With the finalists for the Top 5 APRA Silver Scroll 2016 announced recently, it is great to see Wellington music strongly represented with 2 entries: The Phoenix Foundation’s ‘Give Up Your Dreams’ from the 2015 album of the same name and Thomas Oliver’s ‘If I Move To Mars’.

This is the fourth time Wellington institution The Phoenix Foundation have made the top five list, with six entries in the top 20. Luke Buda described the cynically tongue-in cheek-song as arising from a career angst crisis. You can read more on the background behind the making of GUYD here and here.

This is the first nomination for singer-songwriter Thomas Oliver, best known for his flagship band, The Thomas Oliver Band, whose debut album ‘Baby, I’ll Play’ was awarded “iTunes New Zealand’s Best Blues & Roots Album of 2011”. He is also internationally recognized as one of the leading players of the Weissenborn lap-slide guitar. In 2013, Oliver released the world’s first full-length, all instrumental, all Weissenborn album, titled ‘Beneath The Weissenborn’. The album debuted at #6 in the NZ charts, received 5* reviews and sold out shows across the nation. ‘If I Move To Mars’, is the first release from a full-length album, ‘Floating In The Darkness’ due for release in early 2017.

Full list of the 2016 finalists here. The 2016 APRA Silver Scroll Awards will be held on Thursday 29th September at Vector Arena in Auckland.

The Phoenix Foundation:
Website
Facebook
Bandcamp

Thomas Oliver:
Website
Facebook
Thomas Oliver Band