Features
HotStar: Gotye
By now, everyone, including yo momma, has sung along to “Somebody That I Used To Know,” which features another Downunder talent, Kimbra. Hopefully more of the fantastic songs of Gotye’s third studio album, Making Mirrors, will find their way to radio because here’s an artist that deserves more than one big hit.
That being said, the Australia-based Belgian artist has racked up some impressive figures. The song makes him only the fifth Australian to have a No. 1 hit in America, and only the second Belgian. He owes some of the crossover success to the YouTube viral video from Walk Off The Earth, the quintet that played “Somebody That I Used To Know” on one guitar and on its own has garnered nearly 100 million views.
Gotye – actually Wouter “Wally” De Backer – has said his U.S. tour was modest compared with what he’ll be doing here in the fall. And that visit is shaping up nicely, according to agent Tom Windish, who told Pollstar the tour looks to be between 40 and 50 dates in venues between 5,000 and 10,000 capacities. It will begin in the middle of August and include the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October.
“I think the album is fantastic,” Windish said. “I notice a lot of promoters and people saying things that would insinuate he’s a one-hit wonder. But I think he has potential to be around as long as he wants to be. I think he has a lot of staying power and a potential for a very broad fan base, from people in their 50s and 60s to younger people in their 20s.”
Gotye – pronounced Goat-yay – could be the first of many upcoming imports from Australia, with acts like Cut Copy and Empire of the Sun already making headway, and Kimbra’s about to introduce her album.
“I think Australia is a very exciting place,” Windish said, who first saw Gotye at the country’s traveling Laneway festival, which he helps program. “I think we could spend a half hour talking about why the music coming from there is so rich and exciting and crossing so many boundaries.”