The Bedroom Philosopher

The Bedroom Philosopher

Justin Heazlewood - Burnie Police & Citizens Boys & Girls Club, 2015
Background information
Birth name Justin Heazlewood
Born (1980-06-12) 12 June 1980
Burnie, Tasmania, Australia
Genres Musical comedy, folk, acoustic, psychedelic, pop
Occupation(s) Author, Singer-songwriter, comedian, journalist, Radio DJ,
Instruments Guitar, accordion
Years active 2002–present
Labels Shock, NanAndPop
Associated acts The Bedroom Philosopher and his Awkwardstra
Website

The Bedroom Philosopher aka Justin Heazlewood is an Australian songwriter, author, actor and humourist. Most known for his writing and musical comedy works, The Bedroom Philosopher has released several albums, performed at many arts festivals, been nominated for an ARIA Award, published several books about the entertainment industry and is a regular guest on several Australian radio shows.

Recording career

2002-2005 Living on the Edge of My Bed

The Bedroom Philosopher began in 2002, Heazlewood submitted a three-minute radio piece for the ABC Heywire competition about his passion for folk music, which led to him becoming a regular guest on Triple J's The Morning Show.[1][2] He also filmed two pilot episodes of The Bedroom Philosopher Show for ABC Fly TV, a now defunct digital youth television station.[3] He also secured his first major musical gig, playing support for Bodyjar and The Bumblebeez at Triple J's Unearthed concert later that year.

The Bedroom Philosopher has performed in past years at the Big Day Out,[4] Falls Festival,[5] Melbourne Fringe Festival,[6] Adelaide Fringe Festival,[7] National Folk Festival, Perth International Arts Festival[8] and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. His first three Melbourne Comedy Festival Shows included Living on the Edge of My Bed (2003),[9] In Bed with My Doona (2004), and Pyjamarama (2005). In 2006 he teamed up with Josh Earl to form The Renegades of Folk, performing a Melbourne Comedy Festival show of the same name.[10]

The Bedroom Philosopher's first album, Living on the Edge of My Bed featured tracks which had earlier been played on The Morning Show, and was released in 2003. This un-mastered collection was only sold at live shows.

2005-2008 "I'm So Post Modern"

In 2005 the Bedroom Philosopher released his first retail and studio album, In Bed with My Doona,[11] produced by his uncle Ken Heazlewood. This release was taken to strongly by Triple J's audience, with the first single "I'm So Post Modern" becoming a high-rotation hit, reaching number 72 in the Hottest 100.[12] The Bedroom Philosopher was the only unsigned artist to make the list in 2005.[13] His self-produced film clip of "I'm So Post Modern" (by Dan Ilic) also featured on the Hottest 100 DVD.[14]

2007 saw the introduction of 'The Awkwardstra', composed of Andy Hazel on bass and Hugh Rabinovici on drums. Late 2008 saw the addition of Jamie Power on percussion and Gordon Blake on sitar.[15] This coincided with the release of second single "Wow Wow's Song (La La La)" which quickly became a YouTube hit,[16] and featured popular comedy trio Tripod featuring as backing vocalists. This was released as a precursor to his second album Brown and Orange.

2008-2009 Brown and Orange

After performing at Perth International Arts Festival The Bedroom Philosopher completed his second album Brown and Orange with producers Chris Scallan and Martin "Moose" Lubran, released in February 2009.[15] The first single from this was "The Happiest Boy", released in October 2007.[17] The video clip of "The Happiest Boy" was made by David Blumenstein at Nakedfella Productions.[18]

The album was promoted with a national tour.

2009-2010 Songs from the 86 Tram

April 2009 saw The Bedroom Philosopher debuting his show Songs from the 86 Tram in the Melbourne Comedy Festival.[19] He won the Director's Choice award for outstanding show and reprised it in the 2009 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Songs from this show comprise his third album Songs from the 86 Tram, recorded in August and September 2009. The show was nominated for three 2009 Green Room Awards winning for best cabaret production.[20] The show was revised for a sold-out run at the 2010 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Heazlewood appeared as "Re-enactment John" in the ABCTV series John Safran's Race Relations in late 2009.[21]

Songs from the 86 Tram album was presaged by the single Northcote (So Hungover), released to radio in February 2010. The single peaked at number 12 in the Australian Independent Singles charts and received high rotation on Triple J. The album was released 16 April 2010.

An accompanying Australian national tour to promote the album ran from 12 August until 5 September 2010.

On 28 September 2010 the album was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release.[22]

Northcote (So Hungover) Film Clip

The music video for song Northcote (So Hungover) was created by director Craig Melville and produced by David Curry. The video satirises hipster culture which is currently popular in inner-city Melbourne, with humorous stereotypes and pretension thought to be present in neo-hipsterism. The Bedroom Philosopher has since recorded a version of the song composed entirely of comments made on the film clip's YouTube page.

On 23 September 2010 the clip won the Australian Director Guild award in the music video category.[23] On 20 November 2010 it won a silver Australian Cinematographers Society music video award,[24] Best Independent Production Award at the St Kilda Film Festival[25] and Best Music Video Award at the 15 Minutes of Fame Festival in Florida.[26] The filmclip was also voted in Rage's Top 50 film clips of 2010,[27] and the song in the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2011.[28]

2011-2012 Wit Bix

2011 saw the release of the songs 'Leaving My Hairdresser' and 'Tram Inspector', the film clip for the latter charting at 19 in Rage's Top 100 Filmclips of 2011. The Bedroom Philosopher embarked on several solo tours, including opening for The Dresden Dolls on their national tour and performed his show Wit Bix at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. The A Very Beddy Christmas EP was released in November, with a modern adaptation of the Christmas carol Twelve Days of Christmas released as a radio single.

2014-2015 Funemployed

Heazlewood spent 2013 and much of 2014 working on his non-fiction book Funemployed, about the challenges faced by people in the Australian creative industries. The book was adapted into a radio series broadcast on ABC Radio National and accompanied by an album of the same name. It features spoken word pieces from interview subjects Brian Ritchie, Tim Rogers and Sam Simmons [29]

Discography

Singles

Albums

EP

Writing

Under his real name, Justin Heazlewood frequently writes for a number of Australian publications.

From 2002 until 2012, Heazlewood wrote a fortnightly column for Canberra streetpress BMA called "Struth Be Told".[30] More recently, Heazlewood has written regular contributions for national Australian magazines Frankie Magazine, JMag and The Big Issue. His works have also appeared in Australian publications Sleepers Magazine,[31] Rattapallax,[32] Going Down Swinging,[33] The Sex Mook,[34]Mess + Noise and The Death Mook.

From 1999 to 2005, Heazlewood was a regular contributor and editorial committee member for Voiceworks.[35]

From 2005 to 2006, Heazlewood was a full-time writer for the Network Ten sketch comedy program The Ronnie Johns Half Hour.[36]

As The Bedroom Philosopher, Heazlewood published a monthly ezine LapTopping from 2005-2012.[37]

In 2009 Heazlewood created the sketch radio show 'Lime Champions' on Melbourne community radio Triple R. He co-hosted it with Melbourne comedians Damien Lawlor, Josh Earl and Eva Johansen. He left the show in 2010.

In 2012 Heazlewood published his first book 'The Bedroom Philosopher Diaries.' The E-book was published by Affirm, earning praise from Tony Martin, Benjamin Law, Dave Graney and Neil Gaiman.

Heazlewood's book 'Funemployed' about being an artist in Australia was published in May 2014.

World records

Chart statistics

References

  1. ↑ Benny Walter interviews Justin Heazlewood, Cordite Press Inc., archived from the original on 30 March 2005
  2. ↑ The Bedroom Philosopher - The Groggy Squirrel
  3. 1 2 Waterfront Records
  4. ↑ ~Rip It Up - Adelaide's leading street press magazine
  5. ↑ Falls Festival - Funny Buggers on FasterLouder.com.au
  6. ↑ The Bedroom Philosopher – On the Edge of my Bed - The Groggy Squirrel
  7. ↑ Laughingstock Productions : Heath Franklin's Chopper in Make Deadsh*ts History
  8. ↑ Lawrence Leung - Beck's Music Box - Perth International Arts Festival 2008 - Perth, Western Australia
  9. ↑ The Age 2006 Melbourne Fringe Festival - Show - The Bedroom Philosopher in 'Living on the edge...of my bed'
  10. ↑ "Melbourne Fringe 2005".
  11. ↑ IN BED WITH MY DOONA (BEDROOM PHILOSOPHER): music4me: play4me.com.au - The World's Entertainment Superstore
  12. ↑ Monitor Online -Bedroom Philosopher shares wisdom at commencement
  13. ↑ Triple J Hottest 100 of 2005
  14. ↑ ABC Shop - triple j - Hottest 100: Vol 13
  15. 1 2 http://www.bedroomphilsopher.com
  16. ↑ "YouTube - The Bedroom Philosopher - Wow Wow's Song (La La La)". Au.youtube.com. 2 November 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  17. ↑ MySpace.com - The Bedroom Philosopher - Self-conscious Melbourne, AU - Indie / Folk / Comedy - www.myspace.com/thebedroomphilosopher
  18. ↑ "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  19. ↑ "The Bedroom Philosopher – Songs From the 86 Tram | Melbourne International Comedy Festival - 1–26 April 2009". Comedyfestival.com.au. 26 April 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  20. ↑ "2009 Nominations and Recipients". Greenroom.org.au. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  21. ↑ "ABC TV: John Safran's Race Relations - About the Show". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  22. ↑ http://www.ariaawards.com.au/about-fine-arts-awards.php
  23. ↑ "Australian Directors Guild unveils 2010 award winners".
  24. ↑ "Australian Cinematographers Society 2010 award winners".
  25. ↑ "SOUNDKilda...And the Winners Are...".
  26. ↑ "15 MInutes of Fame Film Festival Winners".
  27. ↑ "Rage Top Fifty".
  28. ↑ "Triple J Hottest 100 2010".
  29. ↑ Frangos, Daniela (May 29, 2014). "Heazlewood releases new book and accompanying EP". Rip It Up. Retrieved 2015-07-18.
  30. ↑ "BMA Mag 314 13th Nov 2008". Issuu.com. 13 November 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  31. ↑ "Sleepers Publishing". Sleepers Publishing. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  32. ↑ "Rattapallax". Rattapallax. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  33. ↑ "G o i n g D o w n S w i n g i n g". G o i n g D o w n S w i n g i n g. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  34. ↑ Ivy (24 October 2007). "North of the latte line: Sex Mook launches in Melbourne and Canberra". Northline.blogspot.com. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  35. ↑ "Virgule". Expressmedia.org.au. 15 April 2010. Archived from the original on 19 March 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  36. ↑ KL (30 September 2005). "This Man is a Genius | The Kilbot Factory". Kilbot.net. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  37. ↑ "LapTopping – 51 – "Cruskits! Cruskits! Cruskits!" ... The Bedroom Philosopher". Bedroomphilosopher.com. 12 May 2006. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  38. ↑ Triple J Hottest 100 - Forum - Elefant Traks
  39. ↑ The Bedroom Philosopher … who am i?
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