The Beggars

The concerts that we played in February were a joy. Nice Theatres with good sound and most important the audiances loved it. We called the show Bound For Australia the set was half great Aussie covers and half Beggars tunes. There is some video from the Star theatre up on YouTube and a photo snaped of the folks at the Golden Grove Arts Centre which was packed. I am posting from my phone, hope it works. Q

2009 ended on a high note for The Beggars with their track The Banjo Song finishing the year at number 1 on the European Country charts. The Banjo Song is the first single from the bands new “Desert Flower” CD.

Quinton Dunne [The Beggars Bassist] says

“It feels great to get some recognition for all the hard work and touring we have done in Europe over the last two years. We actually played more shows in Europe in 2009 that we did in Australia. Now we are all really looking forward to playing some concerts at home and I love the theatre venues that we will be performing in they are all fantastic. These shows will also give us the opportunity to put a larger band on the stage and make use of all the theatres facilities”

The Beggars are presenting their show Bound For Australia in a season of matinee concerts in theatres around Adelaide in February. It’s a concert production showcasing 200 years of great Australian music including songs from The Seekers, Anne Kirkpatick , Lucky Starr, Chad Morgan, Slim Dusty and of course The Beggars. The show will also feature guest musician and Adelaide legend Trevor Warner. All concerts details are at http://www.outofthesquare.net.au/ and all tickets are $14.

Dates:

Monday Feb 8^th at 1.30 pm Shedley Theatre Elizabeth

Tuesday Feb 9^th at 11am Marion Cultural Centre

Wednesday Feb 10^th at 11am Arts Centre Pt Noarlunga

Thursday Feb 11^th at 2pm Golden Grove Arts Centre

Friday Feb 12^th at 11am Parks Community Centre

Tuesday Feb 16^th at 2pm Star Theatre

The Beggars want to wish you, your family and friends a Great 2010 and all the best for the new decade. And I would like to personally reflect on the spectacular changes in the music industry that this decade has brought and what they mean for little indie bands like us. 30 years ago when I started in the music biz there was no room for the independent. One reason for that was the cost of entry into the business it was so expensive to record and produce product that independents could not get a start but the main reason was the majors: who controlled the industry. They owned the business and if they didn’t invite you in you were out!

When the majors signed an Australia artist they signed a ‘territory the world’ deal which meant your music would never get released outside of Australia. Because the head office, usually in the USA would have its own Artist & Repertoire department pushing its own signings so they would not stand for the labels resources working against their own pet artists.  Today independent artists are able to record and produce and promote albums and videos around the world on budgets that are a tiny fraction of what it use to cost. Surely this systemic shift in the industry will stimulate creativity and a lot of great music and artists will see the light of day. Artists that the majors would have crushed like weeds while they tended their garden of favoured acts will grow and produce new music.  The downside is that it’s very hard for anyone to make money and survive in this new environment so I guess we can look forward to more “interesting times” in the next decade.

The past year was a productive one for The Beggars we were able write and record our second album “Desert Flower” and things have started happening for us in Europe, we made our second tour over there playing 14 concerts in October and arranged a January 2010 release for “Desert Flower”. But the highlight of the year for us is the way European Radio really got behind “The Banjo Song” the first single from Desert Flower and pushed it to the top of the European CMA chart. ECMA is the oldest Country music chart in Europe and its also very pleasing to see so many other indie Aussie artists represented on the ECMA chart.

Happy New Year