Hinton’s Crawford Brothers have made their mark on legendary names in the music industry by taking out the top spot in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition.
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The competition was co-founded by Yoko Ono in honour of her late husband to celebrate rising original songwriters in 12 categories. The small-town band, fronted by siblings Ben and Zac Crawford, took out the rock category grand prize for their track Feel in the award’s second session for 2016.
“I received an email in my inbox and just forwarded it to Zac thinking it was a promo or something,” frontman Ben said.
“We enter a lot of things so I didn’t really read it. But then Zac told me we’d won.
“I was sort of shaking when I found out,” Zac said. “I actually felt a bit sick. I just thought this is amazing.”
Judges of the songwriting contest have included Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Veronicas and prominent producers in the music industry. They were the only non-American act to win the second session.
Their victory puts them in the running for an overall prize, which pays $20,000 and relies partly on votes from the public.
Zac said Feel walks a line between rock and hip hop. Melodic and infectious with rapid-fire vocals and a guitar driven chorus.
The Hinton siblings first made headlines in 2005 when they performed on The Footy Show as hard rock band Powerage. In 2010 Powerage won YouthRock, a statewide competition that helped propel Silverchair to fame.
But the brothers reconfigured toward pop rock with catchy melodies and a dash of hip hop.
In 2014, they placed 4th in the Global Battle of the Bands in Thailand after winning Sydney.
Their debut, self titled EP landed them a US tour in 2015, starting at Houston’s Springboard Music Festival followed by more television performances.
Complex Entertainment and Rap A Lot Records took an interest in the group after a show in the US and offered them a management deal.
“We’ve been working on our next EP for two years, it feels like forever,” Ben said.
“But we’re hoping to have it done soon then we’ll look at getting back to the US, maybe a record deal and an album after that.”
The Crawford Brothers will open for Ella Hooper (Killing Heidi’s frontwoman) on March 24 at the Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle.
