SydneyUnleashed.com

2008 ARIA AWARDS WRAP-UP: The 2008 ARIA Awards will be remembered as the year where some of the country's finest emerging artists triumphed over the more established acts. With the likes of Silverchair and Powderfinger missing in action, this year's event (held on 19 October at Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park) left the field wide open for some ARIA virgins to scoop the pool. Gabriela Cilmi is a name that the Australian public won't be forgetting in a hurry after the teenage sensation scored a whopping six ARIA Awards winning in every single category that she was nominated. The Melbourne-born, London-based Cilmi won in the categories of Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist - Single ('Sweet About Me'), Breakthrough Artist - Album ('Lessons To Be Learned'), Best Pop Release ('Lessons To Be Learned'), Highest Selling Single ('Sweet About Me') and the coveted ARIA award for Single Of The Year for the catchy 'Sweet About Me'. Her acceptance speeches were peppered with words such as "cool" and "sweet" but Cilmi gave us a bit more when she sat down for a chat. She said, "I think (music) is the only thing I'm good at. I can't do anything else. I'm just glad that I'm kind of doing pretty well in this thing." Pretty well indeed for the just turned 17 year old who was signed as a 13 year old when spotted at an Italian street festival in Melbourne. She said, "I got signed nearly four years ago now…so I've kind of been writing my album since then kind of going up and down from the UK and Australia just writing my songs. I'm at school at the same time so it's kind of like I'm living a double life." The future looks bright for the sweet young singer who is determined not to be just another "one hit wonder". She said, "I'm actually really excited to start the 2nd album now. I've already started writing for it." Watch this space! As predicted in this column earlier this year, the Presets picked up the prestigious Album Of The Year award for their 2nd album, 'Apocalypso'. The duo also won in the Best Group and Best Dance Release categories - in addition to their two Artisan Awards. Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes later gave us an insight into the making of the album and dismissed the myth surrounding the "difficult" 2nd album. Hamilton said, "That's what we do - write music. If you find it difficult and scary to write music, you shouldn't be doing it. It's like a soccer play who's scared to kick goals." Then adding on the band's gradual rise to fame, "We never really felt one moment where it was like, oh, we've finally made it. It's kind of been a steady thing. I mean we've been playing music for six years in this band…playing tiny little clubs to 100 people. No one cared and suddenly it's kind of turned into this big thing. But I can't pinpoint any one moment where that happened. Even now, after the platinum record, the #1 and all that, it's been a crazy year for us. We can't wait to just get back into our studio and make music and be nerds again." Although Hamilton has a message for those expecting easily digestible radio fodder for the next album: "We're going to try really really hard this time to not get it played on radio because we never thought they'd play 'My People'. I mean, it's a brutal sounding song! So next time - one track, 60 minutes, no vocals." While Cilmi and The Presets dominated in most of the major categories, an eclectic bunch of artists also got to share in the glory. The Living End picked up the ARIA Award for Best Rock Album for 'White Noise' - an album that they almost didn't survive to make. The band's frontman was frank when he popped in for a chat backstage. He said, "I think everyone knows that whenever the Living End goes on tour, we don't sort of do it by halves. We've done it 110% for every record and in between every record, we've been writing and touring and whatever. It just got to a point where I just felt like I needed to find out what else there was in life. Me and Scott have been doing this since we were like kids in high school. So it just got to that point where it was like, alright, I don't really want to make another record but I need to want to make another record. You have to want to! So it was a matter of not just churning out something. It was a matter of getting some space…getting away from each other and getting inspired to do it and that's how 'White Noise' came about." Kasey Chambers also added to her ARIA Awards tally when she picked up the Best Country Album with husband Shane Nicholson for their collaborative effort, 'Rattlin' Bones'. With Chambers unsure of just how many ARIAs she'd picked up to date, Nicholson joked, "I know because I had to build the shelves to put them in - seven." Meanwhile, Chambers revealed how she found the collaboration with her husband to be a major learning experience. She said, "I think I've learned more about songwriting in the last couple of years writing with Shane than I ever have in my life. I've always been really scared of co-writing with other people. I feel more comfortable being in a room by myself writing. It's always really scared me. Shane's done a lot of it over the years and he made me feel really comfortable with the whole process. I learned a lot more about the craft of songwriting." Questioned on whether they would work together again in the future, Nicholson joked, "If we can stay married long enough!" Then adding, "Obviously I want to work together more because I sell more records if her name is on it." Australian hip-hop also got a nod on the night with the mighty Bliss N' Eso winning the Best Urban Album for 'Flying Colours'. The trio dedicated the award to the kids of Australia and later gave us a more detailed explanation as to why. They said, "It's good for (the kids) because there's so many elements of hip-hop to express themselves. These country towns have been so stereotyped with country music and country bands. The problem with country towns is there's a higher suicide rate, there's a higher depression rate. Give these kids a reason to put colour on a grey city wall." Other ARIA Award winners on the night included the gifted Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu who won the Best Independent Album for his breathtaking solo debut 'Gurrumul', Nick Cave who was named the Best Male Artist, The Panics who won the Best Adult Contemporary Album for for their infectious debut 'Cruel Guards', The Audreys who won the Best Blues & Roots Album for 'When The Flood Comes', and Delta Goodrem who picked up the Highest Selling Album for 'Delta'....