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Fireside Songs At The Charles Weston

Michael Smith

"Mulled Wine Is A Possibilty" For The Winter Sessions

It’s quite the edifice, painted yellow and stood proudly in all its historic Victorian hotel glory, corner of Weston and Charles Streets in Brunswick.
 
It’s been spruced up of course, and had a name change (it was formerly the Sporting Club Hotel), but it’s serious about becoming an essential if intimate part of Melbourne’s effervescent live music scene, as the venue’s booker, Crispian Winsor — who is also a breakfast announcer on PBS — explains.

“I was booking the venue a little bit last year, just for two-and-a-half months, and came back onboard earlier this year. We’ve been running a residency on Thursday night, with usually a solo act, so we thought we’d open it up to include Saturdays.

“It’s got a really intimate atmosphere and a really good fireplace in the front room. Obviously the sprawling beer garden works very well as a live music venue in summer, but for winter it’s great inside and we didn’t want to forget about us thinking we were only an outdoors summer pub — we’re a very comfortable pub in winter as well — and music just fits very well. Essentially it’ll be acoustic solos and duos.”

"We’re a very comfortable pub in winter as well – and music just fits very well."

Hence the launch of the Winter Sessions, a Saturday evening monthly residency which is kicked off by Voix D’or — multi-instrumentalist Leena Thavisin and in-demand pedal steel, guitarist and pianist Shane Reilly – who describe themselves as “two country folk in city bodies”. The pair — Thavisin was born in Hobart but grew up everywhere from Bangkok to Paris to San Francisco as her parents travelled, while Reilly is originally from Adelaide – got together over a shared love of Dusty Springfield, Dolly Parton, Ry Cooder and green tea, and have an album’s worth of original material in the works. As The Music’s Dylan Stewart wrote in a review back in October last year, “Thavisin’s voice fits somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Brooke Fraser”. 

“On June 20,” Winsor adds, “we’ll also have the duo Jemma Rowlands and Sean McMahon, who are part of Jemma & The Clifton Hillbillies, more of a country-style affair. And in July, it’ll be the five-piece Oliver’s Army, who are a bit more rock/pop — that might be a bit squeezy! They’re the bands so far.”

No idea if the venue will embrace a Christmas in July kind of vibe and serve eggnog and invite you to toast marshmallows by the fire — “Mulled wine is a possibility,” Crispi reckons — but the Winter Sessions are certainly guaranteed to keep your musical mojo satisfied.