The Fumes
Bursting onto the Australian scene in 2004, riveting two piece The Fumes have rarely been out of the nation's gig guides.
Gaining respect from industry and a growing public they work equally well carving up blues festivals and headlining sold out rock venues, their vigorous touring schedule started from the onset and charged into full gear by the time they released their debut album Guns of Gold (Silent Partner/Inertia) in July 06.
Chock full of swagger and groove they set about Australia on numerous occasions to regional towns and cities wowing audiences with their high octane blues rock performances.
The Fumes have also sweated up stages with the likes of Dallas Crane, COG, The Beautiful Girls, Ash Grunwald, Angus & Julia Stone, Hayseed Dixie, Evermore, Dan Kelly and many other great local and international acts as the major festival invites came calling.
Falls Festival, Festival of The Sun, The Great Escape, Woodford Folk Festival, Great Southern Blues and Rockabilly Festival and the West & East Coast Blues & Roots Festivals can all claim to have fallen under the spell of The Fumes magic.
The Fumes were named Blues Artist of The Year at the 2005 Music Oz Awards and pulled of a spectacular performance that was televised nationally on SBS coinciding with the release of their first single Oh My Babylon, while it enjoyed rotation nationwide on Aussie radio.
Their second single Automobile, accompanied by the award winning film clip, went to high rotation across the country mostly through the efforts of Triple J which also featured the guys live on air in the studio and their performance at the Falls Festival in Victoria, all on the back of a more rigorous touring.
The release of Guns of Gold made its debut on the AIR chart at No.5 the first week of release.
The album continued to pick up accolades and scoop Album of the Week in the press and at radio.
The Fumes were making the blues cool again and dammed sexy to boot.
The forever–touring Fumes completed their official run in Australia for GOG with the Ghosty Blues and Sea Shanty Snooze Tour in March/April 2007, supported my MySpace.com.
The tour was aptly named for its cruise factor, as the guys turned it down a notch and revealed a sweeter side delving deeper into their long player album.
Towards the end of 2007 The Fumes signed with Native Tongue Music Publishing worldwide and went out on tour again this time with like minded road warriors The Vasco Era in a double header tour that slayed audiences and once again garnered the band an awesome swag of great reviews.
Last year, The Fumes started serious work on their follow-up album in Australia but were typically were lured back to the road by offers of support with The Cruel Sea and then again as exclusive support around Australia with Queens of The Stone Age.
A highlight mid-way through 2008 occurred when The Fumes were invited to perform at the massive Fuji Rock Festival in Japan for two separate performances to rapturous audiences.
Cairns audiences will no doubt be thrilled hearing this dynamic duo in action, especially as we are getting one of the first tastes from their sophomore album Sundancer, which was produced and mixed by the legendary Jim Diamond (responsible for White Stripes among others).
Stay tuned, The Fumes are a name to watch in blues-rock in 2009 and complete a stunning line-up of headliners for the timeOUT Concert in 2009.
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Making blues cool again: The Fumes are fast becoming one of the hottest blues-rockers in the country.
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