Wouter “Wally” De Backer known professionally as Gotye is a Belgian-born Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. Wally’s musical projects are varied and eclectic and his talent is formidable. Wally has topped charts and won awards worldwide, including multiple ARIAs and Grammys. In 2011 Wally co-facilitated the Aardvark Sessions with Monique Brumby and has since been involved with Aardvark as a sponsor and an official ambassador. Wally’s talent and generous and relatable character have bought so much to the Aardvark Sessions program and the organisation as a whole. We can not thank Wally enough for his continued involvement and support.
“Aardvark is a fantastic program and it has resulted in a really brilliant CD that I’ve been privileged to be part of, making music with an amazing bunch of young folks. I’ve seen them do incredible things as they’ve become friends and come out of their shells and written amazing lyrics, melodies and chords and put together songs I think are fantastic and I’ve really enjoyed being part of it.” Wally De Backer (Gotye)
Stonefield
Stonefield is an Australian rock band made up of four sisters: Amy, Hannah, Sarah, and Holly Findlay. Stonefield is from Darraweit Guim, a small town in rural Victoria. The band won the 2010 Triple J Unearthed High contest in 2010 and was subsequently placed on high rotation. Since then they have gone from strength to strength performing far and wide from the famous Glasonbery festival in the UK to the MCG in Melbourne. Stonefield’s third album ‘Far From Earth’ will be released in April 2018. Stonefield have been working with Aardvark since 2014. They began by visiting the young people at the Aardvark Sessions, helping the Aardvarkians shape their songs. Later on, Hannah and Sarah joined the Aardvark Board until their touring and band commitments saw them on the road a lot more. We are delighted now to have Stonefield as our Ambassadors and look forward to working with them into the future.
Monnique Brumby
Monique Brumby is a much celebrated, Aria award winning singer-songwriter and producer. Monique began as volunteer facilitator with Aardvark in 2011 with Wally De Backer. She gave an incredible amount of her time and talent to the program and had an extremely positive impact on the young people she worked with. Monique then moved to Creative Director, lead Songwriter and Facilitator between 2013 and 2015, again taking the organisation from strength to strength. Monique is now a wonderful Ambassador to Aardvark and her passion and commitment contributes greatly to our community.