Experience a night of music with award-winning artist and disability advocate, Eliza Hull. With an expansive body of work spanning television, radio, and film, her songs have been featured on ABC KIDS TV, The Heights, and in US shows Awkward, Teen Wolf, and Saving Hope. Having graced iconic stages from the Sydney Opera House to SXSW and Ability Fest, she’s firmly established herself as one of Australia’s most compelling and distinctive songwriters. Eliza has also shared the stage with artists such as Maple Glider, Jen Cloher, Dan Sultan, and Clare Bowditch.

Now, Castlemaine’s own Eliza Hull invites you to an intimate performance where she will debut brand-new, unreleased songs from her highly anticipated 2025 album. Known for her ethereal vocals and heartfelt, organic instrumentation, Eliza will be performing with her full band, delivering a captivating experience you won’t want to miss.

Opening the night is MAGNETS, the solo project of Siobhan McGinnity—a disabled artist, advocate, and multidisciplinary creator. With a unique sound that blends textural layers, chorus-drenched guitars, and driving rhythms, MAGNETS will immerse you in a nostalgic yet fresh sonic journey.

DOORS 8PM

SET TIMES TBA

$25 + BF HERE / $30 Door

In August this year, The Breadmakers got back from their most successful and enjoyable tour of Japan so far. Now they are super excited to have their yearly salubrious sabbatical trip to The Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine.

 

“We love The Bridge Hotel’ bass player Cadillac Slim mumbled in between bites of his hand crumbed chicken parma the last time The Breadies visited Castlemaine. “ We love the vibe, and the food, we love Pat the Publican, and we adore playing in the Beer Garden”.

 

After their Japanese adventures, the Breadmakers are primed for a great afternoon of raving rhythm n blues in Castlemaine with new songs, old favourites, really old on stage jokes and a great brand-new LP to be released in 2025.

This is a free entry show in the beer garden. 3pm start.

Pitjantjatjara/ Kokatha man Russell Smith’s music career has taken him around Australia and to all parts of the globe, working with some of the world’s most recognised musicians. Russell has played Didgeridoo/Yidaki with everyone from the late Uncle Archie Roach AC, Paul Kelly, Rodriguez, Tommy Emmanuel, The Dandy Warhol’s and Jane’s Addiction.

As the charismatic frontman of Brolga, Russell aims to connect people with his music, and as the late Uncle Archie Roach stated, “As a Pitjantjatjara singer/ songwriter Russell Smith has important stories to tell for all Australians to hear.”

Russell founded Brolga Boys in 1996 and continues to lead the Indie First Nations Rock Band under the name Brolga. He has brought together a significant band of skilled musicians to write and record his first album. Brolga members include Russell Smith, Dave Mudie, Lee ‘Sonnyboy’ Morgan, Matty Vehl, Phil Ceberano, Bones Sloane and Georgia Anger.

A debut album, a lifetime in the making and a chance to share his talents as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist - a traditional song man.

Brolga is an Indie First Nations Rock Band with an important voice.

Russell says, Brolga is “The New Ancient Sound of Australia”.

Doors: 8pm

Brolga :8:30

Note : this gig will be in the beer garden if the weather permits. Bookings for dinner can be made on our web site

Fresh off the back of a sold out launch for newly released album ‘Golden Mountain’, Melbourne folk-country favourites Amarillo are bringing the full band to The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine for an afternoon of music not to be missed… With an eclectic mix of influences including Lucinda Williams, Towns Van Zandt, Grant Lee Buffalo and Fairport Convention the musical world of Amarillo and band spans traditional country, delicate folk to soaring lap steel and harmonies in full flight. 

DOORS 2PM

SHOW 3PM

FREE SHOW

Is it that time of the year already? You bet it is and so Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission are hitting the road for their annual Christmas tour - beginning at the iconic Bundy Hall in Sale, taking in Hobart, the Queenscliff Festival, some choice regionals, heading out around the country then ending in their beloved Melbourne town.

After a year of quiet consolidation on the back of a fruitful 2023, this September, the band head to Auckland to record at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios with award winning producer Steve Schram (Crowded House, Paul Kelly, San Cisco etc). These twenty dates promise to be a superb setting to run some new songs among the old Christmas crowd faves. It’s the full six piece lineup of the band featuring powerhouse songbird Brooke Taylor, alongside long time compadres Squeezebox Wally and Jen Anderson. There’s some beaut opening acts, some familiar venues as well as some brand new stages thrown in for good measure. Yep, it’s that time of the year already and All Your Christmases might just have come at once.

Doors: 7pm

Support act (Norwood): 7:15

Mick Thomas: 8:15pm

Tickets here

Please note: in case of bad weather this show will be held inside. Table bookings can be made via thebridgehotelcastemaine.com

Ripple Effect are touring to launch their debut album Mayawa. Mayawa is more than just a collection of songs, it is a celebration of Ripple Effect Band’s stories as mothers, daughters and sisters, sung in the languages of their people. Each track resonates with the echoes of traditional ceremonies, capturing the raw beauty of their heritage and the dynamic pulse of their present. On this record, Ripple Effect Band invite listeners on a journey through time and space, where every note and lyric is a bridge connecting past and future generations.

Riplpe Effect Band have a cult following in Castlemaine and we'rew very excited for their return.

Doors: 8pm

Set times: TBA

$25 + BF HERE | $30 DOOR

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