The Australian Music Prize Ltd and PPCA announce
The winner of The AMP 2005

The Australian Music Prize Ltd with partner, PPCA are proud to announce the recipient of the inaugural Australian Music Prize - The Amp 2005!

At the BigPond Music Winners event held at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Melbourne four piece The Drones were presented with the $25,000 cash prize (kindly provided by PPCA) in recognition of their music excellence. Their album 'Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies WIll Float By' took out the accolade after being judged by industry professionals and peers and is consequently considered to be the most outstanding album released in 2005.

On winning this lucrative and prestigious prize Gareth Liddiard (guitarist and vocalist) from The Drones said, "We played in Sydney last week and both of our guitars totally died. The guts fell out of mine and Rui's neck snapped off, We've done over 100 shows in the last four months and we have some nasty debts. We have another world tour starting in May. That's after we do two tours of Australia. We can't get jobs because we tour so much, Food is a luxury item right now. We burn through money so it's safe to say that the 25G's will not go to waste."

The Drones are currently touring Australia as special guests to Dinosaur Jr, for more information and touring news on The Drones please vising their web site at www.thedrones.com.au

The Australian Music Prize has been established to enable the winning artist or group of artists to gain increased and widespread exposure. As an independant band having coined their own way across the world, The Drones are already busy making waves in international markets. Now as the winners of The Amp 2005 the band are sure to continue on a successful road with the help of this prestigious prize.

The Australian Music Prize will return again this year - launching The Amp 2006.

8 March 2006