Musica Copa know that soccer is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that. Their motto is "Music. Sport. Charity" and they will be bringing the best of each to their five-a-side tournament this Friday at Marrickville's KIKOFF centre at Fraser Park. The event is held in partnership with Electronic Music Conference, and brings 16 teams from the deep pool of Australia's dance music talent. To give you an idea, representing their chosen charities are: Elefant Traks x Umbrella, FBi Radio, Future Classic, inthemix, Ministry Of Sound x Mustard Music, Mushroom Group, OneLove, Pulse Radio, Audiopaxx, Falcona, Maker (joining Sweat It Out), MTV, Red Bull Music Academy, Sony, UNDR ctrl and Universal. Sweat It Out took the title last year, and are back with formidable force on the field. We'll be following the action closely, and to give us a full tournament review, here's one of the organisers Paul Stix from UNDR ctrl.Who are the top 5 players we should look out for on the pitch?
Paul Stix: There were some great players at last year's inaugural Musica Copa. Sweat It Out captain, the tough-playing-Scotsman Jaime Redburn should take a bow for leading his team to glory and winning the first ever championship trophy. They also had the tournament's Golden Boot winner and leading scorer Sam Dutch - so he's defo one to watch. Elsewhere Chad Gillard from Future Classic was a classy player, though sadly we are missing him this year due to touring commitments overseas. Motorik fielded a great team with FBi Radio's Bad Ezzy smashing a few goals and leading it for the ladies, whilst Julian Sudek was another notable player and a much sought after player this summer with offers coming in from Red Bull Music Academy, UNDR ctrl and Future Classic for his services. Can he do the bizzo this year? Only time will tell. The other big transfer saga this summer was Sony's recruitment of artist Joyride to their team, after it looked certain he would sign for Elefant Traks. Let's hope the two teams get grouped together in the draw!Any dark horse players to keep an eye on?
There's a number of new teams competing this year - Audiopaxx, Falcona, MTV, ONELOVE, Red Bull Music Academy, Sony, UNDR ctrl and Universal… so it's hard to say. Rumour has it that MTV have been playing 5-a-side together for some time, so perhaps that chemistry will help them progress at Musica Copa. I have a sneaky feeling that Audiopaxx are gonna do very well with such a young and fit team (like 17 year old Just A Gent), likely to run rings around some of the older teams/players… and also ONELOVE playing this year instead of Stereosonic who are a bit busy running their massive national festival have a point to prove after finishing runners up last year. I also fully expect Falcona and head honcho's Garth and Muz to be two of the dirtiest players this year, taking over the mantle from Dan Single who literally killed it, last year!Obviously team work is important – which groups are likely to work best together?
This is going to be a deciding factor. Playing the right players at the right times. Knowing when to rest a player, or play the right combinations. We know that a lot of teams have been training for the big day so perhaps those teams will have the upper hand? A lot will also depend on how pissed everyone gets the night before at the EMC Showcases and Stereosonic sideshows. For example, Jamie Jones never made it to play at Musica Copa last year cos he was still partying at Spice!You have to be a special kind of brave to stand in goals. Who's looking sharpest?
There's a few goalie's to watch. Julian Hewitt for Future Classic is pretty tasty between the sheets, I mean sticks, Pulse Radio have a big unit called Stevie D, and Sweat It Out play my partner in crime Martin Novosel (from Purple Sneakers / Boundary Sounds) in goal - though I'd LOVE to smash a hat trick past him given the chance!!!Of course it's not who wins or loses but how you play the game, right? But having said that, who's going to win?
There's 16 teams this year, so I can safely say that whoever makes it to the grand final will have deserved it. That being said, I should choose a team that will face my boys UNDR ctrl in the final, cos let's be honest… that's how it's gonna go down. Mmmm. UNDR ctrl Vs ONELOVE?Any final comments? How is the day going to play out with everyone's strengths and weaknesses?
Everyone's collective weakness is that we all work in the music industry, and so our overall fitness could be much better than it is. It's just club, club, party, party right? Everyone's collective strengths however is that we all work in the music industry and so we have amazing tolerance to alcohol and such things and can bring our A-game to anything when requested. In short, we're all set for an amazing day with our work peers, playing football in the sun, drinking beers and raising a lot of money ($12,000 to be exact) for charity. Does it get any better than that?To answer that, we can also add a mix from Bag Raiders, produced in celebration of the cup. Bag Raiders are also on tour, with dates in the poster below.
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Paul Stix: There were some great players at last year's inaugural Musica Copa. Sweat It Out captain, the tough-playing-Scotsman Jaime Redburn should take a bow for leading his team to glory and winning the first ever championship trophy. They also had the tournament's Golden Boot winner and leading scorer Sam Dutch - so he's defo one to watch. Elsewhere Chad Gillard from Future Classic was a classy player, though sadly we are missing him this year due to touring commitments overseas. Motorik fielded a great team with FBi Radio's Bad Ezzy smashing a few goals and leading it for the ladies, whilst Julian Sudek was another notable player and a much sought after player this summer with offers coming in from Red Bull Music Academy, UNDR ctrl and Future Classic for his services. Can he do the bizzo this year? Only time will tell. The other big transfer saga this summer was Sony's recruitment of artist Joyride to their team, after it looked certain he would sign for Elefant Traks. Let's hope the two teams get grouped together in the draw!Any dark horse players to keep an eye on?
There's a number of new teams competing this year - Audiopaxx, Falcona, MTV, ONELOVE, Red Bull Music Academy, Sony, UNDR ctrl and Universal… so it's hard to say. Rumour has it that MTV have been playing 5-a-side together for some time, so perhaps that chemistry will help them progress at Musica Copa. I have a sneaky feeling that Audiopaxx are gonna do very well with such a young and fit team (like 17 year old Just A Gent), likely to run rings around some of the older teams/players… and also ONELOVE playing this year instead of Stereosonic who are a bit busy running their massive national festival have a point to prove after finishing runners up last year. I also fully expect Falcona and head honcho's Garth and Muz to be two of the dirtiest players this year, taking over the mantle from Dan Single who literally killed it, last year!
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This is going to be a deciding factor. Playing the right players at the right times. Knowing when to rest a player, or play the right combinations. We know that a lot of teams have been training for the big day so perhaps those teams will have the upper hand? A lot will also depend on how pissed everyone gets the night before at the EMC Showcases and Stereosonic sideshows. For example, Jamie Jones never made it to play at Musica Copa last year cos he was still partying at Spice!You have to be a special kind of brave to stand in goals. Who's looking sharpest?
There's a few goalie's to watch. Julian Hewitt for Future Classic is pretty tasty between the sheets, I mean sticks, Pulse Radio have a big unit called Stevie D, and Sweat It Out play my partner in crime Martin Novosel (from Purple Sneakers / Boundary Sounds) in goal - though I'd LOVE to smash a hat trick past him given the chance!!!Of course it's not who wins or loses but how you play the game, right? But having said that, who's going to win?
There's 16 teams this year, so I can safely say that whoever makes it to the grand final will have deserved it. That being said, I should choose a team that will face my boys UNDR ctrl in the final, cos let's be honest… that's how it's gonna go down. Mmmm. UNDR ctrl Vs ONELOVE?Any final comments? How is the day going to play out with everyone's strengths and weaknesses?
Everyone's collective weakness is that we all work in the music industry, and so our overall fitness could be much better than it is. It's just club, club, party, party right? Everyone's collective strengths however is that we all work in the music industry and so we have amazing tolerance to alcohol and such things and can bring our A-game to anything when requested. In short, we're all set for an amazing day with our work peers, playing football in the sun, drinking beers and raising a lot of money ($12,000 to be exact) for charity. Does it get any better than that?To answer that, we can also add a mix from Bag Raiders, produced in celebration of the cup. Bag Raiders are also on tour, with dates in the poster below.