Roller Coaster – The Residency

Ella Fence Is a Singer songwriter, virtuoso musician, sonic adventurer.

Ella’s music is heralded by many, including being nominated for Australian Women In Music’s “Best Development Artist” 2019, accumulating 8 Gold Coast Music Award nominations (having won 2) and named as a finalist for the 2019 Carol Lloyd Award. The cherry on top is Ella has amassed over 4 million streams of her music on Spotify.

This year will see Ella releasing a new body of work that embraces a renewed interest in guitar based in rock n roll, mashed with avant-garde.

Her sound is literate and sensory, unapologetically demanding, her vocals passionately soaring, her guitar playing a piercing shark alarm assault on the mind, body and soul. Ella’s bad arse rock aesthetic is a mean ‘1000 yard’ stare, with guitar swung low.  Her music disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.

Ella is  a key collaborator, catch her performing at the Sunday Session!

An acclaimed cabaret and concert artist, theatre actress, comedienne and former ABC radio presenter, Nadia Sunde is an outstanding performer. She effortlessly creates moments with audiences that hold the space for joyful, heartfelt and inspiring connections.

Nadia is the recipient of multiple national and international songwriting and performance awards including a Queensland Music Award, APRA Art Music Award, International Songwriting Award and a Gold Coast Creative Industries Award.

Her current performance projects include a large scale roller skating theatre spectacle, in partnership with Australian Performance company Everybody NOW!, an immersive theatre work for 3-8 year olds and their communities called The Collector’s and her brand new concert cabaret ‘Blue Bayou’, launching in late 2022.

Nadia is a key collaborator, catch her performing at the Sunday Session!

Deb Suckling is a music industry stalwart whose sound has been described as a union of alt-rock and noise pop. She has been a singer songwriter for 15years, released records, most notably with the bands Brindle and Lucy Star Satellite, and more recently has been applauded for her large scale community song writing projects including The Soldier’s Wife where she captured the heartfelt experiences of what it means to be a soldier’s wife and You Can’t Take Me, a music project where Queensland songwriters who have experienced sexual violence embarked on a journey to put their personal stories into song.

She recently continued that journey with the release of a solo debut album aptly titled ‘Worthy’, embracing her past to create this moving collection of songs.

The album has been receiving rave reviews and the single ‘Awkward’ which features on ‘Worthy’ landed in 4ZZZ’s Top 20.

Deb describes the album, “It has been a very long journey in terms of acknowledging my past and being able to speak freely about those experiences without feeling the shame and fear that goes with those experiences, and this album for me is about having a kind of freedom that I have never felt before.”

Deb is  a key collaborator, catch her performing at the Sunday Session!

Singer/songwriter and talented multi-instrumentalist, Dee Bradbery, created her music persona Wild Eyed Wonder in 2016. Since then, she’s played on sizable stages, sharing a line-up with Steele Syndicate and Sneaky Sound System and expanding her local and global reach.

A true optimist, Wild Eyed Wonder makes music for the wide-eyed dreamers, speaking to the inner desire for seeking something greater on the horizon.

She has performed as a drummer/ percussionist with Everybody NOW for their touring work The Inagugural Annual Dance Affair and joins Roller Coaster as our in house percussionist and joy generator from the behind the kit.

Dee is  a key collaborator, catch her performing at the Sunday Session!

Dr Adele Pavlidis is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology with the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Griffith University.

She is author of two books, Sport, Gender and Power: The Rise of Roller Derby (2016, Routledge, with Simone Fullagar) and Feminism and a Vital Politics of Depression and Recovery (Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O’Brien) and is currently working on her third book, Collision Paths in the Pursuit of Gender Equity: A Feminist Perspective on the Affective Dynamics of Contact Sports (under contract, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O’Brien).

She has published widely on a range of sociocultural issues in sport and leisure, with a focus on gender and power relations.

Currently her work focuses on sport as a key site of change in Australian society and an important context for changing and challenging attitudes towards women. In particular she is interested in connecting social, cultural and health concepts with sport in the hope of creating more inclusive futures. Her ARC DECRA fellowship focused on the rise of participation and visibility of women in contact/collision sports in Australia.

Dr Adele is joining us as panelist.

Simone is an interdisciplinary sociologist who has published widely on gender equity in sport, mental health, active communities and social well-being.

With an interest in social and organisational change her work contributes to thinking differently about inequalities. Simone also has a professional background in community service management for diverse populations.

She is Chair of the Sport and Gender Equity research hub and is an active member and mentor in the Griffith University Gender Equality Network (GERN) and Centre for Social and Cultural Research.

Simone has received funding to conduct qualitative research into leisure, sport and health related areas, including women’s recovery from depression, the socio-cultural context of youth suicide in rural and urban communities and equine programs for at risk youth. In 2015, she was the first Australian to receive the Shaw-Mannell International Leisure Research Award for her contribution to feminist scholarship in leisure, sport and health from the University of Waterloo, CA.

Professor Simone is joining us as panelist.

Emma Iwinska is the CEO of Women’s Health and Equality Queensland, a not-for-profit organisation leading the way in gender equity and women’s health in Queensland. Emma’s work focusses on improving health outcomes and health equity for women, and creating the structural and social change needed to stop men perpetrating gendered violence. Emma works to create communities built upon equity, respect, the celebration of diversity. Emma loves working collaboratively and listening to the experts in women’s lives – women!

Emma is joining us as panelist.

Local Gold Coast DJ and party maker, Pia knows how to bring the good vibes and good times!

Pia will be on the decks for our Party, Friday 19 August.

Bec Reid is an Australian based performer, producer, director, choreographer and engagement specialist.

 Bec encourages people to see their world in new ways through highly physical, participatory, practical, collaborative and celebratory actions. For 20 years, Bec has passionately worked in the space where professional artists and communities of interest meet; collaborating with communities and artists nationally and internationally.

Together with Tristan Meecham, Bec leads All The Queens Men, and is a Founding Director of Everybody NOW! with Kate Baggerson and Ian Pidd.

In 2017-18, Bec was a Fellowship recipient from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Bec has continually served on arts boards and regularly mentors young and emerging artists formally and informally. Bec’s true loves are Staffordshire Bull Terriers Italo Disco, Ceilidhs and dancing.

Bec is joining us as panelist.

Luke McDonald is an extremely versatile and dedicated creative force. He has worked as a composer/engineer/producer on feature films, short films, theatre & dance productions, and advertising campaigns and corporate projects.

He is a writing member of Unearthed J Award winning Brisbane band The John Steel Singers, who have three critically acclaimed albums and have successfully toured nationally & internationally.

Luke has been working extensively with Australian music legend Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens), taking the roles of co-producer, engineer and performer on his ARIA nominated album “Songs To Play”.

He created Holiday Party with Mel Tickle. Since releasing their debut single “I’m Still Here” the band has received praise from music media both nationally and internationally. They won JJJ Unearthed & Were nominated for “Best Dance/Electronica Song” at the QMA’s 2019, have performed at alongside G-Flip, Cloud Control, Hatchie, Party Dozen and GL, and at BIGSOUND Festival, Mountain Goat Valley Crawl.

Luke is joining us as the Musical Director.