DrawCard!

Artist Information

Biography

Over six years as a band(with a few member changes), 4 releases, countless tours & after parties, from playing small shows in parking lots to some of the biggest venues in the country such as the RNA showgrounds (to 20,000bppl) and Brisbane Entertainment centre (to 9,500 ppl), the guys are hoping to create their own path of ‘grassroots’ success.
Their recent debut album was mixed by Sylvia Massy (TOOL, Red Hot Chili Peppers, COG) in California and is distributed nationally in the U.S. with SONY Red.

The guys have just come off a tour stint with Californian band Unwritten Law where they played the opening slot at HiFi bar Brisbane to a packed house (1180), and Coolangatta Hotel with around 700 odd punters in attendance. The guys will be doing the QLD leg of Trial Kenedy/Numbers Radio tour in May also.
The band has a solid loyal national following especially in home city and town Brisbane and Sunshine Coast and there is a lot of hype surrounding the guys after some recent stellar 'large venue' performances.

Their recent debut album “Modern Rivalry’ was mixed by Sylvia Massy (TOOL, Red Hot Chili Peppers, COG) in California and is currently distributed nationally in the U.S. with SONY Red. The band hailing from the beachside suburbs of the Sunshine Coast have just finished putting the final touches to their latest release; a 7 track mini album due for release in June.

The Sound; Raw honesty, and heartfelt delivery, going from ‘pretty false setto’, to a brutal breakdown then into a catchy melodic heavy rock chorus - all seamlessly in the space of one minute. To liken DrawCards sound to other bands ...maybe AlexisOnFire took on Foo Fighters rock sound and then spent too much time with A Day To Remember and Bullet for my Valentine. ...recent reviews of their debut album Modern Rivalry has positioned their sound closely to Foo Fighters and Coheed and Cambria (without the extremely high voice) ... lets not waste too much time writing about who or what they sound like, get out to one of their shows or check out their tracks online.

Modern Rivalry is available now on iTunes, at shows, in selected record stores in Australia and all good record stores in the U.S.


Achievements and Milestones

• Supported Californian band Unwritten Law at a near capacity crowd at HiFi Bar Brisbane and The Coolangatta Hotel.
• Supported JJJ favourites Trial Kenedy and Numbers radio on the QLD leg of their tour.

• Regular rotation and Sync on FOX network sports programs.
• Selected to be featured on TripleM radio with interviews and track rotation for the single ‘Modern Rivalry’.
• Featured on SkuffTV and FUEL TV extreme sports programs with interviews and track
placements.

• Featured in 20,000 copies of No Cover magazine which is distributed nationwide in the United States.

• Lined up with an Australia-wide promoter a number of stadium shows playing to upwards of 50,000 people in two months

• Featured in August 2007 issue of Blunt Magazine (32,000 dist.)

• Featured on Australia wide compilation disc with NovaFM and AAA Entertainment and Home page stary on website.

• Placed track on compilation disc (8000 copies) that is distributed nation wide across the US, bundled with a popular alternative music magazine.

• Won Australia wide competition and secured a spot on Taste of Chaos International tour performing to more than 10,000 people.

• Placed on Skratch compilation cd which gets distributed at Warped Tour in the U.S.

• Selected as the major promotional band for Australian compilation cd with huge, press and radio coverage.

• Securing an international management and promotional deal with Los Angeles based Management Company.

Instrumentation

Paul Durkin - Guitar/ Lead Vocals
Jesse Clark - Guitar/ Vocals
Mitch Wheeler - Bass/ Vocals
Andi Durkin - Drums/ Vocals/ Samples

Discography

2011 - DrawCard
2009 - Modern Rivalry
2004 - An Artificial Heartbeat
2003 - Pieces of a forgotten History

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter

Audio

• WE WON'T BREAK!
  Listen  
• Waking Up
  Listen  
• Back Someday
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Waking Up

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• DrawCard Nail It! [+ Show ]
  

  If you see four young rockers dancing around the streets of Mudjimba Beach with big grins on their f...If you see four young rockers dancing around the streets of Mudjimba Beach with big grins on their faces — don’t be alarmed.
  It’s just local band Drawcard who have just found out the news of a lifetime.
  The Mudjimba four-piece outfit have just won a nationwide competition to be one of four supporting bands at this Sunday’s popular Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour.
  The well known tour, which headlines international acts Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Saosin, will draw more than 15,000 people to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for Queensland’s only concert.
  But despite only finding out about the news on Monday they aren’t worried — well maybe a tiny bit.
  
  I recently caught up with these guys playing a local show, and was very impressed by their energetic stage presence and interaction with the audience, here's what they had to say.
  
  “We were up against some of the countries best bands in a competition to play at the festival, and just nailed it,...” lead singer and guitarist
  Paul Durkin said.
  
  “We’re so excited and really stoked about it ... maybe a tiny bit nervous.
  “We’ll be practising like mad before Sunday.”
  
  Not that the three-year-old eclectic band needs it. The band, which includes Paul’s brother Andi Durkin on drums, Jesse Clark on guitar and vocals and Mitch Goldstone
  on bass, has been playing and touring the Coastline for more than three years and have released two sell-out EPs.
  “The tour is great; they bring a few genres together and bring it all together for all ages,”
  Paul said.
  “It travels all around the world. We saw it last year and thought, ‘how can we get on
  that’. So we just kept pushing and finally won a spot on the lineup. “It’s got to be the biggest venue we’ve ever played.
  “It’s going to be so great for us brushing shoulders with some of the biggest international bands and chatting and handing out CDs to anyone we can,” he said.
  The band will be on the same stage as one of the bands which inspired their unique
  sound – Underoath.
  “It’s all just exciting,” Paul said. “We’ve worked really hard to get where we are today.”
  Before the big gig on Sunday, the quartet will play at Coolum’s Sol Bar on Friday then at the Columbian club, in the valley on Saturday.
  — SARAH MORGAN
  

• Lads put feet to the floor [+ Show ]
  

  A PROGRESSIVE foursome hailing from the Sunshine Coast, DrawCard caused ripples in the local music...A PROGRESSIVE foursome hailing
  from the Sunshine Coast, DrawCard
  caused ripples in the local music
  industry in 2003 when they wrote
  and recorded their first EP-demo
  and toured Queensland and NSW –
  in two months.
  When they got back home there
  was no time to reminisce about the
  trip as a back-to-back gig list saw
  them perform non-stop for the rest
  of the year. No mean feat for a band
  hailing from the Coast’s competitive
  local music industry.
  Fast forward to 2004: the guys
  regroup, redirect and channel their
  youthful exuberance into rocking
  riffs and explosive live performances,
  forcing those who once dubbed
  them “the young pop punk band” to
  sit up for a closer look and listen.
  Lugging their gear into a studio
  was the next obvious step, along
  with securing producer Nathan
  Ironside. Their 2005 debut EP, An
  Artificial Heartbeat, exceeded everyone’s
  expectations and started
  another chapter in their evolutionary
  tale. Dynamic front man Paul
  Durkin is supported by Jesse Clark
  (guitar and back-up vocals), Mitch
  Goldstone (bass) and Andi Durkin
  (drums).
  Playing every show as though it is
  their last, DrawCard delivers intuitive
  songs, energetic stage performances
  and airborne guitars – just
  as it should be in the tradition of
  rock.
  “At the moment we are playing an
  onslaught of shows across southeast
  Queensland including Hervey
  Bay, Gympie, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane,
  Gold Coast and Toowoomba,”
  front man Paul Durkin said.
  “We want to get our music out
  there to the local audience and are
  planning an East Coast OZ tour for
  early 2007.”
  If you crave good music and
  originality, check out these young
  guns at the Sol Bar, Coolum, with
  Avalon Drive and Shifter on Friday,
  October 13, and at the Lake
  Kawana Community Centre on
  October 28. Check out www.myspace.
  com/drawcard for more
  shows.

• Gigahertz - DrawCard Rock The Villa Noosa [+ Show ]
  

  Fresh off their support slot for U.S. band Unwritten Law, coast natives DrawCard take to the stage t...Fresh off their support slot for U.S. band Unwritten Law, coast natives DrawCard take to the stage to a hometown cheer. These guys have come a long way from the days of being known as Plasma playing all over the coast and Brisbane. As they've matured, opportunities have started to open up and the proof is in the pudding. DrawCard offer a tight set of genre fashion, drawing from punk, pop, rock and post hardcore. The four lads produce catchy sing along numbers that get the crowd rocking close to the stage. Punching through a nice set, Drawcard does the coast proud.

• Unwritten Law, Heroes for Hire, Drawcard [+ Show ]
  

  Young, tight and with some huge vocals, Drawcard provide the evening a great opening. Big sing-along...Young, tight and with some huge vocals, Drawcard provide the evening a great opening. Big sing-along climatic choruses combined with straightforward rock elements and shouty, riot punk, a solid chunk of tunes from their class 2009 release 'Modern Rivalry' are ripped through without so much as a bum note. The family ties of frontman Paul Durkin and Drummer Andi Durkin are also apparent with the chemistry shared between the two keeping their stage presence interesting and really driving the band as a whole.

• DRAWCARD [+ Show ]
  

  Being in a band for the past decade or so, it is fair to say that Paul Durkin has spent a substantia...Being in a band for the past decade or so, it is fair to say that Paul Durkin has spent a substantial amount of time travelling around Australia playing music. Hardworking? Sure this band have it in spades. An upcoming gig that is set to launch them into the consciousness of a new set of fans? Um, yep check that one too!
  
  BY TEX MILLER
  
  It has been through sheer hard work and dedication that Paul has been able to make his music career into what it is today. You may or may not have heard of the band DrawCard but from talking to Paul (lead Vocalist and guitarist) they are definitely a band with a story to tell and one to certainly take note of. Regaling tour stories and talking about all aspects of the band over the past decade, the interview was an intense fifty minute chat with the pop punk rock band.
  
  Most recently, Drawcard have been rehearsing for the upcoming tour which takes in dates at the HiFi bar in Brisbane, Cooly Hotel on the Gold Coast and the Villa Noosa hotel on the Sunshine Coast.
  
  ‘Jesse is coming around tonight and we are going to have a quiet rehearsal with just acoustic guitars or low volume electric guitars to work on our harmonies and the vocal parts and lead parts because we’ve brought in new parts to the songs and added new songs to the set. So although it’s a busy time right now making sure everything is in place for a good tour, it’s a lot of fun at the same time”
  
  The past few Drawcard gigs had been one truly amazing atmosphere and in Pauls mind to have the audience react to your music in such a way is a big thrill. “I’ve been playing music for such a long time and we have had so many amazing opportunities like The Taste of Chaos festival which was at the Brisbane Entertainment centre to about nine thousand people. We were just a local band and to be involved with that and get the response we did was just simply incredible...To share the stage with the likes of Saosin, Taking Back Sunday and Underoath, was great and they were all a really nice bunch of people as well. To sit around and talk with those guys in their dressing room was an experience that I will never forget.
  This is only one memory of a life on the road with Drawcard, however, over the years there have been many moments of laughter, fun and quirkiness. From getting naked in front of the Big Banana to spending the night after a gig in a quarry, the tour stories that Paul related to me, were a little strange to say the least!
  
  Whilst playing on stage the funniest moment would have to be from one night in Gympie.
  
  “We were in the middle of a tour and the next show we were playing was in Gympie. Halfway through our set, the roadie decided to slide down the staircase rail and instead fell and tripped into the false floor on the other side of the stairs. This normally would be fine; however, the floor was made from brittle fibro sheets. We were in between songs in the middle of the set and looked up to discover that his legs were poking through the roof above the punters sitting at the table in front of us.
  If you haven’t seen Drawcard, do yourself a favour and get out to one of their shows on the next tour, because they will not disappoint.
  

Setlist

A night of sobering thoughts
Nothings Changed
The River
Waking Up
Back someday
It's on!
We wont Break
If i fall
Running for their lives

Typical set time is 45 mins

Basic Requirements

Calendar