Brendan Maclean

Brendan Maclean

Brendan Maclean at the Sydney premiere of The Great Gatsby in 2013
Background information
Born (1987-12-27) 27 December 1987
Origin Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia
Genres Baroque pop, electropop, piano pop (early)
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, actor, presenter
Instruments Piano, keyboards, vocals, guitar, ukulele
Years active 2006–present
Website http://brendanmaclean.bandcamp.com/

Brendan Maclean is an Australian ARIA award nominated musician, actor and presenter.

Music

In 2007 Maclean began independently releasing music under his own name with the song "Airport People". The song, which featured Maclean accompanying himself on piano, went on to win Australia's National Youth Week People's Choice award and The Industry award for Writing in 2008.[1] His first release was a homemade demo, entitled Prose from Pluto, which came out in 2008. It featured the aforementioned "Airport People" and a second single, "Numbers", for which a music video was made.

Maclean's debut studio EP, White Canvas was released on iTunes in March 2010. The video clip for its first single "Practically Wasted" won nine awards, including Best Video and Best Direction, in the Queensland New Film Awards.[2] The follow up single, "Cold and Happy", was selected as Channel V's Ripe Clip of The Week[3] and placed 8th in Rage's Top 10 videos of 2011.

Maclean's notable tours between 2011 and 2013 included national support slots with iOTA, Kate Miller-Heidke and former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes.

In January 2014 he released his third EP, Population, produced by Paul Mac. The record gained traction with the song's video for the single, "Stupid", being featured by BuzzFeed coupled with a successful crowd funding campaign which earned over AU$20,000.[4][5] In May 2014, "Stupid" was featured as the Weather on Welcome to Night Vale, in episode 47, "Company Picnic".

Amanda Palmer invited Maclean to join her in 2014 season at The Sydney Festival where they performed a duet of the Bat for Lashes song "Laura". He also joined Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra in consecutive dates at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and the Forum Theatre in Melbourne. The pair also recorded a single with Paul Mac in March 2014 which is still yet to be released.[6]

In mid-2014 it was announced that Maclean had been signed to the Universal Music Publishing Group as a songwriter and would begin writing a new EP with Amanda Palmer, Paul Mac, Cobra Starship and Ru Paul's producer Lucian Piane.[7]

Maclean appears on the 2015 Paul Mac album Holiday from Me on a song toted as "the world's first gay duet", "F.A.Q." Maclean contributed vocals alongside Nathan Hudson, former lead singer of Faker.[8]

May 2015 saw the release of Maclean's fourth independently-released EP, entitled Thought I'd Cry for You Forever. The EP features guest vocals from Sarah Belkner (formerly known as Miss Little) and spoken word from author Neil Gaiman. It was released exclusively through Bandcamp.

On 1 October 2015 Maclean released his first Patreon-funded project, For Him with Love. Recorded in Brooklyn, New York, Maclean is quoted as saying the primarily covers-based EP was a collection of "songs to fall out of love with."[9] In November 2015, Maclean released a stand-alone single, "Tectonic", which was co-written by former Cobra Starship member Alex Suarez.[10]

Brendan's fifth EP funbang1 was released on 24 July 2016. In September 2016, a full version of funbang1's Amanda Palmer collaboration, "On the Door," was released on Palmer's website. The full version features cameos from Ben Folds, Sarah Silverman, Eugene Mirman and Reggie Watts.

In 2016 Maclean was nominated for an ARIA Award for his work with Marcia Hines and Joe Accaria on the Velvet Original Cast Soundtrack. [11]

Acting

Before turning his career to music Maclean appeared in multiple commercial campaigns for Coca-Cola, Wii and Virgin Mobile. As a child he was a dancer in the music video for "Crazy About Your Smile" by Nikki Webster and made multiple cameos on ABC shows such as The Chaser and Laid by Marieke Hardy.

In 2013 Maclean was cast as "Klipspringer" in the Baz Luhrmann adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which would lead him to revise the character in live performances across Italy, France and London. He is also credited as Peter in the 2014 film Tracks starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver.[12]

In 2014 Maclean began rehearsals with Marcia Hines for an original cabaret, Velvet. It premiered at the Adelaide Fringe Festival on 18 February 2015 to critical acclaim, The Australian giving it 5 stars [13] Velvet's The 2015 tour included The Edinburgh Fringe, The Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Festival and a stand-alone season at The Sydney Opera House. The official cast album for Velvet was released on 2 October 2015.[14] Velvet began a second tour in 2016, expanding its tour to include the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Velvet: The Original Cast Album, was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Cast Album in the Fine Arts category of 2016. [15]

Presenting

From 2007 to 2013, Maclean broadcast weekly for youth station Triple J. Maclean began presenting in 2007 after an interview with Zan Rowe which celebrated the stations unsigned artist competition, Unearthed. Maclean had posted many music reviews as a "SuperUser" under the pseudonym "Murdoch". He presented across many programs Mid-dawns, Weekend Lunch, Weekend Breakfast, Super Request and Summer House Party.[16] Brendan left the station in 2013 to focus on his music career.

Maclean also hosted ABC's rage on Saturday, 26 September 2015 with Marcia Hines.

Discography

Demo

EPs

Singles

Cast albums

References

  1. ↑ Brendan win's National Youth Week Official Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Listing of Practically Wasted Awards Archived 16 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Channel V chart listing
  4. ↑ http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/this-is-your-new-favorite-break-up-song
  5. ↑ http://www.pozible.com/project/14124
  6. ↑ http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/opinions/38321/Brendan-Maclean-10-nights-with-Amanda-Palmer
  7. ↑ Brendan signs to UMPG
  8. ↑ http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/paul-mac-launches-holiday-from-me-record-with-mystery-train-ride-party/story-e6frfmq9-1227297468104
  9. ↑ https://brendanmaclean.bandcamp.com
  10. ↑ "Tectonic - Brendan Maclean". Bandcamp. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  11. ↑ http://www.ariaawards.com.au/nominees/2016/Fine-Arts-Awards/Best-Original-Soundtrack-Cast-Show-Album
  12. ↑ Episode listing of Mia Freedman announcement on Sky
  13. ↑ Velvet Scores 5 Stars at Debut .
  14. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/velvet-original-cast-recording/id1035610971
  15. ↑ http://www.ariaawards.com.au/nominees/2016/Fine-Arts-Awards/Best-Original-Soundtrack-Cast-Show-Album
  16. ↑ triple j forum including Brendan's shows
  17. ↑ "CHART WATCH #375". auspOp. 2 July 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
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