Muster Club, Thursday August 28 - 8.40pm

Muster Club, Friday August 29 - 12.30am (Saturday am)

Crowbar, Saturday August 30 - 1.00am (Sunday am)

TROY KEMP BAND

Based in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, Troy Kemp is an artist on the rise. Country born and bred, Troy has an impressive musical history and an exciting future.

In 1997 Troy released his first solo, independent EP, 'Scratchin' In The Dirt'. The EP showcased an acoustically driven swag of country rock songs that caught the attention of both music lovers and the music industry alike.

During this time The Troy Kemp Band were becoming a popular drawcard on the Sydney Music Scene, opening for artist's such as Daryl Braithwaite, Deisel, Wendy Matthews, Richard Clapton and Jeff Lang to name a few.
Troy was a featured guest artist on the TV music program 'Ground Zero' and due to his popularity was featured in the popular ladies 'B Magazine'.

Troy also features as guitarist in Lee Kernaghan's 'Goondiwindi Moon' music video.

The 'Scratchin' EP earned the band a place in the final rounds of the 1998 'Breeding Ground', Battle of the Bands Competition. From a field of 180 bands, The Troy Kemp Band placed second in the grand final; a huge industry night promoted by The Harbour Agency, Triple M, Jack Daniels and The Hard Rock Café.
With studio time as part of the prize, Troy went on to record his second EP 'The Troy Kemp Band'. In early 1999 the band were invited to perform for a month at The Hard Rock Hotel Resort in Bali.

The latter half of 1999 and 2000 saw Troy continuing to write and perform in Sydney.
In 2001 Troy decided to dis-band and moved to Canada. Based in Toronto, he spent the next four years writing and performing his way around both Canada and America. Drawn to Nashville he had the opportunity to co-write with some great songwriters and play at many local "songwriter nights"

2005 saw Troy move back to Newcastle, Australia where he spent the year re-establishing himself as a performer on the local music scene.

2006 started with a bang for Troy, qualifying as one of the Top 20 Finalists in Australia for The Toyota Star Maker Competition at The Tamworth Country Music Festival. An event that has been a great launching pad for artists such as Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan, Beccy Cole and many others.

At the Star maker event Troy met Melbourne songwriter Peter Kenyon with whom he spent the next six months penning a bunch of new songs that were then recorded as demos with Melbourne producer Peter Dacy.

In February 2007 Troy was invited to perform and represent 'Tourism Australia' at an event held in Canada called 'G'day Toronto'. He appeared amongst a wealth of Australian celebrities that included Silverchair, The Living End, Keith Urban, Terri and Bindi Irwin and Canadian, Tom Cochran to name a few.

June 2007 saw Troy performing at the CMA festival in Nashville. Whilst in Nashville Troy also recorded six new tracks with expat Aussie producer Mark Moffatt.
A video clip for one of the songs, " Throwaway Day", has just been produced by videographer Ross Wood and is currently being aired on Foxtel, CMC.

January 2008 has just seen Troy perform a string of shows with his new band at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, with more festival dates and touring to come later in the year.
Troy is also touring as a member of the "Aussie's Walk The Line" show, a tribute to Johnny Cash.

On the local front Troy performs 3-4 nights per week as a solo, acoustic artist and/or with his band in some of Newcastle's finest entertainment venues.