Next Saturday night will be the fourth annual Winter Ball, headlined by Charles Jenkins and the Zhivagos, and featuring a cast of talented local musicians, each of whom will play one of Jenkins’ tracks, an honour reciprocated by Jenkins and his band. “It’s not like I’ve got this massive black book of names, it’s just there’s so many great musicians in this town,” Jenkins says. “And there’s plenty of people who’ll suggest names to put on the bill – ‘Yes, I know it’d be great to get Bruce Springsteen … ‘,” Jenkins says dryly. “I like to make it as easy as possible for myself – I don’t really like cold calling. I’ve done that for a job in the past, and at least I got paid for it then,” he laughs.
With Springsteen still yet to confirm his availability, this year’s Winter Ball line-up includes Suzannah Espie, Joel Sibersher (God, Tendrils, Hoss), Fraser A Gorman, Quincy McLean (Blue Ruin), Cash Savage, The Orbweavers and Linda Johnston (Bulls, Dacios, Little Ugly Girls). “Suzannah is a good friend, and it’s great to have someone you can turn to in a crisis, when you need a huge show stopper, Queen at Live Aid at Wembley finale,” Jenkins laughs. “And Joel, I’ve been trying to get him for years – he’s just hilarious. It was also great to get The Orbweavers, Fraser, Cash Savage and Linda. And with Quincy, I wanted to get him on stage with Mikelangelo at the same time – I think that’d be fantastic!”
Jenkins says it’s important to ensure the final line-up has a suitable mix of styles, lest it be too narrowly defined. “Once you’ve got someone like Suzannah, you know there’s so many other great country singers out there, but you don’t want to have it all like that,” Jenkins says. “I think this year there’s a really good variety of voices on the bill – and I always look for that variety each year. And there’s class as well – if you look around Melbourne for a class act, then you can’t go past The Blackeyed Susans, so it’s great to have Rob Snarski playing.”
At the other end of the age spectrum is 21-year-old Fraser A Gorman, whom Jenkins met after a Queenscliff Music Festival show. “Back then I think he was wearing striped pants and playing power pop, which was different to what he’s doing now. Fraser came up to us after the show, and we really enjoyed each other’s company,” Jenkins says. “He was a huge fan of Davey Lane, so I’m pleased that he was able to play this Winter Ball.”
Each year a percentage of the proceeds of the Winter Ball goes to a nominated charity. This year’s charity beneficiary is Support Act, a group established to assist musicians with paying medical bills. “When it came time to look for a charity, this one just made complete sense,” Jenkins says. “Musicians these days tend to play more so in their old age than they used to. So Support Act just seemed like the perfect fit for the show this year.”
While Jenkins tries to focus principally on the music side of the Winter Ball, there’s always the odd logistical issue that he needs to resolve. “The other week our sound engineer did his back, so I spent my Friday night ringing every sound engineer I know,” Jenkins says. “When I’m putting the Winter Ball together I tell myself the same thing as when I’m making an album – I’m not making a movie, and there’s harder things out there to do.”
Jenkins is supportive of, but certainly not fixated on, the efforts of members of the audience to dress up for the evening. “It’s great when people go to the trouble of dressing up, but it’s always a mixed bag – for everyone who dresses up, there’s a Cal Walker,” Jenkins laughs. “So if you want to dress up, then good on you – but if you don’t, I don’t care!”
Despite investing considering physical and psychological effort into organising this year’s Winter Ball – with the very valuable assistance of Justin Rudge (booking) and Karen Conrad (publicity) – Jenkins has still managed to keep up his own musical efforts. In Spring Jenkins will embark on a mini-tour to promote his latest album, while also pursuing other songwriting and performing activities. “I’ve done a country/folk record called Love Your Crooked Neighbour and Your Crooked Heart. I had a whole of lot of two or three chord songs with lots of words, so without boring myself, I sat down and finished them all off,” Jenkins says. “And I’ve also just got an Australia Council grant, plus there’s my songwriting coaching and teaching stuff. When the Winter Ball is one, I always know we’re not far from spring – we’ve got through the hardest times.”
BY PATRICK EMERY
