The Year That Was..2012

Every year without fail I question where exactly the year has gone. Not sure about you, but it’s gone quickly, very quickly.

Time for that yearly recap!

Rewinding back to January, Josh bought in the new year at Falls Festivals in VIC and TAS before heading to Southbound Festival in Western Australia. Mid January saw Josh play at the Jagermeister Hunting Lodge before heading out on the Only Sparrows Regional tour, and while in Victoria Josh played at the Australian Open.

Around this time, Triple J’s Hottest 100 took place, 360‘s Throw It Away featuring Josh made it to no. 84! (NOWAL missed out on the Hottest 100 by 12 spots. In at no. 112! Check Triple’s 101-200 list here!)

In February, our website got a sweet makeover and Josh played A Day on The Green in Western Australia. Towards the end of the month, Josh and Elana Stone headed into Triple J for Like A Version. Josh covered The Jezabels’ Endless Summer. The Love Lies Theatre tour was also announced!

In March Josh finished the regional tour in Cairns. In between rehearsing for the Theatre tour, Josh headed to Melbourne for Moomba Festival. Adding another festival to the list, Josh played Bluesfest in April.

April was a big month for us, after 6 years we finally got FOJP cards and we announced a meet & greet competition!

I also discovered Pyke the penguin was alive and well.

In May the Love Lies Theatre tour kicked off in Melbourne and took in Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney. Thanks to Josh and management, we were able to bring you some footage.

At the end of the month, Josh was a speaker at Song Summit (and the Backstage Pass session) in Sydney and the Bob Dylan Night Tour was announced

In June, JP signed a worldwide publishing deal with Alberts and played a set at Select Music‘s 7th birthday and River Sessions in Mackay.

Josh and Holly Throsby headed into Triple J at the end of the month to chat about the Bob Dylan Night Tour.

The Bob Dylan Night tour took place in July. The tour also featured Holly Throsby, Patience (The Grates), Kav (Eskimo Joe) and Kevin (Bob Evans/Jebediah) Josh made an appearance on RockWiz, and also performed with 50 years of Dylan and spoke on a songwriters panel at Splendour in the Grass.

The track ‘Different People (Stand Together)’ for Music Count Us In was also penned around this time.

In August, we confirmed that it isn’t Josh Pyke singing the InsuranceLine Ad.

Mid August Josh dropped into Triple J to chat about Busking For Change (We tweeted Tom and Alex and suggested if Josh was late to the studio, they should just play JP songs until he arrived. They liked the idea, but alas it didn’t happen)

The Only Sparrows Solo Tour was also announced that month. Josh did some writing with musicians including 5 Seconds of Summer, Emma Birdsall and UK’s Lewis Watson.

The third sold-out Busking For Change took place at the end of the month with guests Passenger and Evan & The Brave. Over $15k was raised for the ILF.

We celebrated our 6TH BIRTHDAY in September and celebrated with a giveaway. The Only Sparrows solo tour was fast approaching, and we did a little Q&A with Jack Carty. Also that month, Wayne Connolly was nominated for an ARIA award for Engineer of the Year (for Only Sparrows!)

At the beginning of October, the rest of the ARIA nominations were announced, and Josh was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album! The Only Sparrows solo tour began at Lizottes, Kincumber and travelled around the country before finishing up in Darwin in mid November. We got some footage here.

Mid November saw Josh play Golden Days Festival and Summer Starter Festival.

At the end of November Josh attended the ARIA awards. Josh and Lanie Lane presented an award, and while Josh was nominated he unfortunately didn’t take home an award. Congratulations to Missy Higgins. Next year Josh, next year!

Now we’re in December. Crazy huh! Earlier this month, Josh was a guest at Tom Ballard’s Listening Party and did some writing with Holly Throsby and Lawrence Greenwood (Whitley). He also performed Beck Hansen’s Song Reader with an array of Sydney musicians.

Phew! I think that gives you a rough idea of what happened this year. Hopefully Josh will now take a well deserved break before recording the new record in February. We hear it should be out mid/late next year.

Now voting! Don’t forget to vote for Josh’s Punch In The Heart clip in Rage’s Best Music Videos of 2012. Voting closes on December 26th. And Triple J’s Hottest 100 has opened! Loved Josh’s cover of Endless Summer by the Jezabels? Vote for it here. (It’s not on the voting list, but you can add it!)

I would sincerely like to thank each and everyone of you who has made 2012 such a great year for Josh Pyke and for us! As we finish up our sixth year, it still spins me out that Friends of Josh Pyke is even here. A big thank you to you guys for the continued support. It means a lot. And thanks to Josh and his management for the support, and for not getting sick of us.

I’m pleased to say we recently renewed the website, and we’ll be back again next year for our SEVENTH YEAR! I’ve still got big plans.

Until then Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! See you all in 2013!

-sabi