Gang of Youths, Ruby Fields, Stella Donnelly, Dean Lewis among 19 Australian acts announced for SXSW 2018

Nineteen Australian acts were in the first round of acts announced for the 2018 instalment of South By Southwest, to be held March 9—18 in Austin, Texas.

Keith Urban was also announced as one of the Featured Speakers – the first from Australia (and/or New Zealand depending on who you ask).

The massive festival is one of the biggest dates on the global music industry calendar, an annual pilgrimage for "all who share a passion for creativity and new music discovery: industry professionals and influencers from the worlds of music, tech, and film; international media; and music fans."

Showcases, official and unofficial, at the festival are an invaluable opportunity for developing and early-career acts to perform for bookers, curators and A&Rs from around the world. 

There’s been an increasing Australian presence over the past decade, with most of the biggest events driven by Sounds Australia, such as the Aussie BBQ, as well as US tourism and cultural exchange body G’Day USA — and both will likely have a significantly beefed-up presence in 2018.

The first Aussie acts announced, alphabetically:

Bad Pony, Sydney

Brightness, Newcastle

Castlecomer, Sydney 

Cursed Earth, Perth

Stella Donnelly, Fremantle

Fatai, Melbourne

Ruby Fields, Sydney 

Gang of Youths, Sydney

Hatchie, Brisbane

Jade Imagine, Melbourne 

Benji Lewis, Melbourne 

Dean Lewis, Sydney 

Lolo Lovina, Sydney

Sloan Peterson, Sydney

Jess Ribeiro, Melbourne 

RVG, Melbourne

Stonefield, Melbourne/ Victoria 

Totally Mild, Melbourne

Voyager, Perth 

There were also three NZ acts in the newly announced list:

Fis and Rob Thorne (Palmerston North)

October (Auckland)

Marlon Williams (Christchurch)

They join a huge list of acts including MC Lars (USA), DYGL (Japan), Higher Bros (China), Jay Park (South Korea), The Wedding Present (UK), David Ramirez (US), Hater (Sweden), Shamir (USA), Rich Chigga (Indonesia), Lucy Rose (UK), Miguel Brightside (Spain) and El Otro Borges (Argentina).