Aussie Acts Added To Huge Overseas Line-up

Sounds Australia has been helping local acts become established overseas since the initiative began in 2009. Everyone from Flume, Chet Faker, and Courtney Barnett has found a more significant impact outside the country thanks to the organisation.

Now, Sounds Australia has revealed that four up-and-coming Australian artists - BIG WETT, Mia Wray, Phoebe Go, and Tasman Keith have been added to the 2023 Great Escape Festival in Brighton, England.

The three-day festival usually hosts about 300 acts every year across 30 venues throughout the city. Our local favourites have joined a line-up headlined by UK indie-pop sensation and Ed Sheeran's Australian tour opener, Maisie Peters, and British singer-songwriter and Mercury Prize-winning artist Arlo Parks.

With her 90s-inspired beats and cheeky lyrics, BIG WETT proved that she was the undisputed queen of BIGSOUND 2022. We witnessed her set, packed with explicit lyrics and incredible boldness. She was powerful and sexually expressive in an industry that is riddled with male-dominated spaces and overt masculine energy. 

Catching Mia Wray's recent headline show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, we wrote: "Mia Wray is a vocal powerhouse. As soon as she begins to sing, the audience is blown away by her incredible talent. Wray herself is instantly overwhelmed by the full house tonight, especially after numerous cancellations and reschedules over the past year; tonight, she's finally able to play her show to an unrestricted show with maximum capacity."

Phoebe Go also stole our hearts at BIGSOUND, but in a far more delicate manner. "Originally a member of Snakadaktal and Two People, she channels a level of maturity on stage that only comes from years of performing in different genres and settings. Finally, it seems that she has found her true calling in folk-pop," we said.

Meanwhile, The Music cover artist Tasman Keith has been giving back to his community. "

“[Kempsey] is a community much like my own. Connecting with these young adults and helping them find their voice through creativity and music isn’t something I can take for granted, and it’s as fulfilling for me as it is for them.”

“There are kids in that school from all different walks of life,” he said. “They’ve struggled to get an education in the schooling system, and this vocational college is likely their last chance. To be in there with kids of different races, different colours, different backgrounds, different upbringings, and different family problems with the love of music and writing is incredible.”

Check out the Great Escape Festival line-up below.