A couple of weeks ago two of us headed to Sunbury Radio 99.3FM on a dark and rainy night to play a few of our tunes live and talk with Dean Walker of ‘In the Jailhouse Tonight’. We were warmly greeted and given time to talk about music and other stuff at some length. No rushing us in and out.
Dean played a bunch of our recorded songs alongside our live tunes (Disco King duo version here if you're on FB).
On the drive home we slowly circled the streets surrounding the boarded up old Sunbury psychiatric hospital, lit up by street lamps through the rain.
After the show Dean sent us recordings and even played Brooklyn Wind again on this show the following week.
Yesterday, all 4 of us loaded up our instruments and headed into the venerable (soon to be 50 years old) radio station 3CR in Fitzroy. As the afternoon unfolded, we were hit by the same feeling of being LOOKED AFTER.
Do community radio volunteer hosts realise how crucial they are to independent musicians? They seek out, listen to, talk about and play local music. They talk about our gigs. They COME to our gigs. They tell other people about what we're all doing. It matters a lot in this time of extractive streaming. It gives musicians courage to keep writing, rehearsing, gigging, recording and all the other stuff. Actually this really is a love letter to community radio.
Burning Vinyl is the 3CR show we were invited to play on yesterday. The host, Matt, first heard us play at Memo Music Hall when we supported Ash Naylor a little while back.
Burning Vinyl focuses on local gigging unsigned acts (that's us!) but usually rock, not so much country (maybe we can call ourselves rock now?) - but as Matt told it, he wanted to hear some of the songs we played at Memo again and couldn't find recordings of them. So he asked us to come in and play them live for him!
When we arrived, the live sound technician Tilde made us feel very welcome while they set up our gear in one of the studios. The good thing about not being on stage was we could sit in a circle and all face each other. Best way to play and stay connected.
Matt the host was in the other studio across the corridor, out of sight, but we could hear him through the tannoy.
We launched into five tunes: One More Time (our favourite starter), Smashing Empties, Carolina, Moonshine and finished up with Disco King, which was Matt's special request. (Two of these songs can be found here - the others will be on the new album).
The interview that followed made space for some stories about the evolution of the band, the experiences shaping the songs, how Dave moved from rock to disco to country (among other genres!), how Dee taught herself mandolin by playing along to ads on TV.
If you want to hear it, here's the Burning Vinyl on-demand link.
After the show, Tilde sent us stems of the live recording so we can use and mix them to our heart's content. We in turn agreed that they could play the live recordings on 3CR in future.
All this to say: the volunteers at community radio stations and musicians are involved in an exchange of services but there's also a human connection and real CARE that goes both ways. A care for people and a care for the art they make together.
Sometimes there's even a bonus to subscribing to community radio beyond just supporting the station's survival. Last year, we won a 3RRR subscriber prize (shout-out to Denise Hylands' Twang whose show we subscribe to) in the form of three rehearsal sessions at Bakehouse Studios on Hoddle St. We have been using those sessions in the last few weeks to prepare for our single launch gigs, but also just to take time and experiment, try out new material, play with effects pedals and so on.
The Bakehouse gang, Helen and Quincy and the people who work with them, have created a really unique musical oasis - a courtyard bursting with foliage, rehearsal rooms that are all decorated differently (and surely a few items sourced at the tip?), a kitchen where you get a cuppa and meet other musicians doing interesting things.
These are all things to treasure, especially in a time of such weirdness, violence and confusion around the globe. So let's look after them!
Over and out.
Sunshine Tip
p.s. See you at a gig soon! Sun 17 May at the Bridge in Castlemaine, 3 - 5 pm, free entry. More gigs on our shows page.
p.p.s. We're going to pick out one or two live radio recordings and share exclusive downloads with our newsletter subscribers - if you haven't joined, jump on here!
p.p.p.s. Last thing, truly: check out Subvert.fm the new cooperative music marketplace - like Bandcamp but owned and run by its musician members. https://www.subvert.fm/
Cello enjoying the Bakehouse courtyard.