Melanie Riley
Woolstore Brewery owners Kylie and Chris Ind were excited to be named as one of the live music venues that the newly launched Project: Music South East would benefit from.
“I think anything that is going to encourage live music in the region is fantastic,” Ms Ind said.
While not originally from the area, Ms Ind has called the town home for 25 years and has watched Mount Gambier/Berrin get skipped over often when it comes to live music events.
“It’s often frustrating to watch bands go other places and not make it to us,” she said.
“There’s two really important elements to this program – and that’s going to be that it will support touring groups, but it will also support locals as well.”
Ms Ind said the brewery was excited to take the opportunity to work with MusicSA and the City of Mount Gambier as part of the project.
“It’s been a steep learning curve for us, because we’re a new venue and what we’ve found is that there’s lots of little things that if you’re not a performer, you don’t know about,” she said.
“The advantage is – because this is working with seven different providers across the region, you’ve got small venues like us, and huge venues like Wulanda.
“There is an opportunity for everyone to benefit, because we all have different niches within that.”
Ms Ind said their focus was always local and anything that supports the music industry and adds opportunity for events like Battle of the Bands was a win.
“You can put money into supporting artists and a certain number of people are reached,” she said.
“But if you put money into getting the venue to a place where they can support more artists, you can actually reach more people.”
The Woolstore Brewery will undertake mentoring under the project, which will include someone providing education on maximising the existing space to ensure it is best for music events.
“It’s about making our venue the best possible it can be, so when we do have bands who can come in, that they get a really good experience and their audience gets an awesome experience,” Ms Ind said.
Ms Ind was looking forward to the next 12 months and being able to host live music and see more of the music industry come alive in local venues.
“It’s fantastic that the City of Mount Gambier and MusicSA have been able to work together to bring this to the region and I hope it benefits all the venues,” she said.
Mount Gambier/Berrin based musician Kane Stuckey welcomed the launch of Project: Music South East and said it was a positive step forward.
“Music is starting to reignite in the area over the last year or so, and with massive festivals like Beer and BBQ fest, and battle of the bands coming up, I’m hoping this will inspire more venues and artists to come forward,” he said.
Stuckey said he hoped the initiative would encourage venues to be involved with preparing their spaces to host live music, after his attempt to bring big Australian acts to the region failed.
“Scheduling had something to do with it, but so did venues. There are big venues, or small venues.
“There’s nothing in between to accommodate the in between. It’s either a quiet acoustic show, or tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to just fill the area with the right equipment, not including artist funding.
“Hopefully this will bring more knowledge into the field, and more venues and artistic spaces to go with it.”
Stuckey said the live music industry had changed dramatically since covid and the increase in the cost of living had been a struggle for artists.
“More venues that prioritise live music would benefit massively – there are so many things missing from the industry locally that would be a great benefit for future generations of musicians,” he said.
“Hopefully this will be a lush in the right direction.”
Stuckey encouraged music lovers to support local venues and artists and to attend live music events when they happen in the region.
“Some of my students have been working hard and want to join bands – I hope when they are ready to play live, venues and crowds will be there to support them,” he said.
“Without Dale Cleves here now, it’s more important than ever to support musicians and venues to remind the region that we have the talent, and we have the support, we just need to band together as a community and push it to the next level.”
