Adam Hattaway and The Haunters are rock n roll in style, ethos and influence but their exact sound can’t be pinned down. With styles of r&b, folk, indie, country, and soul, Adam’s voice is the defining constant across it all. Playing tracks from their most recent album ‘High Horse’ (produced by Marlon Williams), The Haunters are an electric act, still with that Hattaway flavour but not as we know it.

Free show

2pm start

Beer Garden (weather permitting)

Back for the second time in 2024, Town Folk Fest has had a growth spurt. Following the good-time success story of the first three editions of Town Folk Festival, the one-day event returns on 16th November 2024. Bringing together 16 of the best contemporary folk artists to Castlemaine, Town Folk celebrates diverse, compelling and exciting music, which all fits vaguely or specifically under the ever-widening umbrella of folk. This year we are proud to have The Teskey Brothers, Marlon Williams, A. Savage (Parquet Courts), Ngaiire, Grace Cummings and many more.

The one-day festival takes place in Castlemaine on Dja Dja Wurrung Country across 4 stages, all a short walking distance from one other and packed with an afternoon-into-evening of musical greatness, food, drinks and friendly faces.

Full lineup:

The Teskey Brothers
Marlon Williams
Ngaiire
Tek Tek Ensemble
A. Savage
Grace Cummings
The Maes
Don't Thank Me Spank Me
Kid Sam
Harmony Byrne
Merryn Jeann
M79
Aplegate
Ruby & Loretta
Felicity Cripps Band
Queenie

Tickets available HERE

• General Admission: $134.00 each ($130.00 + $4.00 fees)

• Youth (13-18) - General Release: $64.00 each ($60.00 + $4.00 fees)

• Children (4-12) - 2nd release: $44.00 each ($40.00 + $4.00 fees)

• Campbells Creek Campground Ticket - FRI+SAT: $42.00 each ($40.00 + $2.00 fees)

• Campbells Creek Campground Ticket - SAT ONLY: $32.00 each ($30.00 + $2.00 fees)

Skyscraper Stan and the Commission Flats are celebrating the release of their new single Talk to Me with a run of shows through Victoria, NSW, SA and the ACT. Taking musical inspiration from Motown and Stax era soul with that signature Skyscraper twist, "Talk to Me" is about conversations in the age of conspiracy. It's for anyone out there trying to pull a loved one out of a rabbit hole. Don't turn your back on them. Have a chat. That might be all they need. 

This show will take place in our garden stage (weather dependent). 

Lunch bookings welcome (and you can keep your tabel for the show)

Pub opens 1pm

Support:- Dominic Hoey 3:15

Stan: 4pm

Tickets HERE $25+BF | $30 Door

Folk Bitch Trio—Gracie Sinclair (she/her), Jeanie Pilkington (she/her) and Heide Peverelle (they/them)—are known for enrapturing audiences around their home city of Naarm/Melbourne with sensitive and thoughtful arrangements of three part harmony. What began as an unserious collaboration between three friends has led the trio to share stages with acts such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Alex G, Julia Jacklin and Courtney Barnett. The trio manifest a unique kinesiology of relaxed indie-folk with a quietly confident, assured underbelly. Born out of what they describe as a "mutual love for songwriting and truth-telling," most significant to their rise and consistently captivating to their craft is the joy they take in making music together — it surges with the power of friends and collaborators executing a unified vision.

Their brand new single “God’s A Different Sword” follows on from the 2023 released singles “Analogue” and “I Heard”, which Rolling Stone described as “resplendent in gorgeous harmonies and confessional songwriting”, and a triumphant run of shows at SXSW earlier this year.

The trio explain, “‘God’s A Different Sword’ speaks to relinquishing a pattern, but indulging in the habit ‘just one more time’. The song was produced by us and Tom Healy during a fleeting stop in Auckland, Aotearoa this winter, while we were in town supporting Ben Howard. The lyrics are exasperated and questioning, so we wanted them to be held by instrumentation that is optimistic and open. The video, made by our dear friend Bridgette Winten, shows us gallivanting around our stomping grounds in Naarm, where this song was written and born.”

DOORS 9PM

$20+BF HERE

Brothers Harvest at The Bridge Hotel

Brothers Harvest are headed up to beautiful Dja Dja Wurrung country. Doing their honest best to put on a damn fine show for the good folk of Castlemaine – the full band will be cookin up their own special blend of Blues and Americana music.  If you dig that kinda sound, be sure to come down and say g’day from 2pm Sunday November 3rd. Smokers Run Faster, are coming along for the ride too and will be bringing their sweet Blues Rock and Soul numbers. Bring ya friends, grab a feed, have a dance, or just enjoy a laid back arvo of live music in the sun. Free Entry. Set Times below.

Smokers Run Faster (Support): 2pm

Brothers Harvest (Headline): 3.30pm

Exploding from the eye of the universe it’s the Sand Pebbles!
The Sand Pebbles are coming to Castlemaine after having just released their eighth album, The Antagonist. Hypnotic, cosmic, kinetic, freewheeling. 

This is a band who have toured/played with Luna, Primal Scream, Tame Impala, Sonic Boom, The Wedding Present, Ed Kuepper, Arthur Lee & Love and more.

If those artists are in your wheelhouse, you’ll find something to love in Sand Pebbles.

Doors 9pm

Tickets HERE $20 + BF | $25 door

The Singing Stockman himself, William Alexander, is playing an afternoon show for us on Sunday October 13.

He's got songwriting and style reminiscent of the likes of Willie Nelson & Hank Williams, but with the contemporary lilt of Colter Wall & Charley Crockett. If you like classic, heartfelt and authentic country, this is one for you. Joining him, good mate Patrick Wilson.

2 sets, 2 fantatsic artists.

3pm. Free entry.

The Watty Thompson ‘Rock & Roll Tour’ comes to The Bridge Hotel on the public holiday eve of Thursday September 26th. 

Indie bush bard Watty Thompson is hitting the road in support of his brand-new single Rock & Roll, a clarion call for his fellow artists doing it tough. After his Australian Music Prize nominated 2023 debut album scored a direct hit into the hearts of fans and critics alike, winning praise, accolades, and airplay, it announced the arrival of a newpositive voice in Australian music. 

Since then, Watty has been taking stock, quietly working toward his next message of hope. The bush born empath gathered up the multi-limbed talents of his Total Fire Band and headed into the studio to capture some more of his patented heart on sleeve messages to self-belief. The first fruit of those efforts is the rollicking affirmation “Rock & Roll”.  

In a country where it's somewhat engrained to keep our hopes and dreams to ourselves through fear of getting cut down, “Rock & Roll” seeks to encourage other artists to follow their calling, regardless of what society might suggest is a safer path.  

“It can take guts to follow your true calling”, Watty admits. “All kinds of things can make you second guess yourself, but if you know in your heart that you’re meant to be doing something, give it your all if you’re able to do so.”

At a time when the Australian music industry is doing it tough, “Rock & Roll” seeks to edify fellow artists a to hang on and keep fighting for their art.  As ever Watty is trying to live by example suggesting, “it's a long road sure, but I’ll be striving hard until the day that I die, even if it means forever digging ditches in between to make it possible.”

Voted Music Victoria’s Regional Artist of the Year in 2023, Watty and his Total Fire Band have connected with a growing number of believers through stellar showings at festivals including Dashville Skyline, Riverboats, Out On The Weekend, Boogie, OK Motels and of course their life-affirming set at Meredith Music Festival. These new tour dates will visit some new places and faces as Watty looks to spread his message across the country.

He says, the world needs art and as artists, I reckon we’ll reach the end of this life with a full heart regardless of how full or empty our pockets are. We’ll be fulfilled and content knowing we did what we were supposed to do.”

Watty and his Total Fire Band will be joined by special guests K5. 

Doors: 8pm

K5: 8.15pm

Watty: 9.15pm

Tickets $30 + BF HERE / $35 on the door

Dan Kelly Esq. of Campbells Creek is launching his new record GOLDFEELS at the Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine on Sunday afternoon, September 8 with his band Regional Crisis (Gus Agars, Ben Woolley, Dan Luscombe). 

The album will be played in full, followed by a selection of ye olde tunes from Dan’s past albums.  GOLDFEELS, an ode to the Dja Dja Wurrung lands of the Central Victorian Goldfields, has been years in the contemplation and a year in the making, and it is right and proper that it should be officially launched in Dan’s adopted home town. 

A dark compact epic, combining remedial piano boogie, widescreen electric guitar happenings, traditional Irish instruments and Dan’s patented macro/micro lyrical adventures, GOLDFEELS touches on important local questions such as ..

Superb Fairy Wren versus the Spotted Pardalote? 

Which chicken magnate will control the local apocalypse militia in the future?

Where do all the white Utes go when their owners sleep?

Is the Campbells creek CFA siren going off because of bushfire or bbq mishap?

Is the BOM gaslighting us all by using the Redesdale weather station data?

What is the meaning of time? And many more regional conundrums and revelations

This will be an afternoon not to be missed, and possibly one of the Castlemaine society events of the year.

Pub open from 1pm.

Doors 2:30pm.

Dan Kelly 3pm

$25 + BF HERE/$30 door

Quivers, founded in Tasmania and now of Melbourne / Naarm, have a third release of cathartic jangle-damaged pop, Oyster Cuts, coming out via beloved US label Merge Records (Neutral Milk Hotel, The Magnetic Fields, The Mountain Goats, Arcade Fire).

The road to this moment has been a winding one, the best kind, with a performance for KEXP, US and Australian tours, and even R.E.M. sliding into the band’s DMs with fire emojis after their full cover of the band’s Out of Time. This new album is propelled by melodies that recall Galaxie 500 and The Pretenders, with both Sam and now Bella taking lead vocals and group vocals from everyone. Its sunshine pop with blood in the water, with tape loops that circle like sharks, and twin guitars that glisten while the bass and drums roll in like waves. Pitchfork described Quivers' last record as “the sound of bedsit 1980s college-rock thrust into the big-tent environs of 21st-century indie, like a Go-Betweens with Coachella-conquering ambitions….and it’s absolutely glorious”, but Quivers only believe in a ragged glory, that live music should sometimes fall apart and be a genuine interaction with each audience. So they will continue to confront love and grief and the glow of friendship from all angles, and hope to meet you on the next winding road ahead.

Doors: 9PM

With support from Tamara & The Dreams

Tickets $20 + BF HERE / $25 Door

Richie Weed, most widely known as the lead singer of Tumbleweed, the iconic Australian rock band that he formed 30 years ago with Lenny and Jay Curley, has branched out to release his debut solo album “Strays”,  through Farmer and the Owl.

Speaking on Strays, Richie says “I was compelled to make this album because I wanted to make something that was authentically me, I had been writing these songs over the last couple of years that didn’t suit Tumbleweed, they didn’t fit the mould, all these songs that didn’t have a home, they were like a collection of strays and I wanted to give them a home.” 

Recording the whole thing was Jez Player in his now infamous Shed Studio in Stanwell Park. Recorded live to tape it captures the raw live sound of Richie and the band, “I wanted to make something unique and diverse, I wanted it to form organically over the skeleton I had created. Something that was honest and raw, that said something, nothing is hidden, it’s all out in the open.”
 

Getting together an eclectic and talented ensemble of musicians including:

Natalie De Silver (the Dandelion) - guitar, flute and organ,

Matt Houston - bass

Steve Obrien (Tumbleweed) - Drums

Luke Spook (Tropical Strength) - Pedal steel and Mellotron.

Damien Lane and Jolyon Pagett (Dropping Honey) - backing vocals

And Karl Webber (the Pink Fits) - Harmonica

With support from Immigrant Union, don't miss your chance to see Richie Weed with his band launch this album, from beginning to end.


Doors 9PM
Immigrant Union 9:15
Richie Weed 10:15

Tickets HERE $20 plus BF/ $25 on the door

Fresh from a 24-date tour of the UK and Europe, Naarm/Melbourne-based new wave/post-punk band RADIO FREE ALICE announce their second EP Polyester, and announce a national headline tour across Australia this August & September.
 
Winning new fans abroad with their frenetic live show, the band return home following glowing reports - their recent single ‘2010’ which NME (UK) said “immediately throw listeners into the warm embrace of the ‘80s indie greats” and landed them the cover of DORK (UK), Feature Artist on triple j Unearthed and named one of Monster Children’s Bright Young Things in 2024. 
 
The Polyester EP sees Radio Free Alice explore human relationships in all their forms against a backdrop of expertly crafted post-punk with a wholly unique bend.
 
 Their debut self-titled EP (2023) is nominated for Best Independent Punk Album or EP at the AIR Awards, with its singles ‘Paris Is Gone’ and ‘Look What You’ve Done’ seeing widespread support from the likes of triple j, FBi, CLASH, So Young, PBS FM, Triple R, Unearthed, Rolling Stone and many others. They just wrapped up their first international tour across Europe and the UK including Rock For People, The Great Escape, Dot To Dot Festival and Live at Leeds Festivals adding to an impressive - and growing - list of recent shows with The Snuts, Royal Otis, Django Django, Sorry, showcases at Bigsound and SXSW Sydney, all the while leaving a string of sold out headline shows in their wake.

Doors : 9PM

Bollard: 9:15

Radio Free Alice: 10:15

Tickets $15 +BF HERE / $20 DOOR

Telenova unveil their biggest tour yet with the Time Is A Flower International Tour. The tour comes alongside the announcement of their debut album ‘Time Is A Flower’ (out August 16th) and the release of brand new single, ‘Power’.
 
A vast international journey, The Time Is A Flower tour will see Telenova perform in venues across Australia, New Zealand, UK and Europe.
 
Taking their distinct brand of cinematic alt-pop to the dance floor, ‘Power’ is sleek, evolved disco with a shadowy twist, weaving themes of love, fear, and the pursuit of light into a lush, ornate track full of suspense and drive.
 
With influences ranging from Portishead and Massive Attack to Lana Del Rey and Mitski, the band creates a sonic landscape that is both familiar and refreshingly unique. The Time Is A Flower Tour marks Telenova’s first headline shows since their regional tour of Australia in the heart of 2023’s winter.

DOORS 8.20PM

CHLOE THE BRAND 8.45 - 9.30PM

TELEVNOVA 9.50 - 10.50PM

General Admission Tickets HERE | $39.99 (inc BF)

General Admission Ticket PLUS Digital Download of ‘Time Is A Flower’  HERE | $44.99 (inc BF)

Full Flower Moon Band are hitting the road this August and September in support of their third LP ‘Megaflower’.

Kate Dillon, frontwoman and chief songwriter of Brisbane's Full Flower Moon Band (FFMB), also known as 'Babyshakes', aims to defy expectations with the band's third album, "Megaflower". This album symbolizes a new direction for the band, emphasising expansion and diversity rather than just intensifying their rock sound.

“When you think about Full Flower going 'mega', don’t think harder and heavier,” Dillon says. “Think bigger – in every way.” She cites artists like the Arctic Monkeys and David Bowie, who transcended genres, as inspirations. Dillon aspires to follow this path, refusing to be confined to a single genre. “My mega is everything instead of one thing. I’m moving in directions I want to, and we refuse to be just a heavy-rock band. That’s our mega.”

Dillon, who produced the album, recorded "Megaflower" with the full five-piece, triple-guitar lineup familiar to fans from their live shows. Mixing was done by award-winning Tony Buchen (Kirin J Callinan, Troye Sivan), whom Dillon describes as a mentor. The result is FFMB’s most sonically diverse album to date.

What does Dillon want listeners to take away from "Megaflower"? “I hope people hit a sense of pleasurable listening. Every single song feels like it’s there for a reason. I hope they feel liberated listening to it, because we go everywhere together. I hope people enjoy the generosity of that emotion and pick up on the fearlessness of it, and get a sense of fearlessness themselves – because that’s what it took.”

Megaflower coming July 19th via Dirty Power Studios / Silver Arrow Records. Pre order here

DOORS 9pm

Tickets $20 +BF HERE | Door $25

Following on from a critically acclaimed back catalog, Jordie Lane returns to Australia with a full band and his new studio LP Tropical Depression slated as his first ever record label release, out August 23, 2024 via ABC Music.

Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, with Grammy nominated producer, engineer and instrumentalist Jon Estes (Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton, Rodney Crowell), and mixed by famed engineer Noah Georgeson (The Strokes, Devandra Banhart, Andy Shauf, Marlon Williams) and mastered by Juno Award winning Philip Shaw Bova (Feist, Father John Misty, Angel Olsen, Bahamas).

Jordie Lane marks this new chapter with a sound that consistently defies genres, with his latest wandering somewhere close to the outskirts of Americana and 60’s inspired Folk while “creating a pathbreaking and inspiring sound” all of its own. With Irreverent wit and satirical commentary, the songs on Tropical Depression tackle (among other things) Lane’s own experience with severe weather (ignited by a close call with an EF-3 Tornado) and its eventual collision with his own mental health battles.

Jordie Lane has continued to delight audiences around the world now for over a decade, performing major festivals in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. He has toured with a wide range of international legends, from Gotye to Billy Bragg, Cat Power to Old Crow Medicine Show, Ruthie Foster to The Moody Blues and several tours with Aussie legends The Waifs.

DOORS 8.45pm

JORDIE LANE 9pm

$27.50+BF HERE / Door $35
+Add a digital download of ‘Tropical Depression’ for $10 when buying your ticket online

Sunday afternoons in winter are perfect for a concert from local legend Luke Watt.

Luke Watt is a folk/blues singer-songwriter and guitar player. With influences including Chris Whitley, Richard Thompson and Kelly Joe Phelps, he draws on elements of folk and blues to convey stories both dark and uplifting.

He has appeared at festivals including the Gympie Music Muster, The Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Queenscliff Music Festival as well as several tours across Europe.

His most recent work with friend Nigel Wearne in 2022 titled "Above The Bit" was described by Rhythms Magazine as..."The finest Australian roots music album this reviewer has heard so far this year." The record was subsequently nominated for both a Victorian Music Award for Best Folk Work, as well as an Australian Folk Music Award for Best Contemporary Work.

2024 sees the release of Luke's 4th solo recording. Produced by Aria Award winner Jeff Lang, and featuring Danny McKenna on drums and Steve Hadley on bass, the self titled record is a vivid musical conversation, sonically spacious, with room for each of the three musicians to speak. Captured in whole live takes, the trio weave their way through stories of small town mistakes, the question of determinism and tales of folk rebels on the run.

Luke's show at the Bridge will be a trio performance with Steve Hadley and Danny McKenna. 

"Luke is raw and mercurial...the real deal" ABC NATIONAL"

This is a free entry show. 3pm start.

It’s time to get back in the saddle as Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys ride out for another tour this August. They’ll be taking their brand of Inner-Western Americana to shows in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, plus some regional dates in NSW and Victoria. They’ll have you laughing, crying, singing, dancing and drinking, which is exactly what they’ll be doing on stage. It’s time to join the New Saddle Club and discover why so many people can’t imagine their life without Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys.
Giddy Up!

Doors 9pm

Special Guests

Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys

Tickets $20 + BF HERE | $25 door

Sime Nugent and the Capes return to the Bridge, Sunday July 28. 

Sime has toured nationally and internationally throughout Australia, Europe and America and released more than a dozen albums with a range of bands in his 20 year career. He may be known for his work with indie duo Sweet Jean or three time Aria nominated  bluegrass party band The Wilson Pickers. More recently he's worked with Linda Bull on Stardust - the songs of Willie Nelson, and with Paul Kelly on various music including the Christmas album and the legendary Gravy shows. 

The Capes band features some fine players in Stevie Hesketh, Zane Lindt, Roger Bergodaz and Shane Reilly on Hammond organ, bass guitar, drums, double neck pedal steel and baritone guitars along with Sime's own evoctaive songwriting and some beloved covers. 

“Devastatingly powerful, highly listenable roots and pop influenced music”. Rhythms

This is a free entry show. 3pm start.

KIM SALMONS SMOKED SALMON & THE FADEAWAYS (JAPAN)

Prepare to be swept off your feet as Japan's high-octane garage rock sensation,

THE FADEAWAYS, crash onto Australian shores for their explosive debut tour. In January 2024, The Fadeaways hosted KIM SALMON’S SMOKED SALMON on a wild ride through Japan’s punk rock clubs and sake bars. And now Kim Salmon returns the favour, co-headlining with The Fadeaways for some exclusive Victorian shows which are sure to blow the roof off.

Since their inception in Tokyo in 2005, THE FADEAWAYS have orchestrated a garage punk rock revolution, deeply infused with the raw energy of '60s garage punk and '70s punk trash.The Fadeaways are more than a band; they're a spectacle of high energy, garage, pop, and punk

music brilliance, delivering an unforgettable adrenaline-fueled experience every time they take the stage. 

KIM SALMON has played in many ensembles - the Scientists, the Surrealists, Beasts ofBourbon and Antenna to name a few. Until now, he has never had a band that focuses just on the ‘hits’, the ‘shit’, the ‘all killer no filler’ out and out ‘pop’ stuff. Finally, he has assembled a band for just this purpose - Smoked Salmon! Your ‘one stop fish shop’ if you will. Frantic Romantic, Swampland, Cool Fire, Come On Spring, Drop Out and Last Night all rub shoulders with his newer purpose written ‘melodically inclined’ material for your listening pleasure! The band coalesce the Smoked Salmon-esque threads from across Kim Salmon’s sprawling career. Poppy, but rockin. Literate, but primitive. Melodic, but messy. Kim Salmon’s Smoked Salmon will have you swingin from the rafters, crawlin in the gutter and dancing in the street!

Kim Salmon’s Smoked Salmon and The Fadeaways together again. You’ve been warned…

Doors: 7PM

The Fadeaways: 7:30

Smoked Salmon : 8:45

Tickets $25 +BF HERE

Naarm/Melbourne-based folk chameleon Jess Ribeiro returns from her UK/European tour to unveil new album Summer of Love with a special celebration tour around the country. Bringing a unique band show for one night only to showcase the breadth of Ribeiro’s well-honed craft, traversing songs of isolation, loss, love and healing including the title track ‘Summer of Love’, named Best Music on The Guardian, Pilerats and ABC Victoria. 

With special guests including ethnomusicologist Isobel De Cruz’s instrumental creative brain child, Hantu ( 5 piece Melbourne and 3 piece Castlemaine only).


“Soulful, Ominous, edgy and ethereal all rolled into one”. 4 stars The Music

“Jess Ribeiro has cemented herself as one of the Australian undergrounds most engaging and unpredictable creative forces”- Double J

"A frequently dissonant fever-dream... shimmers like a haze of heat.”
 4 stars. Rolling Stone Australia

“The results are vibrant…This is an album that deserves to be held up to the light”.
Andrew Stafford, The Guardian

Hantu 9.15pm

Jess Ribeiro 10pm

Tickets HERE $25 +BF

Castlemaine’s beloved party people M79 launch their eponymous first single at the Bridge Hotel on Djaara Country on Saturday 15th June.

M79 are a five-piece electronic funk-rock dance band who cruise the sonic freeway of love and groove.

Briega Young and Lisa Mills deliver the sass with punchy lyrics and velvet harmonies, while Euan Williamson slides in hot licks, tight beats and soul vox. Telford Scully crafts sic beats, keys, slide guitar and vocoda, with Bradley Dawson driving the bass and holding the funk.

M79 have rocked Castlemaine’s Spring Ball, The Bridge Hotel, Theatre Royal, The Taproom and Shotkickers in Melbourne.

An M79 gig WILL put you in the driver’s seat.

Doors 9pm

M79 9.30pm

FREE SHOW

Olympia will be launching the Love for One EP with some intimate solo shows. 

One of Australia’s most relentlessly original artists, Olympia has released two studio albums to international critical acclaim including Flamingo (2019) and Self Talk (2016), an album that was nominated for an ARIA award, shortlisted in the Australian Music Prize and selected as Triple J feature album. 

‘Flamingo’ is pure force. The album soared as guitar-fronted art-rock, studded with the artists’ signature melodies leading Clash (UK) to describe the artist “in perfect control of her art”. ‘Flamingo’ scored huge international success including high radio circulation on Radio X (UK), BBC1 (UK), Flux FM (GR), Double J (AUS), and headline tours across Europe and the UK.

Recent tours have included Anna Calvi, Julia Jacklin, Garbage and Fred Armisen drawing critical comparisons to Joey Santiago (Pixies) and David Bowie.

Doors : 9PM

Tickets $35+BF HERE

This is an 18+ event 

Baby Blue are a prolific Melbourne band who after a two-year incubation have emerged with a refined sound, some fresh faces, and their first full-length album. Beginning as a solo project fronted by Rhea Caldwell, Baby Blue is now a fully-fledged five-piece bringing new depth and energy to the raw yet playful story-telling that first endeared them to fans.

Lead singer and songwriter Rhea Caldwell performs with an ease few can claim to possess. Having cut their teeth as the lead guitarist of Michael Beach and as bassist for Gena Rose Bruce, Caldwell’s songwriting taps into 60s surf rock with a sprinkling of Americana and a healthy serve of indie pop. The result is a charming and considered concoction that’s been likened to that of Kim Deal fronting the Velvet Underground. 

Baby Blue’s highly anticipated full-length album, Of My Window represents the next step in songwriting and production for Caldwell and Baby Blue. Recorded and mixed by guitarist Jesse Williams, the band recorded over several weekends at Jesse and Leah Senior’s home in Anglesea. Of My Window explores the ebbs and flows of striving for self-improvement, the joys and pitfalls of casual romance, and trying to stay positive in an increasingly challenging world. It’s a polished and well-rounded debut record from a band that’s ready to claim the audience they deserve. 

Baby Blue 3pm

FREE SHOW

The Martini Set showcase songs from the Hellzapoppin' roots of swing to the Los Vegas Lounge Acts & beyond. Presenting the music with a dynamic show & signature delivery.

The joint will be jumping!

StevenHoward 'King of Swing' on vocals & guitar & featuring his rhythm section double bass, jungle drums ,boogie woogie piano.

The best and the wildest in town.

Doors 1pm

Performance 3pm - 4.30pm

FREE

Straddling the line between Folk, Blues, Country, Rock and Roots, Hussy Hicks have earned themselves a mighty reputation, growing, from festival openers to festival favourites, seeing the group now appear at the biggest blues and roots festivals in Australia, The USA and across Europe while selling out their own tours across the three continents.

The band led by the duo of Leesa Gentz’ (vocals), Julz Parker (guitar) have spent the last fourteen years touring and forging their place as one the most treasured and celebrated working musical duos, whilst also being equally comfortable performing as a trio or in full band format, having taken home the Gold Coast Artist of the Year and Album of the Year honours. The band have released seven studio albums and played 1000’s of gigs, festivals, carving out a global reputation for their emotive lyricism, energetic live shows and fiery, frenetic instrumentation.

“These girls epitomise everything I admire about great music - instinct, passion, courage, creativity and a distinct refusal to compromise theirvision" - Kim Cheshire, Country Update Magazine"

Watching Julz Parker play her custom-made acoustic dreadnought is nothing short of breath-taking; a stark reminder of the huge gapbetween simply ‘playing guitar’ and the ability to make an instrument the extension of your musical imagination.”- Sabian Wilde, X Press Magazine

“Probably the best band you’ve never heard of” - Planet London

DOORS 8PM
HUSSY HICKS 8.15PM

Tickets HERE $25 + BF / $30 DOOR

Some things in this life feel cosmically predetermined. The meeting of The Vovos is one such star-crossed event. Formed at one of the first Girls Rock! Melbourne Camps in 2017, the five piece are known and loved for their punk bitch attitude and DIY ethos; coming from varied musical backgrounds, Ada Duffy, Ruby Ayliffe, Lu Galante, Bethany Feik and Mika James didn’t take long to realise their compatibility and found common ground writing their first songs together in Beth’s front room. Their music is a perfect combination of bold, assertive, and bratty: sounding as though it would be equally at home on an indie coming-of-age film as it would be on the main stage of the Big Day Out 1999.

As young underage female musicians, the bands’ first two early EPs - Constructive Criticism (recorded with Anna Laverty) and An Ode to my Beloved - reflect the struggles of teenagehood and the importance of inclusivity as well as a love of chickens, carnivorous plants and two minute noodles. As the band developed, other more interpersonal themes emerged with a focus on relationships and community, inspired by the music scene they grew up in.

Along came their debut album, Jana, released under Roolette Records in mid-2021. Jana encompassed the first three and half years of songwriting chronicling their growth both musically and personally; with a focus on their experiences as teenagers during a time fueled by climate rage and political protest. The album was praised as “scuffing up the outsider indie pop of The Moldy Peaches... with punky abrasion” earning 4 stars from NME. Trouble Juice labels the band as “rising garage-pop upstarts” with “radiant hooks, contagious energy and irreverent indie-rock charisma”.

Victorian born and bred, the band has cut their teeth playing gigs in iconic venues around Melbourne supporting local bands including Pinch Points, Zig Zag and Billiam and at Rah! Rah! festival. The Vovos made it to bigger stages from 2020 when they supported Skeggs and Ruby Fields at The Sidney Myer Music Bowl, later playing Moomba, Boogie Fest, and at the ABC on Spicks and Specks.

Looking to 2023 and beyond, The Vovos sophomore album Lilla Gubben is ready for the world, set to be released with Blossom Rot Records in March 2024.

Doors 9pm

Winksy 9.15pm

The Vovos 10.15pm

Tickets $15 + BF HERE | Door $20

Charm of Finches return to Castlemaine. This time, in their full band form, with a support set by Riley Catherall

Melbourne sisters Charm of Finches and their band perform intricate folk-pop with seamless blood harmonies, celebrating the release of their anticipated fourth album ‘Marlinchen in the Snow’. 

With songs simultaneously graceful and darkly bewitching; the sisters, Mabel and Ivy, toured extensively in UK/Europe in 2022/23 and recorded the album in rural Nova Scotia, Canada with acclaimed producer Daniel Ledwell. Inspired by the frozen beauty of the landscape in which it was created, the album reflects on the sisters’ transient life on the road, themes of belonging, home, and the fragility of relationships. They were the 2021 Music Victoria Best Folk Act and were nominated twice for the prestigious Australian Music Prize. 

“Melbourne sister duo Charm of Finches are perched for stardom. For lovers of tight sibling
harmonies, chamber folk, and those who long to be carried-away by a lullaby…”
- Ariana Morgenstern KCRW Today's Top Tune

Special guest Riley Catherall will open the night with his “beautifully constructed and immaculately delivered” songs. Riley has built a credible status as one of the country’s most promising songwriters through his poetic sincerity and alluring live shows.

Doors 2:45PM

Riley Catherall 3:15PM

Charm of Finches 4:00PM

Please note, if it is about 18 degrees, this show will be ouitside. Ticket holders under the age of 18 must be accompanied by and adult. 

$25 + BF here | $30 Door