Swampy, catchy, capturing the spirit of his own patch of Australia and making it universal and appealing to us all... very distinctive and original. 8 Ball is clocking up the credentials... with this album he is set to take another quantum leap.
Susan Jarvis
Capitol News, July 2008
A very good hard-hitting album... country rock and Aussie blues / swamp music.
Charlie Sparrow
Blue’s Country Magazine, August 2008
8 Ball is a phenomenon. Yep! Our very own “wild-haired boy”. The guy has some chops on the git, that’s gospel.
Luke Robertson
Scene Magazine, August 2008
Far North Queensland’s best loved banana picker (turned full-time guitar picker) 8 Ball Aitken is touring Australia in 2009 with his award winning third album, ‘REBEL WITH A CAUSE’.
8 Ball Aitken is authentic -- a real-deal character who rattles the roof, stomps the planks, and gets his audiences whooping and hollering along in a frenzy of pure exuberance. He plays a sizzling hot blend of original blues, roots & country music. Coming from a farming community in Far North Queensland, 8 Ball Aitken is the oldest son of an impoverished family of twelve children. 8 Ball spent his adolescence on a banana plantation, living in a rough tobacco shed with resident rats, bats, snakes, and spiders as his sleeping companions.
He started work as a farm labourer aged fifteen, doing back-breakingly hard work on the mango and banana plantations of the Atherton Tablelands, a man's work for a boy's pay. A life-changing conversation with an Aboriginal elder, who told him he should pursue a career in music, convinced 8 Ball to pack his bags, grab his guitar, and leave the farm to meet his destiny.
8 Ball won a 2009 Q Song Award for his song ‘OUTBACK BOOTY CALL’. Another song, ‘YELLOW MOON’, has won the EMI Music Blues & Roots Song of the Year at the Q Song Awards. His singles ‘CYCLONE COUNTRY’ & ‘HANDS ON TOP OF THE WHEEL’ have both been top 10 country hits around Australia in 2008 / 2009.
‘CYCLONE COUNTRY’ earned 8 Ball a 2009 Golden Guitar award nomination. The first single ‘COWBOY MOVIE’ (from album ‘REBEL WITH A CAUSE’) was nominated for the 2009 APRA Blues & Roots Song of The Year, and has received radio airplay around in twenty-six countries, including charting in the European Country Music Top 40.
8 Ball has taken his unique blues & roots sound to festivals and clubs across the world, including Australia, Europe, Japan and Canada, including Canadian Music Week 2009 and the Stan Rogers Festival. He’s toured in Japan four times, where he headlined the popular Rokko Sun Music Festival. He has played a string of dates in Singapore, the UK (including a live appearance on the BBC), Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
REBEL WITH A CAUSE is out now through Phoenix Movement Records / MGM Distribution. 8 Ball Aitken is currently available for interviews. Contact Phoenix Movement Records via phone: 0408 075 959 or email: bird@phoenixmovement.com.
Some 8 Ball Aitken festival performances include:
Tamworth Country Music Festival - 2007, 2008, 2009
Rocko Sun Music (JAPAN) - 2008
Gympie Muster – 2005, 2008
East Coast Blues & Roots Festival (Byron Bay) – 2007
Mud Bulls & Music - 2008
Brisbane Festival - 2008
Blues At Bridgetown (Western Australia) - 2008
Australian National Blues Festival (Goulburn) – 2007
Grass Roots Music Festival, Brisbane - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Big Sound Music Conference - 2008
Q Song Awards - 2008
Greenfest - 2008
Thuringowa River Festival (Townsville) - 2007
Suma Beach Festival (JAPAN) – 2007
Yagubi World Music Festival (Hervey Bay) – 2007
Beenleigh Jamboree – 2007
Roots By The River – 2005, 2006, 2007
Woodford Folk Festival - 2002, 2005, 2006
Peats Ridge Festival (Sydney) - 2006
Brisbane Blues Festival – 2003, 2004, 2006
Sunshine Coast Blues Festival - 2005, 2006
Earthbeat Festival (Mildura) - 2006
Coastfest (Sydney) – 2006
Groove and Grape Festival (Brisbane) - 2006
Adelaide Fringe Festival – 2006
Melbourne Fringe Festival – 2006
Blues on Broadbeach - 2006
Mackay Festival of the Arts - 2005, 2006
Valley Fiesta (Brisbane) - 2005
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