved to the Albert Studios to continue recording. In between recording Josh continued working on his home-brew, attended the APRA Awards, did some promo for the SSO shows and announced a show with the West Australia Symphony Orchestra. We also got to hear more song snippets from the studio including one featuring a guest – a cricket chirping!

Much to our delight, at the start of April recording was officially done! Josh then spent some time focusing on preparing for the SSO shows (and shared this video) and did some more promo. He also announced his support for the #NotOn Campaign to end violence against women in Australia. Towards the end of the month he took a quick trip to Melbourne to finalise the mixes of the new album. He also finally revealed the title – But For All These Shrinking Hearts.

After waiting for what felt like forever, the two Sydney Symphony Orchestra shows took place at the Opera House at the end of April. Having flown from Melbourne to attend the second night, it was incredible hearing some of Josh’s songs reimagined by orchestra.

In May, the album was mastered at 301 with Steve Smart. Josh headed to the Sydney prop factory for a photo shoot, found time to celebrate Select Music‘s 10th birthday and he was an Artist In Residence at Macquarie Uni. In mid May we got the news we were patiently waiting for – a release date. It was all revealed in this ace video put together by the excellent Jefferton James.

At the end of the month Josh released a video for ‘There’s A Line’ (filmed by the aforementioned excellent Jefferton James) and announced pre-order details and a Fans First Tour.

The beginning of June saw Gordi awarded the JP Partnership. Josh returned to Melbourne for some album promo and the first official single ‘Hollering Hearts’ was premiered on Double J with Myf Warhurst. And as if Josh wasn’t busy enough, he also decided to start renovating his studio in June. As the weeks flew by, there were trips to Melbourne and Brisbane for more promo including Tram Sessions, Music Feeds, NOVA and BalconyTV Brisbane and filming for the Hollering Hearts video.

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. Josh was still working away on his studio renovations, and added an acoustic ceiling. The lyric video for ‘Hollering Hearts’ was released, and Josh performed for Sony Studios, Channel V and many more. The Fans First tour officially sold out and Josh headed to Perth for his show with the West Australia Symphony Orchestra. A week from its release news.com.au premiered the album, then there was a performance on The TODAY Show, he was on the cover of street press, feature album on Double J, and much more.

The Fans First Tour kicked off in Sydney at The Soda Factory the night before the album release.

Friday July 31st. The day had arrived. We were all repeatedly checking our mail boxes (or waiting until we got home from work). Thanks Josh for crafting another stellar release, full of the songs that many will no doubt choose to soundtrack to their lives. Thanks also to Wonderlick Entertainment, Sony, Alberts, John Castle, Chris Welch, Jefferton James, Select Music, On The Map PR, and many others behind the scenes.

ABC 7:30 Report also aired an excellent feature on the release day.

Josh got a tour of the Young Henry’s Brewery at the start of August and hinted at a collaboration. The Fans First tour stopped in Melbourne next, Josh performed a lunch time set at JB Hi-Fi. That night he played a sold out show at Bella Union, and found out But For All These Shrinking Hearts could debut at #1. After the show we told him we wanted his album to get to number 1 so he did this rap for us.

Onwards to Adelaide for the Fans First show at The Grace Emily. That weekend it was revealed But For All These Shrinking Hearts debuted at #2 on the ARIA charts, making it Josh’s highest debut ever. The start of the next week saw an early appearance on The Morning Show on Channel 7. The Fans First tour came to an end in Brisbane at Black Bear Lodge. Jack Carty made a special appearance, and joined Josh on stage to sing harmonies on ‘Make You Happy’.

Huge thank you to all the photographers who helped us out on the Fans First tour – Bobby Hendry, Sarah Chav, LALA.photography and Katherine O’Malley. Check out all the photos on JP’s Facebook.

By mid August Josh had (somehow) done it all. New album – tick. Fans First tour – tick. Renovated studio – tick.

Josh and the band then headed to Port Hedland in WA for the North West Festival. The end of the month saw Josh keep busy with trips to Young Henry’s Brewery and piecing back together the studio.

Friends of Josh Pyke finally creaked a 1,000 followers on Twitter (Slowly catching up to Josh’s 27K followers…)

 Suddenly it was September, and we celebrated our 9th birthday.(How did that happen?!) Double J shared a video of Josh’s Musical Chairs performance. Mid September, Josh went to New Zealand for the Silver Scroll Awards as a representative of APRA.

The next live show was the Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba with Josh performing alongside Toowoomba Orchestra. Before the end of the month, Josh headed to Alberts Rooftop for a live show and then to Melbourne to begin filming a video for ‘Be Your Boy’.

October appeared even quicker. From one festival to the next, Josh played Caloundra Festival in Queensland, Elsewhere in Maitland and ‎Hot FM’s Oztober‬ in Townsville.

Josh also found time to host Rolling Stone‘s Live Lodge trivia in Sydney, drop by the Starlight Express Room and perform ‘Songlines’ live at Nylon Studios‘ Coach House Sessions. The end of the month bought some very exiting news – Josh announced a 2016 national album tour, with his band! All details here.

November was pretty busy. Josh performed ‘Be Your Boy’ on Channel 7’s The Morning Show, was added to the Marion Bay Falls Festival lineup, took part in the 50 songs in 5 days songwriting camp, and hosted a lemon zest session at Young Henrys (with a special acoustic performance).

The renovated studio was put to good use, he recorded his friends’ band Peter Fonda, and had visits from Matt Fell, Josh Schuberth, Kav Temperley, Jack Carty and Japanese Wallpaper. And out of nowhere he dropped an unreleased track ‘Parachutes Not Opening’.

Just like that it’s December. Facebook kindly reminded us that 7 years ago we launched this website. It’s surreal to think this community started almost 10 years ago on Myspace (R.I.P).

‘Hollering Hearts’ features in the trailer for The Brothers Grimsby. It’s the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie and stars Rebel Wilson and Isla Fisher! As the year slowly draws to a close, Josh and his excellent band have been busy rehearsing Woodford Folk Festival and Falls Festival over the new year, and for the national tour next year.

As always, shout out to the legend that is Josh Pyke, and his management Wonderlick for their continued support.

If you’ve managed to read this far – thank you. (No seriously, thank you.) Nine years on, and it still spins me out that there’s a community behind this. 2016 will mark 10 years of FOJP. I’ve got a lot of ideas running through my head on how to celebrate this significant milestone, some ideas are realistic, others not so much. I just hope I can find a way to celebrate (and to say thanks to) the Friends of Josh Pyke community.

Happy holidays! And happy birthday for tomorrow Josh!

-sabi

PS. Voting is open for Triple J’s Hottest 100. Vote for ‘There’s A Line’ here. Voting closes midday AEDT on Friday January 22, 2016.