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The Year That Was..2013

Posted: December 10, 2013 at 11:28 am   /   by   /   comments (0)

Really? It’s December already? Our yearly wrap up is back again, earlier than usual because I’m about to head off to Europe for 4 weeks.

Before you freak out, I’ve enlisted the help of some friends to take care of FOJP while I’m overseas.

Time for the yearly wrap up!

Rewinding back to January, Josh Pyke treated us to a free download of Pressed Against The Crowd, a track that was recorded for Only Sparrows but just missed the cut. That month, the Josh Pyke Partnership was announced. In conjunction with APRA, a mentorship would be offered to an unsigned artist. GOVS from Adelaide was later announced as the recipient.

Friends of Josh Pyke also received an offer we just could not refuse. Did we want to visit Josh Pyke in the studio while he recorded his new album? Of course!

31890_578265178867821_1226506268_nIn February we found ourselves at The Shed Studios, joining Josh and producer John Castle. We were instantly made to feel welcomed, and there was a great vibe in the studio. So much so we were invited back the following week. Photos of our first visit are here, and our second visit here. We still can’t believe it happened – massive thanks to Josh and John for having us visit!

Onwards with the recording, at the end of February Josh and John headed to Sydney’s Albert Studios to finish tracking the new album. Josh kept us updated with various Facebook photos. In March he announced recording was finished, and we released our first ‘In The Studio with Josh Pyke’ video. Part 1 & Part 2.

April turned out to be a fantastic month! We got to announce via our mailing list that Josh Pyke’s fourth studio album, The Beginning And The End Of Everything would be released July 5th! And on top of that, a Fans First tour was happening. A week or so later we happily announced that FOJP would be presenting the Melbourne Fans First show. That month also saw Josh Pyke join the PPCA Patron Program.

May appeared and we were in for a big month. The first ‘Rainy Day Sessions’ video was released, and Leeward Side, the first single from the forthcoming album was premiered on Triple J! Josh hit the road for his Fans First tour, taking in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The Brisbane show was later rescheduled due to the arrival of a new addition to the Pyke family.  914048_620769434617395_1829217404_o

We presented the Fans First show in Melbourne and it was such an amazing night. We streamed a Q&A with Josh live to Youtube, held a raffle (thanks Select & Ivy League) and Josh played the 2 most requested songs. On top of all that, we got to meet so many of you wonderful people! Check out our video of the night here.

At the end of May, The Beginning & The End of Everything tour was announced!

In June, the rescheduled Brisbane Fans First show took place as well as a media album launch in Sydney. Much to our delight promo for the new album began and reviews and interviews were coming in. Josh played at Art of Music at the Sydney Opera House and at the end of the month, the fantastic video for Leeward Side was released.

968979_651411504886521_81769674_nAfter what seemed like an eternity July 5th finally arrived and Josh Pyke’s fourth album hit stores! Another thank you  to Josh’s team for getting the record out and into our ears: Wonderlick Entertainment, Ivy League Records, Mushroom Promotions, Alberts, Select Music plus John Castle & Greedy Hen!

Josh took part in a Ustream chat with fans, and The Beginning and the End of Everything debuted at number 7 on the ARIA chart, making it his fourth top ten album. The #warminwinter design competition was announced, with the very talented Siobhan designing the winning entry.

Also in July, The Song Reader – Sydney Sessions album was released. Recorded in December last year, it features Josh on tracks ‘The Wolf Is On The Hill’ and ‘It’s Just Noise’. Buy it here.

In August Josh was named as one of 35 songwriters who made it into the 2013 Vanda and Young shortlist. Mid August arrived and the band hit the road for TBATEOE tour! Again he had some stellar supports, and we did a Q&A with both Patrick James and Olympia. Ahead of his two sold out shows at the Corner in Melbourne, Josh performed for Tram Sessions. And the video for Warm In Winter was released!

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Something we really admire about Josh is his consistency in making the effort to meet and chat to fans. This time around he was playing bigger shows, almost all of which sold out. Yet after every show he stayed back for meet & greets. We jumped on board to organise a handful of fantastic photographers to document each of these meet & greets. Massive thanks to those who helped out!

Those who headed to the merch desk during the tour would have seen the new album was pressed on vinyl and sold at the shows. We were thrilled to finally get a copy of the album on vinyl!

September arrived and Friends of Josh Pyke turned 7! Can you believe it?  7 years have gone by quickly. We were in Perth during that time and got to see the final show of the tour. Josh wrote a tour diary for Channel V.

During mid September, Josh headed to QT Falls Creek to play an exclusive set for a competition winner! That month saw Josh play Oktoberfest in Brisbane and headline one of Telstra’s Road To Discovery heats in Toowoomba. Speaking of the Road to Discovery, Josh was one of the mentors during bootcamp. A selection of live tracks from the Astor were released to fans via the mailing list.

In October Josh was nominated for an ARIA award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. He played Conception Day at Macquarie Uni and headed to Melbourne for a performance at the Telstra Road to Discovery Final. Josh along with Bob Evans, Emma Louise and Ash Grunwald performed an excellent cover of Hey Ya! At the end of the month the Lone Wolf Tour was announced.

November was just here. Josh did some co-writing with Urthboy and Sulo from The Herd as well as Hannah Karydas aka Eves. Years ago Josh hosted RAGE and he got to do it again, he chose a great selection of videos. The producer of the show is Tyson Koh who starred in the clip for The Summer. Josh headed back to Perth and played City Of Wanneroo‘s concert with Lisa Mitchell and also hosted a show on ABC Dig. At the end of the month, Josh played a Spotfiy Session in Sydney.

Josh has been teasing twitter followers with snippets of new songs, so far he’s posted two. One here, and one here.

And now it’s December! The ARIA awards took place the other week, Josh presented an award with Clare Bowditch. Nick Cave was awarded Best Adult Contemporary Album. Josh has done some more co-writing, this time with Lisa Mitchell. The video for TBATEOE single was released, watch it here and you can vote for the videos in RAGE’s top fifty here. Josh is heading out on the Lone Wolf Tour in Feb/March next year, we hope you’ve all got your tickets!

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I think it’s fair to say, 2013 has been our best year yet! Who would’ve thought we’d get make it to 7 years, get to visit Josh in the studio & help organise a Melbourne show? And that’s just three of the many great things that happened this year! Best of all, we’ve been able to share that all with you!

We’ve renewed the website for another year, and we’ll be back in January. Shout out to Josh and his management, Wonderlick for the massive support this year. And thanks to you for the continued support of Josh Pyke and Friends of Josh Pyke!

We’ll leave you with the reminder that voting in Triple J’s Hottest 100 starts on December 20th! Vote #1 Leeward Side!

Have a merry christmas and happy holidays! I’ll see you all in the new year.

-sabi