Hailing from the Northern Rivers, SupaFresh have spent the last year performing and establishing themselves as a must see act, bringing their original Hip-Hop tunes to Australian audiences. SupaFresh members are young local indigenous artists Sarah Bennett, Mitch King and Blake Rhodes. They have performed at Deadly Days, Naidoc Week celebrations, and alongside Casey Donovan, Troy Cassar-Daley and Justice Crew. SupaFresh stole the show at a widely praised performance at Worldstages Music Festival and supported the Deadly Award winning Yung Warriors on their national tour. They will be performing at The Boomerang Festival over the first weekend in October.
Arts Northern Rivers recently announced that Supafresh are one of seven local musicians and groups that have been selected to take part in a mentorship project delivered in partnership with Southern Cross University. Funded through Arts NSW Regional Partnership program, the Connect project aims to support musicians to develop their careers in the music industry. The project builds on the success of the Music Brokers project delivered by Arts Northern Rivers in 2011.
Musicians have been individually matched with leading professionals working within the music industry who will act as mentors for the duration of the program. SupaFresh are being mentored by Anthony McFadden – Tour Manager at LIve Nation (most recently toured with Frank Ocean); past – international production manager at The Drop NZ, production and tour manager at Niche Productions. More than 75 applications were received and Supafresh were one act that was invited to perform at a closed audition at Southern Cross University’s Studio One29.
Arts Northern Rivers CEO, Peter Wood said, “The fact that we had over 75 musicians expressing interest in participating in this project not only demonstrates the incredibly rich music scene we have in our region but also the need to support and develop this important sector of the creative industries.”
When I spoke to SupaFresh and AJ on the first day of the Connect mentor program at Southern Cross Uni in Lismore, AJ explained how thrilled he was to be mentoring a local indigenous act. Sarah and Mitch explained how they have worked closely with local indigenous youth over the last few years and Blake was one of those kids. Before working with Sarah and Mitch on a youth program, Blake had never considered a career in music and now this is all he wants to do.
SupaFresh hold workshops throughout the Northern Rivers to encourage kids to get involved in music and dance.
Mitch King is very connected to the local indigenous community and expresses with great passion just how important it is to feel a part of their community and culture and how music and dance helps connect it.
Sarah, Mitch and Blake all share the same goals to take away from the connect program and they are: Record an album, work with an experienced producer, understand the business side of the industry so they can establish a career and become a solid entity that is marketable first in Lismore, then Sydney, then the whole of Australia before they conquer the global stage!
Sarah’s final words were “Everybody eats or we all starve together”.
Good luck with the program SupaFresh! I am really looking forward to seeing you perform at Boomerang Festival.
The full list of participating musicians and matched mentors is as follows.
The Black Lullaby – Angela Saul, Lucus Zoro, Gav Bourke and Isaac Blomley
Mentored by Samuel J. Fell – Assistant Editor (Rhythms) / Freelance Journalist (Rolling Stone / Fairfax / Big Issue)
SupaFresh – Sarah Bennett, Blake Rhodes and Mitch King
Mentored by AJ McFadden – Tour Manager at Frontier Touring (most recently toured with Frank Ocean). Past – International Production Manager at The Drop NZ, Production and Tour Manager at Niche Productions.
Starboard Cannons – Ash Bell and Matt Bone
Mentored by Clara Iaccarino – Manager to Mama Kin and Tinpan Orange / Co-Founder and Executive Producer at MAKEbeLIVE Productions
Shiny Shiny – Patty Preace and Melania Jack
Mentored by Candy Bowers – Co-Artistic Director, Writer & Performer at Black Honey Company
Andrea Soler
Mentored by Frankie Kimpton – Co-director of Melbourne based boutique artist booking agency, HUB Touring
Sara Tindley
Mentored by Norman Parkhill – Director at inSYNC Music, provider of specialist music services for film, TV and advertising
Jacob Pember
Mentored by Jason Fernandez – Composer and Music Editor at Trackdown. Past – Music Editor for Walking With Dinosaurs and Happy Feet 2.