Marcus Cappellazzo

he timeOUT Awards open for voting on Thursday and last year's Best Local Solo Artist winner Marcus Cappellazzo is gunning for two years in a row
THE festive season is here again and it’s that time of the year when The Cairns Post’s timeOUT starts its search to find Far North Queensland’s top entertainment movers and shakers.
In their second year, the annual timeOUT Awards seek to recognise reader’s favourite venues, events, musicians, artists and entertainment professionals through an online poll on cairns.com.au
Last year’s inaugural event was a huge success, with more than 10,000 votes counted during December.
To build on this success, The Cairns Post is upping the ante in 2010 with a special awards night to be held in conjunction with 2009’s Best Nightclub winners Gilligan’s on January 15.
Last year’s Best Solo Artist winner, Marcus Cappellazzo said the awards are a great way of recognising the hard work and dedication of Cairns’ music and arts scene.
“I was really happy with the win last year,” he said.
“Cairns needs something like this, it’s great for the city.”
Voting starts on Thursday, with a full list of categories and nominees printed in next week’s edition of timeOUT. - The Cairns Post

Marcus Cappellazzo Interview, WIN News
Aired 24/11/2010


Tonight we talk to busy Cairns musician, Marcus Cappellazzo about his career and aproaching CD launch:

Marcus Cappellazzo is a consulent Musician. His sets boast original blend of guitar, vocals, kick drum, a high hat and an unmistakable throat technique, all at the same time.

He started out playing in high school with the likes of Aria Award winner Dan Salton. The mistro’s now been gracing venues across Cairns for almost 10 years.

“For a job its good fun. Its something I loved doing while I was in high school and its something I love doing now. I’m doing about 6 to 7 nights a week performing to people who enjoy hearing covers and originals.” Marcus Cappellazzo

He’s also a mentor. Fellow muso Adam Hynes who moved to Cairns a few months ago says Cappellazzo’s help has been instrumental.

“He introduced me to everyone I needed to know and got me different gigs and showed me the different songs I needed to play, the way I should play them, the way I should organize my sets to get the gigs. He just giving me the leg up that I really need.” Adam Hynes

After 2 years of blood, sweat and tears and $30,000 of his own money, Cappellazzo is releasing his debut solo album this week.

“It’s a long process. I was doing 60-70 hour weeks having 2 jobs just to pay the bills at home and also to do something that I love and to finally get an album out of myself.” Marcus Cappellazzo

Marcus Launches his EP at the Port Douglas Courthouse tonight and the main launch is at Gilligan’s this Sunday from 4pm. For more details see his website; www.marcuscappellazzo.webs.com. - Nikki Jensen

REGGAETOWN World Music Festival proved to be the people's favourite at the timeOUT Awards, taking home two major gongs for Best Festival and Best Touring Band for John Butler Trio.

Kuranda reggae band Zennith, who are also a major feature on the Reggaetown lineup, also took out the Best Local Band award.

Other local winners included DJ Ryan Kidd for Best Local Dance Act and DJ A.N.G. for Best Local Hip-Hop and Urban.

More than 1000 people packed Gilligan’s on Saturday night for the ceremony hosted by Tammy Barker and The Cairns Post’s entertainment editor Jesse Kuch.

In addition to the 17 categories voted by readers, there were also two timeOUT Editor’s Awards, for Best Local CD for Terry Doyle’s Songwriters On The Waterfront and Excellence In Entertainment and The Arts, which was given as a dual award to Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and Cairns Festival for their ongoing contribution to the Far North Queensland arts community.

Cairns Festival’s Eric Holowacz said: "So many people are involved in Cairns Festival and Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, so this award goes out to them."

More than 24,000 votes were counted for the timeOUT Awards during December 2010.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Best Entertainment Venue: Tanks Arts Centre

Best Club: Gilligan’s

Best Pub: Blue Sky Brewery

Best Bar: Salt House

Best Local Band: Zennith

Best Local Hip-Hop / Urban Act: DJ A.N.G.

Best Local Dance Act: Ryan Kidd

Best Local Solo Artist or Duo: Marcus Cappellazzo

Best Comedy Act or Show: Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Best Theatre or Dramatic Performance: Mr Pinstripe Suit

Best Art Show or Event: Graf Jam 2010

Best Festival: Reggaetown World Music Festival

Best Touring Band: John Butler Trio

Best Touring Solo Artist or Duo: Angus & Julia Stone

Best Touring Dance Act: Infected Mushroom

Best Touring Hip-Hop or Urban: Bliss N Eso

timeOUT Editor’s Award for Best Locally Produced CD: Terry Doyle’s Songwriters On The Waterfront

timeOUT Editor’s Award for Excellence In Entertainment and The Arts: Tanks Arts Centre / Cairns Indigenous Art Fair

- Jesse Kuch, The Cairns Post

Local AFL team Pyramid Power is turning up the amps to loud this weekend, with the Rocktober Festivale at Gordonvale's AFL Oval on Maher Rd.

Featuring a bumper line-up of musical talent, from Australian greats such as The Phil Emmanuel Band and AC/DC tribute act Dirty Deeds, to well-loved locals Johno’s Blues Band, The Montgomery Brothers Blues Band, Colour Society, Munitions, Engine Room, No Gravity, Windy City Soul Train, Marcus Cappellazzo, Smashed, DJ Leethal, Caleb Wren and Tamara Gibson, Rocktober Festivale promises to be one of the best events on the south side this year.

The event also features loads of activities and entertainment outside the music, including mechanical bull and surfboard rides, sumo suits, face painting, jumping castles, markets and loads more. It adds up to a great day out for the whole family this Saturday from 10am.

>> Pyramid Power’s Rocktober Festivale is this Saturday at Gordonvale AFL Oval on Maher Rd. Gates open 10am. Tickets are $40 adults and $15 children, with children under school age free. To book, head to ticketlink.com.au or phone 1300 855 835.
- The Cairns Post

If you're looking to keep rocking in town after the main event, don't miss the Official After Party at Gilligan's


Gilligan’s will be rocking until the wee hours to celebrate the massive success that is the timeOUT Concert.

The Grafton St venue will host three of the grand finalists from the Battle Of the Bands competition alongside some of Cairns’ finest DJ talent.

Taking to the stage will be metal giants Canniblast, who literally blew away both the crowd and judges every time they took to the stage at the BOB, with their driving, full-power style. These boys are one of the finest metal imprints Queensland has produced and they will no doubt rock Gilligan’s like only they know how.

Also on stage will be the stunning Marcus Cappellazzo and his band, whose soaring lyrics, mature songwriting and commanding stage presence were also a major highlight of the competition.

Marcus and his band have the potential to be real stars, and both Gilligan’s and timeOUT are excited at their return to the after-party stage.

Finishing up the live line-up will be Mareeba rockers The Nevaa, one of the Tablelands finest bands.

With a raw, rocking sound and an energetic stage show, these guys did their region proud when they played Gilligan’s during both the heats and the Grand Final.

With the back deck rocking to the sounds of some of Far North Queensland’s hottest DJs including Gusto, New World Audio, Suspekt, Tim Park and DJ Jayde, a 5am licence and appearances by some of the headline acts, this is one party you won’t want to miss.

>> The timeOUT Concert After Party kicks off at Gilligan’s at 10pm, with entry at $10. This is an 18+ event
- The Cairns Post

After winning the first ever timeOUT Award for Best Local Solo Artist, Marcus Cappellazzo is now launching his self-titled album

It’s been a massive year for local musician and songwriter Marcus Cappellazzo.

Kicking off 2010 in spectacular style taking out the inaugural timeOUT Award 2009 for Best Local Solo Artist, Marcus has spent the best part of the year putting the finishing touches to his long-awaited self-titled album, released last Sunday at Gilligan’s.

Definitely no stranger to Cairns’ live music entertainment scene – from his early days in high school playing the lead in many of Cairns High’s musicals, through to his work with bands such as Vaness, Ouzo’s Inbox and Lexi’s Curfew and his own solo endeavours – Marcus says the album represents years of hard work.

“I started working on the album about two years ago in October,” he says.

“Some of the songs have been about for a long time. I wrote the riff to one of the tracks, Science, in high school. It was just one of those riffs that kept coming back, so I finally put it in a proper song.”

Marcus says because of the time spent working on the project, the eventual recording is very diverse, a mixture of soft and hard rock and acoustic songs.

“I’d call it alternative rock and acoustic,” he says.

“I do a lot of acoustic gigs now, but I still listen to heaps of Karnivool, Birds Of Tokyo and The Butterfly Effect, so there are three more that are a bit harder in that style and the rest are the more acoustic and commercial-edged style. It’s a bit of a mixed bag and it kind of made it hard for the producer. He said, ‘there are so many genres there’, but I just said that they are the songs that I’ve liked over the past few years.”

Now the album is on the streets, Marcus says he plans a short promotional trip of the US, before heading back home to tour Australia.

“I’m going over to see my girlfriend’s parents in San Francisco in December. I’ll take a few CDs and do a bit of a promotional tour,” he says.

“After that, I’m going to come back and hit the road for three or four months, then maybe return to the States for a tour. It’s all up in the air at the moment, it comes down to what works at the tme.”

Marcus says his win in the timeOUT Awards in 2009 was a great confidence boost as a musician and it has provided some great flow-on effects throughout the year.

He urged everyone to get voting and recognise our city’s talented entertainment and arts professionals.

“Definitely, (winning the timeOUT Awards) made people more aware of what I do as a musician,” he says.

“It let people know I do original stuff, because a lot of people know me from covers gigs, but not everyone knows I play original music too. Things such as the timeOUT Awards, Cooked In Cairns and the timeOUT Battle Of The Bands help give everyone a positive outlook.

“It inspires other musos and it helped me meet a lot of other musicians in Cairns as a result, becoming good mates.

“It’s made it more of a community for the musos of Cairns.”

>> Marcus Cappellazzo's self-titled album is available at his gigs now and will be available at iTunes and CD stores in the new year.

- Jesse Kuch, The Cairns Post