Sat 26th April 2014
ROCKIN’ YOUR COUNTRY
Nicki Gillis
Bryen Willems +
Baylou
KATOOMBA RSL CLUB
86 Lurline St, Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia
A Showcase of some of the finest country and rock music in Australia from artists who have come from afar but now live close by.
Hear some magnificent voices, original songs and classic hits from the Country and Rock genres.
A night not to be missed!
Award winning Nicki Gillis and band will be bringing their own brand Country Rock and quality interpretations of classic hits to the Club.
Born in Western Australia Nicki Gillis was destined for stardom. Nicki spent her youth in school choirs and performing at local events. At the age of 12 she won a scholarship to Australia’s pre-eminent talent school and by 16 was a professional backing vocalist for national touring acts visiting Western Australia.
After years of performing in various theatre productions and song and dance troupes Nicki joined a number of different professional rock and blues bands and was performing three to four times a week. This went on for four years and included 12 months with Western Australia’s premier party band.
In 1992 Nicki co-founded the award winning six-piece Country Rock band “Buckshot Dolly” which toured extensively throughout Australia. In 1997 her self-titled EP was released in Australia and included the song “Hittin’ That Highway”, Nicki’s first international release. The following few years saw Nicki developing her song writing skills, producing live musical theatre and performing at corporate events. This included the opening ceremony of the Women’s World Hockey Championships in front of an international television audience over 16 countries. After moving away from Western Australia to concentrate on relaunching her national presence from Sydney, Nicki recorded her second EP, which included the European #2 hit “On The Mountain”. 2006 saw Nicki’s first international tour to the Middle East where she performed to thousands of coalition troops assisting in the rebuilding of Iraq. The 2007 release of her debut album “Lucy’s Daughter” was much appreciated by her increasing number of fans. Three Australian top ten singles came from the album; the first Australian single, “Leavin’ You for Myself” reached number 7 in the Australian charts and number 6 in the UK Country charts. The single “Honey I Don’t Have Time” reached number 6 in Australia while the “Be a Star” gained significant radio airplay across the globe entering the UK radio charts at #2 for one week before going to #1 where it stayed for four weeks.
Nicki exudes class and has a star quality that engages audiences from many different demographics and musical genres. Her awards, including the 2006 Blue Mountains Blues/Jazz Music Award, the 2007 Horsham Independent Female Artist of the Year, Open Album of the Year and the prestigious 2007 Coopers Golden Saddle Award, all demonstrate the industry acceptance of Nicki’s talent. In May 2011, Nicki was named by the Australian Entertainment Industry as the Best Country Music Performer or Band in Australia. The winning of this prestigious “Mo” Award, ahead of some of Australia’s higher profile country superstars clearly shows what industry experts think of Nicki and her live performances.
“Nicki is a towering talent who has an abundance of charisma both on and off the stage.” Frank Ifield OAM
“A mixture of Rock, Blues, Country and Jazz- you can’t get that anywhere apart from Nicki Gillis” Carolyn Carr: Big Country Radio
“She has certainly made her mark in Australia and beyond.” Ian Anderson BBC Radio Scotland
Bryen Willems (a.k.a. “the Swamp Duck”) will be playing a mix of originals and drawing from a virtual treasure trove of the best country, blues, swamp and southern rock from the last 50 years.
Willems has Louisiana roots but currently makes his home in Australia. His bass voice projects with a down under swagger and shows plenty of strength, power and muscle in his country music.
Bryen’s second album was released in January 2012, titled NO BAND HERE TILL FRIDAY. Recorded at Unit 4 Studios, with producer Gary Brown – the album is a honky-tonkin’ collection of originals, obscure covers and well known classics. The album features self- penned tracks HELLO BEER and co-write LET’S BE IN LOVE. It also includes two co-writes with multi-award winning writer Allan Caswell including his first single TWO FOR ONE COCKTAILS and SHE LET HERSELF GO.
Baylou are sister duo Barb and Victoria Baillie.
Victoria Baillie has been working as a solo artist for many years in Australia. Highly regarded in her own right, having won a Golden Guitar for Best New Talent at the 2010 Country Music Awards of Australia in 2011. Along side major festival appearances including the Gympie Music Muster, Deni Ute Muster & showcasing at Nashville’s CMA festival, Victoria has also toured extensively around Australia on and also has had four Top #10 music videos on the Country Music Channel (CMC).
Barb Baillie has been an integral part of Victoria’s solo career as a guitarist and and backing vocalist for most of her live shows and recordings. As a result of this and touring with artists such as Adam Havery, Beccy Cole and Troy Casser-Daly, Barb has carved out her own reputation as a player and singer, capitalising on touring with these acts and in effect creating her own fan base.
As a duo, Baylou will bring an exciting and fresh new mainstream country sound to the Australian Country Music market and with the backing of ABC Music and Universal Music Australia.
FREE ENTRY!
Music from 8pm-late
