Port Campbell will rock this weekend when the second annual Blues and Roots Festival brings both musicians and music lovers to the seaside town. The winter festival will feature the likes of Warrnambool band Slap 'N' the Cats and Koorie artist Andy Alberts, together with Geelong based band Turning Blue and many others. About 1500 people enjoyed the festival last year and organisers are expecting 2000 people to flow through the town between August 27 and 29 this year. Port Campbell traders' association chairman Neil Trotter said music would be coming from various venues throughout the town and there would be buskers on the streets. "There's two main marquees in the camping ground and the main marquee on on the Saturday is host to the battle of the bands, which runs all day ... and after that there will be Blues Under Canvas", Mr. Trotter said. "I think there's six bands playing. They will play all night and finish with a grand jam. Through the night in the other marquee - there's a workshop through the day - there will be other artists appearing and there's the Blues Brothers movie on Saturday evening and after that we hope to have the winners of the Battle of the bands playing". Mr. Trotter said the festival was aiming to provide more entertainment for the younger generations this year. "The first year we only had about eight weeks ... from inception to when we ran it". The festival was first conceived to bring some of the business in the town together for a common purpose" he said. "Just for some activity in the winter when there's not much happening here. We thought it was a good time to have it when it was quiet in the winter and people could participate. We were really happy with the response we got last year. The message we got last year was that we should have had more blues than we did, so this year we've increased that.""The whole idea of it was that it was a winter festival and there are very few winter festivals". Mr. Trotter said all venues were undercover and marquees were heated. Other features of the weekend included a visual arts exhibition and poetry, he said. "The principle idea was for people to get together and have a good time in the winter because we don't get that much opportunity to do it and (it's) a good was to bring trade into the town when it's quiet. It's usually a good time to see the coast, when it's at its wildest".Festival line-up:
Andy Alberts
A rapidly emerging Koorie artist. Andy recently won Song and Album of the year at the
Australian Roots Music Awards in Warrnambool.
King Bees
Castlemaine musician Brian Keillor-Reed and Warrnambool musician Brendan Dowd perform with guitar, didgeridoo, bongos, stompbox, djembe and dumbec (African and Middle Eastern drums). They have a debut CD "Tales from Akashic". King Bees play what they call groove folk, which is acoustic-based music.
Silent Blue
A Warrnambool duo, featuring Ruben Shannon, Vocals & Bass with Luke Watt on Slide Guitar. A unique sound covering contemporary blues to the traditional, they are a must see.
Brian Fraser
Front Man from band "Turning Blue", Brian's solo show is a must to see. A big man with the voice to match Brian plays acoustic and slide guitar through a range of originals and old standards.
Marco Goldsmith
Acoustic, contemporary blues player from Warrnambool currently in Darwin. This nationally acclaimed artist has played throughout Australia and New Zealand and shall play at Port Campbell before leaving for Tasmania.
Bo Jenkins
Originally from Arkansas, USA. Bo has grown up with Country Rock & Blues in his veins. A Byron Bay blues performer this year, he is big on slide and a toe tapping beat to match.
Joe Micallef & Kenny Terrington
These two musicians bring together the influences of Loose String Blues and the Muddy Puddles Band to produce a big wild foot stomping sound.
Shakerats
Shakerats play a blend of blues and Texas stomp developed over many cold Port Campbell winters. They only get together to play in special circumstances and the Port Campbell Blues Festival is just such an occasion ! If you are upright and have a heart beat you won't be able to stop your feet tapping.
Turning Blue : Popular Geelong based band. Big hit at last years Blues Festival. Back for a return performance with Brian Frazer "out front." See them at the Pub on Saturday night!
Rick E. Vengeance
The consummate performer across a big variety of music styles, Rick is a legend amongst festival goers. He and his old National Guitar will take you right back into the Delta Blues with his knowledge of the singers and the songs of the times.
Slap'n the Cats
Slap 'n the Cats are a three piece band from Warrnambool who play tight Punchy rockabilly. They've been described as having too much fun on stage, and it's the truth. The band are regularly invited to perform at major rockabilly events in Melbourne and interstate.
Winter blues vanish in sun, sea and surf -- Warrnambool Standard 30th August August 1999 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard 1999. All rights reserved
ABOUT 3000 people took the time to sample some blues by the coast during the weekend at Port Campbell's Blues and Roots Festival. The idea was to blow the winter blues away and it appears organisers were successful because the event was graced by dazzling sunshine on Saturday and Sunday. Festival director Neil Trotter said the last weekend in August was chosen because it had endured only one rainy day in the past 10 years. It was the second festival the town had hosted and included two days of markets, a visual arts exhibition and spoken word performance as well as a host of buskers. Bands included Bo Jenkins, King Bees, Rick E. Vengeance, Turning Blue, Andy Alberts and Slap 'n' the Cats. "We were really happy but, more importantly, most of the people seemed to really enjoy it," Mr Trotter said of the festival, which ran from Friday evening until yesterday afternoon. But there won't be much time to bask in the success of the weekend: organisers are already setting their sights on improvements for next year. "You've really got to start planning for the next year's festival straight away because there's so much work involved," Mr Trotter said.
Coastal line-up -- Warrnambool Standard March 2nd 2006 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard 2006. All rights reserved
Nick Styles with Troubled Minds members Josh Taylor and Sean McKinnon.
The festival season continues this weekend with another new event gracing the scenic streets of Port Campbell. Saturday’s inaugural Port Campbell Music Festival brings together 13 bands from along the Great Ocean Road coast, from Apollo Bay to Warrnambool. Organised by members of Port Campbell rock trio Troubled Minds and Jancourt solo artist Nick Styles, the event aims to give young local bands a place to perform, with the line-up also boosted by some more experienced acts. The town’s skate park will be taken over by bands and pro-skaters from 11am until 10pm. Among the up-and-coming acts on the bill are Port Campbell’s The Killpatricks, which will open the event, Warrnambool youngsters The Axis and piano-vocal duo The Mudlarks. They will be joined by award winning south-west pop-rockers Third Vision, Apollo Bay’s Van Troppo, Port Campbell’s Mantra and south-west pub regulars White Line Fever. Warrnambool alt-rockers The Extreme Sprinklers, Timboon battle of the-band winners Cashdog, Port Campbell surf-rockers Surge Whitewater And The Filthy Left, Camperdown punks Feebal Squint, Nick Styles and Troubled Minds completing the day. The event on Saturday will be prefaced by a Friday night gig at Bombora Beach Bar featuring The Mudlarks from 5pm. The outdoor part of the festival finishes at 10pm, at which point things will move into the Port Campbell Hotel so Cashdog and Troubled Minds can perform again. Markets, a skate demonstration and a free jumping castle will also be featured. Styles said the event wouldn’t have come together without the help of the Port Campbell residents. ‘‘Everyone seems enthusiastic and really positive about it,’’ he said. He said it was hoped that it could become an annual event for regional bands.
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