Real Pain Supernova by No Anchor (Full-Length Audio Recording)

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: This work was produced as an esemble called No Anchor. In operation since 2008, the ensemble toured extensively and released two studio recordings prior to Real Pain Supernova (a double LP / digital download). As such the ensemble is long-established within various Australian and international music communities and is a popular ongoing concern by any metric of the Australian music industry (media coverage, download rates, sales, venue attendance, social media traffic). My creative work with No Anchor - specifically Real Pain Supernova - feeds into teaching, research and publication work within the discipline of popular music studies, wherein status as a practioner/ researcher is a valued commodity. With Real Pain Supernova, the idea was to record very cheaply, market on a small, effective budget using online sources and document the results. As a case study for teaching, the project was remarkably successful and has been used in class often. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The No Anchor project itself is innovative, as it encorporates the use of two bass guitars and drums (no electric six-string guitars). This is highly unusual in rock and metal. As the ensembles best album, one both recorded and produced internally (in a purpose-built home studio), Real Pain Supernova is a unique and well-regarded contribution to underground Australian music. The record's subsequent success provided a pathway for likeminded Australian artists and has, over the course of two years, become a benchmark for unsual and/or 'heavy' music more broadly. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The significance of the project can demonstrated via three means (1) An Australia Council for the Arts grant in 2011 for $10,856.10 to tour/promote the album, and (2) broadreaching media coverage including but not limited to Forbes Magazine, Mess&Noise, Metal Obssession and Cvlt Nation (3) A sold-out vinyl pressing of the album and over 10,000 digital downloads at the time of writing.