AmpFest - Clash of the Bands is an initiative of a West Australian Youth Advisory Council (YAC) and has been held in May each year since 2003 by five Councils, in the western suburbs of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, comprising the

City of Nedlands The City of Nedlands is a local government area in the inner western suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about west of Perth's central business district. The City is situated within the western suburbs of the metropolit ...

, the

Town of Claremont The Town of Claremont is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in the inner western List of Perth suburbs, suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, located about halfway between the port city of Fr ...

, the

Town of Mosman Park The Town of Mosman Park is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately 4.3 km² in western metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia and lies about 14 km southwest of the Perth CBD an ...

, the

City of Subiaco The City of Subiaco is a local government area in Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately 7 km² in inner western metropolitan Perth and lies about 3 km west of the Perth CBD. The City includes the historically working- ...

and the

City of Vincent The City of Vincent is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately in metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and lies about 3 km from the Perth CBD. The City of Vincent maintains 139&nbs ...

. The

Town of Cambridge The Town of Cambridge is a local government area in the inner western suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about west of Perth's central business district and extending to the Indian Ocean at City Beach. The Town covers ...

was one of the original organising Councils but withdrew and was replaced by the City of Nedlands. The project is designed to provide young Perth bands with an opportunity to further their skills in the music industry and provide them with a platform to play their music in a public arena, as well as provide other young people with the opportunity to attend free, local, live, all-ages entertainment. The inaugural AmpFest was held in 2003 with 57 bands applying to take part and over 700 people attending the four heats that year. Since 2003, the format for each AmpFest has remained the same with the participating councils hosting the three heats and the final. Four bands play at each heat, with the winner going through to the final. A fourth wild card band is selected by the judges to participate in the final. Since 2005 all twelve finalists get to record a track of their choice on the Best and Pressed CD which is distributed to music industry representatives throughout

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. In 2007 the winner of the competition also received automatic entry into the semi-final of the Next Big Thing competition.

2003

The 2003 finals were held in the Quarry Amphitheatre in Floreat on 29 March and the winner that year was a band called Tantrum.

2004

The finals of the 2004 AmpFest were held on 12 June at the Ellie Eaton Pavilion,

Claremont Showground The Claremont Showground near Perth, Western Australia is home to the annual Perth Royal Show. In 1902, of land were reserved in the Perth suburb of Claremont for a new showground to replace the Guildford Showgrounds. The Royal Agricultural S ...

, with the winning band, BulletChild.

2005

In 2005 the winners were Mink Mussel Creek, with the finals being held again at the Ellie Eaton Pavilion on 11 June. Mink Mussel Creek went on to score second place at the Next Big Thing Competition 2006. In 2007 they were nominated twice at the WAMi awards, for 'Favourite Newcomer' and the industry-voted 'Most Promising New Act', winning the later. Second placed in 2005 were The Dee Dee Dums who went on to become

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...

2006

The 2006 winners were The Bullet Holes with the finals held on 10 June at

UWA The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

Refectory, UWA Guild, Hackett Drive,

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

. The band went on to be grand finalists in Next Big Thing Competition 2007 and state finalists in the

National Campus Band Competition The National Campus Music Competition (previously known as the National Campus Band Competition) is an annual Australian music competition specifically for tertiary students. The comp was created in 1990 by members of the volunteer organisation, '' ...

2007.

2007

Captains of King won the 2007 AmpFest, which was held on Saturday 9 June 2007 at Subiaco Church, Subiaco.

2008

The winners of the 2008 event were Panama. The finals were held on Saturday 31 May 2008 once again at Subiaco Church.

2009

AmpFest did not run in 2009.

2010

The winners for 2010 were Goodnight Tiger, with Minute 36 in second, and Fat Jackal were third. The finals were held on Saturday 28 May at Subiaco Church.

2011

The winners for 2011 were Sisters Dolls, with the runner-up being Sugarpuss.

2012

The winners for 2012 were Dead Owls, with Lucas Jones second and New Animals in third place. The finals were held on Friday 7 September 2012 at the Regal Theatre in Subiaco.

2013

AmpFest did not run in 2013.

2014

The winners for 2014 were Indigo, with the runner up being Silver Hills.

2017

AmpFest did not run in 2017.

2018

AmpFest did not run in 2018.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official AmpFest Website
Rock festivals in Australia City of Vincent City of Nedlands City of Subiaco Town of Claremont Town of Mosman Park