Live Review: Inaugural Victorian Music Crawl Part Two

23 February 2017 | 5:02 pm | Bryget Chrisfield

"We learn a new term: Castlemaniacs (excellent)."

Part Two: Ballarat - Castlemaine - Bendigo, 17 Feb

There's a lot of ground to cover today so we hit the road straight after a delicious brekky at L'espresso Cafe, which is also a small venue/record store and, yes! Vinyl is purchased by some. On the bus, many check emails while fearing motion sickness and then we're welcomed to Theatre Royal Castlemaine (winner of The Age Music Victoria's Best Regional Venue, 2013 and 2015) by one of the venue's five new custodians: Tim Heath (who many recognise as the guitarist from The Basics). We learn a new term: Castlemaniacs (excellent). Coda Chroma, Kate Lucas (who grew up in Gippsland) and Damien Charles are joined by a few backing players on the stage, which features a raised upstage platform that elevates the bassist and drummer today, to showcase this venue's possibilities. Wielding a guitar, Lucas calls to mind St Vincent in appearance, her voice exudes fragile beauty and she focuses intently on her frets. There are some beautiful harmonies and it sounds fantastic in here! The energetic keys player produces sounds that mimic glockenspiel at one point and we're pretty stoked with Charles' outfit, which teams cowboy hat with flip flops (checked shirt and jeans in between). Head to their SoundCloud and you'll be sold moments into Camera.  

Then it's back on the bus to head around to The Bridge Hotel (winner of The Age Music Victoria's Best Regional Venue, 2016). We're told Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds played a killer gig in this venue last year and are shown the outdoor beer garden, which has also been set up to host live music events. We also learn that The Bridge Hotel have introduced special deals with partnering hotels, where you receive a percentage off your accommodation, in an effort to encourage punters to travel up to shows from Melbourne and surrounding areas.  

But we must press on and board the Bendigo-bound bus to meet some charismatic Bendigonians. First stop? The Blues Tram, where we're welcomed by Kathryn Mackenzie (Manager, Bendigo Tourism). We admire Mackenzie's enviable sense of style - her floral headscarf matches her dress, ferchrissakes! One of our bus-mates/crawlers Benny Walker prepares to play a short set. The tram, which was acoustically customised to host live music, departs and we immediately note that Walker's the real deal. Apart from being an absolute babe, those soulful pipes and his tender delivery make us well up. Unanimously, despite a couple of technical issues, we give Walker five stars. Before too long we pull into Bendigo Tramways, where Davidson Brothers (bus-mate Lachlan on mandolin and his brother Hamish on banjo) are set up. The duo play an upbeat number featuring the lyrics, "I'm not falling for your crap again," their sibling harmonies floor us and we make a mental note to look them up next time they're in town (5 Mar, Union Hotel, just FYI - see ya there!). They've also got a new album, All You Need Is Music, out in April and if you pre-order multiple copies you'll score multiple entries in the Backyard Concert Competition - yeehar! And best of luck to Hamish whose missus is due to pop out a Davidson Jr any minute now.   

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We're herded back onto The Blues Tram and take off before coming to a screeching halt when Herald Sun's Mikey Cahill is spied running up the tracks behind us. Once Mr Tardy For The Party boards, it's back to Walker for all of our entertainment needs. "Hold onto your beers!" he recommends and then we're on the road again. This time Walker's joined by Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival Director Colin Thompson on drums and the pair (appropriately) perform a blues song: Gary Clark Jr's Next Door Neighbour Blues ("Came home last night with a pistol pointed at my head"). One of Walker's own songs, Now That I Am Broken, which he informs us was written on a piece of paper while out on stroll when he was having a rough trot, showcases his husky vocal tone that sometimes evokes Eddie Vedder.

After a quick feed of paella at El Gordo (which the staff T-shirts translates for us: "I Work For The Fat One") we hustle to embark on a walking tour headed for Ulumbarra Theatre and surrounding venues, led by David Stretch (Business Development Manager at City of Greater Bendigo). Bendigo absolutely nails repurposing heritage buildings into music venues. Originally built as a Masonic Hall in 1873, The Capital has now reopened as a performing arts complex and we're pretty taken by The Engine Room's retractable seating, which cleverly maximises performance space if needs be. Steeped in history, Ulumbarra Theatre was built within the walls of a 150-year-old gaol ("incarceration to imagination" - we like it a lot!)

Felicity Cripps Band are demonstrating the theatre's sound system as we enter and Cripps wears a cute '60s frockette. Cripps is another of Theatre Royal Castlemaine's new custodians and Heath is a member of her backing band, which is rounded out by vocalist/saxophonist Alex Scott Douglas and drummer Tommy Norton - they must have trailed our bus from Castlemaine! It's a refreshing blend of instruments that perfectly complements these quirky songs (see: Strawberries In My DNA, with its percussive sax stabs and loose drum pattern). We're told Ulumbarra Theatre has a hydraulic lift up through the ground so that equipment can be hiked up and delivered directly to the front of the stage, which roadies would have to agree is pretty bloody cool. There are also different ways of lighting/curtaining off the auditorium to make the venue suitable to accommodate different crowd capacities.

It's time to hustle and get back on that bus again for Echuca Moama (aka The Murray's Living Legend), the final stop on our Music Crawl. But now we're more than a little in awe of our musician crawlmates.