The Year That Was..2011

Well, well, well, yet again I find myself writing about how the year has gone by too quickly.

So let’s recap what exactly happened this year, shall we?

Josh Pyke bought in the new year at the Mooloolaba Festival in QLD. Kicking things off in January, Josh hit the road with Passenger for a small run of shows before heading to New York for two weeks to spend some time writing.

Over the months that followed (February, March and April) Josh used Twitter to keep us informed about the writing, recording and mixing process and gave away the names of some of the songs. In April Basement Birds played their final show in Perth at the ARTBAR.

In May it was announced that Josh Pyke was due to release his third album in August 2011. The Fans First tour, and the release of a new single was also announced. Triple J listeners may have been surprised to hear the familiar sound of Josh’s vocals in the chorus of 360′s song, Throw It Away.

In June the No One Wants A Lover single was premiered on Triple J, and the Only Sparrows album and tour was announced. Towards the end of June the quick to sell out Fans First tour took place. Armed with his guitar and some loop pedals, Josh gave fans a sneak preview of the soon to be released album, Only Sparrows. The tour finished up in Melbourne, you can check out our video here.

A lot happened in July. Memories & Dust made it to #34 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 albums of all time! (Chimney’s Afire placed #115), the NOWAL clip was released, Josh did a Guerrilla gig in Sydney for Channel [V] and he was announced on the Falls, Southbound and Gorgeous Festival lineups!

In August, Josh went to East Arnhem Land for some songwriting workshops as part of the Garma Festival. And the album promotional trail began, Ivy League Records released an Only Sparrows video teaser, interviews and album reviews started flowing in (such as the great interview Josh did with Zan from Triple J) and we did a Q&A with Josh. Two days before the album release, Ivy Leagues allowed fans to stream the new album online.

Finally on August 19th, Josh Pyke’s third album, Only Sparrows was released (it later went on to debut at number 4 on the aria charts) – once again Josh thanked us in the album “Massive, gigantic thanks to FOJP” The promotional run continued. Josh graced the covers of Drum Media, Xpress and Beat Magazine and was interviewed by more magazines (Rolling Stone, Frankie, Triple J Mag), radio stations and other various press. He even graced our tv screens, playing No One Wants A Lover for The Circle (video here) and for UpLate (video here – see if you can spot me in the crowd!)

At the beginning of September, we celebrated our fifth birthday. We’re stoked to still be around, and thank everyone for the support. Our website got a little makeover and we announced that Josh would be writing an Only Sparrows Tour diary. Josh and the band, plus supports Emma Louise and The Paper Kites started the tour in Newcastle. The tour continued, and I was lucky enough to attend the Corner Hotel show in Melbourne, as it was the first show to sell out on the tour, I knew it was going to be good. There was a great vibe, and Josh and the band played a killer set, which included some old songs. We uploaded a video here. Surprisingly during the encore, Josh dedicated Silver to me. (Thanks Josh!) Towards the end of September, the video for The World is a Picture was released, and I was interviewed by Wrapt In Music about all things FOJP.

In October, the Only Sparrows tour wrapped up in WA, and Josh finished writing his tour diary. That month the ARIA award nominations came in. For No One Wants A Lover, Josh Pyke was nominated for 3 ARIAs, Best Male Artist, and Producer Of The Year, and Engineer Of The Year (with Wayne Connolly) and a Josh Pyke app was released for iPhone and Android phones. But wait there’s more! Josh headed to the UK for the Sparrows and Crows tour with Passenger. Josh was announced on the Corinbank Festival lineup and he made it into the Top 50 in Channel [V]‘s Oz Artist of the Year.

In November, Josh wrote an update on Busking For Change including his visit to Eastern Arnhem Land for the Garma Festival, and the new clip for Punch in the Heart was released. Josh headed to Adelaide to play Gorgeous Festival, then back to Sydney for the ARIA awards. Josh didn’t bring home an ARIA award this year, but we congratulate him on his nominations!

The beginning of this month saw Triple J and Mess+Noise open their voting for albums of the year, and you could also vote for The World is a Picture and NOWAL clips in RAGE’s top 50! Josh announced he was a special guest for the RockWiz Christmas Tour and he joined the Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne shows.

There’s no signs of Josh slowing down for next year with the recent announcement of the Only Sparrows regional tour (details and ticket info here), and being added to Moomba Festival and Bluesfest lineups. Rounding up the end of this year, Josh is playing Falls Festival in Vic and Tas!

Phew, what a year hey! If you’re still reading, thank you. Thank you for spending another year supporting not only Josh, but us too!

Before you ask, yes FOJP will return next year. It’ll be our sixth year, and we don’t want to disappear. We’ve got some big ideas and we hope to return bigger than ever. That’s all i’m going to say. You know, for the suspense. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

One final request, vote for No One Wants A Lover in Triple J Hottest 100. You know you want too!

From all of us here, we wish you a merry christmas, and happy holidays!

See you in 2012!

-sabi