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We hope this message finds you all well and not too cabin-fevery!

We are SO HAPPY to be able to tell you that a complete album will be ready for delivery to you by the end of this month! Here’s a sneak peak of the beautiful album cover design by Mara Winthorst (Chocolate Designs).

Due to the effects of COVID-19, there was a big delay in production and freight, and we weren’t able to give you an update on exactly when it would be arriving at your doorsteps (we didn’t know either!). Again, we thank you so much for your patience and hope it will bring you joy as you emerge from Isolation. 🙏❤️

We hope you’ve had a great start to 2020. It’s been a while since you’ve heard from us, but we’ve been keeping busy behind the scenes with album production, and… a little bit of human creation. 

We’d love to introduce you to the beautiful Penelope Catherine McCorkelle (already dubbed P.C. Mac by Claire). Only 4 weeks old and already singing!

Our other baby (the album baby) is still in gestation – it has at least 10 tracks but no toes, and is ultra-sounding great! 

We very excited to share it with you and we know you’re keen to hear it. We’re all busy at work with various aspects of the album production, especially Claire who is off to continue mixing this week! We thank you so much for your patience and support. Producing our first album has been a bigger task than expected and has been a learning experience for all of us. 

You are looking at the AUSACA National Champions! For those of you not following us on Facebook  (which we thoroughly recommend), we competed at the Australian A Cappella Awards (AUSACA) finals on the 8th of September against five other fantastic a cappella bands, and were awarded:Band ChampionsAudience FavouriteBest Jazz SongBest Comedy SongAnd our fearless musical director and soprano extraordinaire, Claire Patti, won Best Soloist

The winner of the Ensemble Division, the QUT Aca-Demics and The Velvetones then sang their arrangements of Advance Australia Fair  to compete to be named Overall National Champions. Not only did Claire and friend-of-the-Velvetones Matt Booth win Best Arrangement for our Australian birdsong inspired Anthem, but we also won the AUSACA Overall National Championship!  We worked super hard in the lead up to the competition, and we are honoured and extremely chuffed to have received these awards. We’d like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the a cappella community, the judges, and to you, our fabulous fans! To thank you for your support and celebrate our triumphs, we decided to do what we love best – put on a show!  Join us for a Spring SingOn October 28th we will be putting on our very own boutique Melbourne concert, “Twilight Jazz with The Velvetones” at the Kinross Arts Centre in Toorak. This will be an intimate acoustic concert followed by wine, cheese, and chats. We are hoping for a balmy spring evening with the scent of blossoms in the air to accompany the warmth and sweetness of our performance🌼🌼🌼 With less than 50 seats available we suspect not everyone who wants to come will be able to, so please book quickly! We would love to see you there!

After that? Well, we are working on some Christmas music now, which has been playing havoc with our internal clock, but starting early means it will be pristine and polished by November! So get in contact if you would like a Christmas event with a touch of Velvetones flair, and keep an ear out for a few demo recordings in the coming months.   Exciting times ahead!

Good evening, ladies and gentleplums.

What have we been doing?

The Velvetones has had a busy first half of our first year! We have recorded a demo, had some snaps taken by Melbourne Ceili Camera, performed with Ivory vocal ensemble at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and made our Melbourne debut at the Kinross Cabaret Fundraiser. Not to mention hours of rehearsal building repertoire, eating cheese, and doing daft dance moves.

We owe a big thanks to the Kinross community for hosting and coming along to the Fundraiser, which has raised $3,500 to continue supporting and showcasing a range of excellent art and artists at the Kinross Arts Centre. We were honoured to be a part of this event, and loved every moment of it!

What are we doing now?

At a time which I may not divulge The Velvetones will make our way to a location which cannot be named, where we will undergo a secret ritual. This ancient, mysterious undertaking will renew our rich and unusual vocal power. I’m sad to say you are not invited to that, but you can catch photos on social media!

We would love you to come along to the Melbourne International Singers Festival, a fantastic event featuring many gorgeous choirs from around Australia. As a part of the MISF we are performing in the Showcase Concert at Deakin Edge, Melbourne on the 10th June! If you know anyone who fancies a bit of cheeky a cappella jazz (or you just can’t get enough of us, which is perfectly understandable) make sure you get tickets.

We are also extremely excited to be performing at the Festival of Voices in Tasmania on the 6th and 7th of July at the Rosny Barn, as well as appearing at the Big Sing Bonfire on the 8th July with none other than one of our heroes, the proclaimed “Godfather of a cappella”, Deke Sharon (The musical genius behind the Pitch Perfect Movies!). Can we sing while hyperventilating with excitement? Come along to find out!

What can we do for you?

Smattered before, in between and after our festival appearances are a range of private appearances for various bashes, birthdays, and balls. We would love you to get in touch if you would like us to perform at your event to add a touch of Velvetones class, sass, and jazz.

We cannot wait to perform for you again!

Thank you for supporting us

Leonie, Steph, Stephanie and Claire xx