Michael W Smith was one of the biggest artists to ever grace the stage at Easterfest, having been one of the defining artists of the contemporary christian music movement in the 1980’s.

Along with his good friend Amy Grant, Michael had a significant impact on the genre, not just as a performer, but also as a songwriter and producer.

But because of his commitment to his church at Easter, it took festival organisers 7 years to get Michael to sign on for the 2012 Easterfest.

We've dived into the 96five archives, with Liam Renton (96five breakfast/Australia's Hot 25 Countdown) in conversation with Michael W Smith in 2013. It was recorded at the Christian Music Broadcaster's Momentum Conference in Florida.

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the Australian Gospel Music festival, the event that would give rise to Easterfest got going in 1999, the independent Christian music scenes across Australia were pretty healthy.

There was a lot going on in that space with plenty of Aussie muso’s diving in and giving it a go.

In Brisbane, the scene was thriving, with the local indie label Toupee Records bringing together the cream of the crop like Rhubarb, Battered Fish, Dumpster, Tonjip, Beanbag and Elementary Penguin.

Many of the bands on the Toupee roster would help enable the growth of AGMF in those early years, so I thought who better to sit down and chat with about that era, than the founder of Toupee Records... Jeremy Bennett.

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of my favourite Easterfest stories is around two expat Aussie brothers, who wrote a bunch of killer songs, crafted a sound that can really only be described as epic, and found themselves at the very top of the Christian Music industry in the US.

But when you look at the For King and Country story, the origins of it begin at Easterfest in 2009, when Joel and Luke Smallbone, originally billed as Austoville, and then Joel and Luke, play one of their first ever shows.

In this bonus bit we'll hear from Joel Smallbone about what that support from the Easterfest crew meant to him and his brother Luke.

We'll also step back to 2013, with Liam Renton (former 96five breakfast and Australia's Hot 25 Countdown host) and interview with Joel that took place at the Momentum conference in the USA.

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was stoked that Claire Hazzard agreed to be part of this project, because she was one of the artists who was leading the charge in the independent Christian music scene in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Claire is a Queensland artist who cut her teeth on the Brisbane music scene, before signing to indie label CW Media, releasing her debut album The Goodness and Severity and subsequently relocating to Melbourne.

Through those early years Claire picked up a stack of national airplay, and toured across Australia with acts like the Paul Colman Trio.

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve listened to the full series of the Rise and Fall of Easterfest, you know that the events that unfolded on Easter Saturday night in 2011 would end up being one of those key moments in the Easterfest story.

Steve Monro and Matt Gees were radio presenters with Vision Christian Media, who were on the ground on Easter Sunday in 2011, painting a picture to their listeners of what had transpired the night before.

They were able to capture CEO Isaac Moody’s press conference as he addressed the media that morning, as well as speaking to Jason Solaris who was heading up the Youth With a Mission team, as well as some of the campers who’d gone through a pretty trying night.

Thanks so much to Steve and Matt as well as Andrew Robbo Robinson from Vision Christian Media for providing the audio, and I hope you enjoy this bonus bit from the Easterfest of 2011.

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When I was making a list of guests for this podcast series, Paul Colman was right at the very top, because he and his band the Paul Colman Trio, were the biggest act in Australian Christian music as the Australian Gospel Music Festival got going in the early 2000s.

The Paul Colman Trio released a number of independent albums before relocating to the US in 2002. They subsequently received a Dove Award and a Grammy nomination for their US debut 'New Map of the World'.

The trio disbanded in early 2004, before reforming at Easterfest's request in 2009, also recording and releasing the album 'Return' that year.

In this interview Paul chats about some of his Easterfest and AGMF memories, the Christian music scene of the late 90s and early 2000s, his stint as Newsboys guitarist, watching the band For King and Country develop, and the Paul Colman Trio reunion at Easterfest in 2009.

Links:

• Paul Colman Trio website
• Paul Colman website
• Paul Colman Trio Bandcamp

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rise & Fall of Easterfest is a celebration of the Easterfest and Australian Gospel Music Festivals, that ran for almost two decades in Toowoomba.

The Easter of 2011 saw the biggest crowd in attendance that Easterfest had ever seen, but something on that weekend would lead to the downfall of Australia’s biggest Christian music festival.

In this episode, we’ll be looking at how Easterfest became another casualty of the music festival business.

We’ll also ask the question – could another festival, or something similar, rise up for a new generation?

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rise & Fall of Easterfest is a celebration of the Easterfest and Australian Gospel Music Festivals, that ran for almost two decades in Toowoomba.

At the heart of the AGMF and Easterfest festivals was community – over and above the music, festival goers were really attending to be with other like minded people.

In this episode we’ll be looking at the Easterfest experience and some of the ways that the event became more than just a music festival.

You can keep those nostalgic vibes going with our special Easterfest and AGMF playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget to leave us a review with your favourite memory of the Easterfest and AGMF days, and don’t be afraid to go hard with the five star ratings! Your ratings and reviews will help other people find the podcast.

This podcast is brought to you from the studios of 96five. It was written and presented by Justin Rouillon.

You can find more podcasts like this by searching for 96five in your podcast app, by downloading the 96five app from your app store, or going to the 96five podcast page on our website.

Support the show: https://www.96five.com/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.