THE WRECK EVENT (2024)
Founded in 2021, Hell Herons is an Australian spoken-word+music collective featuring award-winning poets/writers/performers/makers Melinda Smith, CJ Bowerbird, Stuart Barnes, and Nigel Featherstone. We fuse lyrical language with evocative soundscapes as well as dance and pop. All music written, performed and recorded by Nigel. Mixed and mastered by Kimmo Vennonen, kv productions. Thanks to generous funding from artsACT, and with the support of GYROstream, Hell Herons’ debut album The Wreck Event was released via all major streaming platforms on 29 June 2024.
PRAISE
‘Charismatic and enigmatic…beautiful and mesmerising’ ~ Whispering Gums
‘The Wreck Event is both wreck and event, destroying boundaries between poetry and music in a way song doesn’t always manage while marking another milestone in Australian poetic practice. It’s also, quite simply, beautiful’ ~Writing West Australia
‘A spoken-word+EDM supergroup’ ~ BMA Magazine
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For more information, please visit www.hellherons.com.
words by Melinda Smith
vocal by Melinda Smith
music written, performed & recorded by Nigel Featherstone
vocal recorded & treated by Kimmo Vennonen
noise manipulation by Kimmo Vennonen
sound mixing & mastering by Kimmo Vennonen
released 25 June 2024
THE FINAL HOURS (2019)
This suite of 5 songs evolved from an invitation by the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in Canberra, Australia, to spend a day surrounded by the visual art of Myuran Sukumaran, an Australian man executed by the Indonesian Government after being found guilty of smuggling heroin.
A collaboration between Nigel and singer-songwriter Pete Lyon. After mixing by Kimmo Vennonen of kv productions, the songs were released on 15 June 2019 through Bandcamp.
All proceeds donated to an Australian art-in-prison program.
Art work by John Fry, Six Heads, Melbourne
words by Nigel Featherstone
vocal recorded by Peter Lyon
music written & performed by Andy Bull
mixed & mastered by Darren Ziesing
released 1 March 2019
words by Nigel Featherstone
music written & performed by Katie Salisbury & James Humberstone
mixed & mastered by Jordan Thomas Mitchell
video by Red Gadget Films
released 3 October 2017, to advocate yes in Australia’s marriage-equality plebiscite