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This year marks the monumental Golden Jubilee (50th anniversary) of Mushroom Records, the fledgling label begun by a bushy-haired, 20-year-old livewire named Michael Gudinski, from an idea sparked in his restless brain while selling watermelons at the Sunbury Rock Festival. It has since erupted into a force of good for Australian artists THE SHROOM BLOOM

and our music scene, and is now the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia. When he passed away in 2021 aged 68, Gudinski had captained Mushroom Group into an astonishing array of creative ventures, also guided by savvy projects from his son Matt (who has worked in the family business since age 17, became Mushroom Group’s executive director in 2013, and stepped into the chief executive role after his father’s passing). The pair’s passionate stewardship of the company has resulted in a legacy that will stand the test of time, and reach its mycelium far into the future.

THE LABEL STABLE

THE BLOKE IN BRONZE

Amongst its many endeavours (touring, movies, marketing, publishing, and more), Mushroom’s core four labels take care of an extraordinary array of musical talent – you may not have even realised your fave act lives under the Mushroom cap.

With finger held aloft to the clouds in Gudinski’s famed ’#1’ gesture, the life-sized statue of Mushroom’s founder – erected the lawn outside Rod Laver Arena within Melbourne’s entertainment precinct. You might wonder in March last year – graces

Jimmy Barnes

Launched in 2017, Bloodlines became the home of Mushroom’s legacy acts: Jimmy Barnes, Vika & Linda Bull, The Church, Russell Morris, Tina Arena, Roland S. Howard, Yothu Yindi, Baby Animals, Archie Roach, Hunters & Collectors, Ian Moss, and more.

Vika & Linda Bull

Founded in 1999, Gudinski’s aim with Liberation was to nourish emerging talent while remaining totally independent. Today it fosters the careers of Julia Jacklin, Didirri, Vance Joy, Gordi, and more.

Sue, Matt and Kate Gudinski with Michael’s statue (March 2022)

Didirri

Julia Jacklin

how sculptor Darien Pullen managed to create such an accurate depiction of the man

Then-teen Melbournite Johann Ponniah founded I OH YOU in 2009, soon partnering with

from 2D referents. The truth is, he didn’t – Pullen took his measurements directly from his source, before Michael had passed. ”He’d breeze in at 100 miles an hour, and then – ’Gotta go!’” Pullen tells us. ”It was about

Mushroom to establish one of the most revered labels – and now promotion and management companies – on the block. They’re home to DMA’S, Confidence Man, Jack River, Andy Golledge, Violent Soho, and more.

DMA's

Confidence Man

making the most of the time you got.” The answer to how the statue was

commissioned before Gudinski’s death lies in a formidable friendship, and reveals that there’s actually two statues in existence...

Set up in ’97 in Sydney by three mates, Gudinski bought into Ivy League in 2006, and now the label operates as a hearth for classic and timeless Aussie songwriting, with

Read the full interview with Darien Pullen online at jbhifi.com.au/stack!

a roster including The Teskey Brothers, RVG, Hatchie, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, The Rubens, and more.

RVG

Hatchie

12 AUGUST 2023

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