ANCHOR 2017 – the nominees!

Hamburg, 9 August 2017

After the first edition of ANCHOR – Reeperbahn Festival International Music Award last year it received widespread acclaim: Rarely has a competition for aspiring new artists accomplished more: for the ANCHOR 2016 winner Albin Lee Meldau participation in the competition paid off and keeps paying: already in December, the Swedish singer-songwriter signed a worldwide major record deal and is now represented by the renowned US artists agency William Morris Endeavour, which has boosted his international profile enormously. That’s why we are getting really excited about this year’s ANCHOR nominees – and here they are.

Just like last year, the quality level of the lineup is extremely high in 2017: The Canadian sextet Fast Romantics (CAN) play stunningly swirling indie rock and have already been awarded for their catchy songwriting in their home country. The noise rockers Pabst (DE) are managing the feat of combining elements of grunge, punk, indie, heavy metal, stoner and Brit rock and even R’n’B in their sound. Three outstanding female singer songwriters add to the roster, ranging from the empathic Fenne Lily (UK) (photo) who, with her voice and her guitar, casts spells over even the largest concert halls, via Alice Merton (CAN/GER/UK) already known in Germany by her single “No Roots” to the breathtakingly clear voice of Jade Bird (UK) whose songs can compare easily to those of Leslie Feist. The Copenhagen electro pop duo First Hate (DK) shows that political awareness and social responsibility go very well with large-scale synthie hymns and Matt Maltese (UK), only 20 years of age, already writes songs which are influenced by Leonard Cohen’s ballads but also by Jarvis Cocker while soul crooner Joseph J Jones (UK) originally wanted to become a professional boxer – but his wonderfully rough voice soon made it clear where he really belongs: on stage and on the radio – in England he is scooping the market with his single “Gospel Truth”!

This year, the difficult task of selecting the ANCHOR 2017 winner is again in the hands of a top-class jury. Under the lead of David Bowie producer Tony Visconti, the jury consisting of Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass of BOY, Garbage singer Shirley Manson, Emily Haines of Metric and Broken Social Scene and the BBC presenter Huw Stephens will attend all the shows of the nominated acts, and on this basis eventually pick the ANCHOR 2017 winner.

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The nominees were selected from among over 50 international applicants by the ANCHOR Board of 14 renowned representatives of the music industry and journalists. The nominees will play their shows from Wednesday, 20 Sept. to Friday, 22 Sept. at Imperial Theater and Molotow, not only before the festival audience but also the ANCHOR jury. But only the most promising talent can take home the ANCHOR 2017.

One thing is for sure: they will keep us in suspense until the ANCHOR 2017 Award Ceremony on Saturday, 23 Sept at the St. Pauli Theater. But all acts already profit from being nominated, as the international attention they receive from the interested music and professional audience of one of the world’s leading music business platforms is catapulting them into the lime light of the international music world.

Please find photos of the nominees here and video footage for your reporting on our media server.

Media Server Reeperbahn Festival User: production Password: RBF2017

About the ANCHOR – Reeperbahn Festival International Music Award (www.anchor- award.com)

Inaugurated in 2016, the ANCHOR marks the most promising emerging music talent from the Reeperbahn Festival’s program and serves as a label of excellence and guide for fans and music professionals alike. For the nominees, it is a springboard into an international career. A board of music experts selects the nominees from the festival program who then play their shows in the clubs along Reeperbahn, a former red light district famous for its live music scene. A jury of prominent music luminaries then has the challenging task of judging the live shows and selecting the winner. The competition kicks off with an opening event on September 20, 2017, and after three days of competition, the winner is awarded the ANCHOR 2017 in a glamourous Award Ceremony on September 23.

About Reeperbahn Festival (www.reeperbahnfestival.com)

Reeperbahn Festival returned to Manhattan in 2017 for its second annual New York Edition as part of A2IM Indie Week. Reeperbahn Festival voted Best European Indoor Festival 2016 at the European Festival Awards is one of Europe’s leading music business conferences and festival platforms.

PRESS CONTACT ANCHOR 2017: Patricia Kopetzky I [email protected]

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