Provocative, irreverent, controversial, entertaining and artistic. Amanda Palmer continues to push the boundaries as the Queen of Punk Cabaret.

“Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under” is her latest offering as a solo artist. A collection of live and studio tracks with an Antipodean theme, the album berates a lover for his love of vegemite and celebrates a lady’s nether regions with the new single ‘Map of Tasmania’. All material for this album was lovingly penned for and recorded in Australia and New Zealand. It includes some special tributes in the form of covers of Nick Cave and New Zealand’s Peter Jefferies.

Having just struggled to be release from her major label contract, Amanda has been trailblazing in internet and creative distribution with an effective new model for distribution of music. “Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under” will be available exclusively for her Down Under fans as a physical release through Liberator. However, true to Amanda’s unique music model where fans are able to choose their contribution for download, packages and once in a lifetime experiences they can go to her website for more details. It’s been a successful model for her latest record which saw Amanda perform the hits of Radiohead on the ukulele.

“This whole record is a love letter to Australia and New Zealand, “ Amanda says flirting wildly with her southern neighbours. Amanda has made no secret of the fact that she’d love to relocate to her “second home” in Melbourne during the New York winter and keep her summer home in the Big Apple the rest of the time.

“I have a special relationship with the Australian people. It was the first continent where Dresden Dolls landed and it was Beatlemania. I have a huge resonance with the place and the people. Plus I hate being cold,” she says.

Anyone who’s ever seen or heard Palmer – whether raising eyebrows as the gender-bending “emcee” in the prestigious American Repertoire Theatre’s production of the musical ‘Cabaret’, delivering dramatically direct, wildly theatrical performances as one half of the cabaret-punk duo The Dresden Dolls, or, most recently, as a solo artist whose uncompromising vision has frequently made her a flashpoint for both admiration and controversy – will attest to the fact that being a musician and rock star is not merely a job, and never has been.

Instead, Palmer is her art. And, in turn, her art is an extension of who she is, and is always becoming: a voracious seeker of creative catharsis and emotional release, a bold participant in games of truth or dare (she always opts for both) on a life-sized stage, and, above all, an utterly un-categorize-able work-in-progress. She’s a fearless singer and songwriter, of course, and an audaciously expressive pianist who simultaneously embraces – and explodes – traditional frameworks of composition.

She’s collaborated with indie pop pianist Ben Folds (who produced her most recent solo work Who Killed Amanda Palmer) and teamed with acclaimed author Neil Gaiman for a storybook of photography that beautifully expands the conceptual and narrative ideas outlined in her ambitious solo album.

“Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under” coincides with the Opera House ‘Australia Day Spectacular’ with Amanda inviting special guests husband Neil Gaiman, cabaret darling Meow Meow and Mikelangelo & The Black Sea Gentleman to join her on this January 26th celebration.

Amanda Palmer will also be touring January & February taking in the MONO FOMA festival in Tasmania as a special guest of curator Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes. She will also be reprising her much lauded performance at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne. Adelaide also won’t miss out with Amanda Palmer bring her spectacular to the Adelaide Fringe in early March.
Amanda Palmer brings her special brand of humour to Australia with headline performances across the country.

“Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under” is released on January 21st through Liberator. It is available for pre-order from AUSTRALIA: http://itunes.apple.com/au/preorder/amanda-palmer-goes-down-under/id4092...
NEW ZEALAND: http://itunes.apple.com/nz/preorder/amanda-palmer-goes-down-under/id4092...
The Frontier Touring Company Presents:
Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under Tour
With special guests to be announced
On sale December 20th
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST: JAMES O FAIRFAX THEATRE, CANBERRA
Tickets available from Ticketek 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH: FLY BY NIGHT, PERTH
Tickets available from Fly By Night (08) 9430 5976 www.flybynight.org

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH: GREAT NORTHERN, BYRON BAY
Tickets available from Oztix 1300 762 545 or www.thenorthern.oztix.com.au

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH: THE OLD MUSEUM, BRISBANE
Tickets available from Oztix 1300 762 545 or www.oldmuseum.oztix.com.au

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH: THE FORUM THEATRE, MELBOURNE
Tickets available from Ticketmaster 136 100 or www.ticketmaster.com.au