Craig Rogers is in his fifth year as director of the Darebin Music Feast, an annual event that aims to celebrate the Darebin arts scene. Rogers sees the festival as about celebrating the empathetic and supportive live music scene, more so than showcasing the local arts residents per se. Venues hosting events at this year’s Darebin Music Feast range from the Northcote Social Club and Wesley Anne, Bar Nancy in Westgarth, Northcote’s Regal Ballroom, through to Tago Mago in Thornbury, Offbeats Music Cafe in Preston and Edwards Place and Wendy’s Music in Reservoir.
The eclectic style of venues betrays a strong live music venue community. “I think Darebin has an amazing number of live music venues, and incredibly dedicated venues,” Rogers says. “And if you look at High Street, Northcote, they’re all located in close proximity, and they all support each other. And the number of live venues in Darebin, even out a bit further, is growing,” he says. “We’re trying to make sure the festival isn’t just based in High Street, but also includes venues further out, like Preston and Reservoir.”
Rogers suggests that the Darebin Music Feast is “a fringe festival by nature”; as artistic director, it’s Rogers’ responsibility to find performers who present a more idiosyncratic, and occasionally confrontational artistic style. “We look for a unique voice or style of music,” Rogers says. “Something edgy – though we also have a balance of established and emerging artists.”
In each festival he’s been responsible for, Rogers says a different theme has emerged, more by artistic happenstance than directorial design. “Every year you can almost see what’s happening in the local community,” Rogers says. “This year we have lots of sea shanties and pirate music, so that’s showing up as a bit of a theme for the festival. The theme comes about really naturally.” The festival represents a balance between local and out-of-town musicians, with the latter including Victorian, Australian and international guests. “There is a balance there,” Rogers says. “Darebin has a large number of musicians, but because we also have lots of venues, we tend to feature artists from all over Victoria, other parts of Australia and ever overseas.” While Rogers is responsible for overall coordination of the event, each local venue is free to come up with its own program of performers. “We put on our own shows, but the live venues also organise their own shows,” Rogers says.
One of the new elements in this year’s festival is a school holiday program, titled Music Feast For Kids. While many other children’s music festivals succumb to the temptation to vacuous, red cordial pop music, the Music Feast For Kids is intended to allow parents to take children to ‘real’ music, performed in a child-friendly environment. Events include The Shivering Timbers performing “nautical, countrified pop” and The Sunshine Sisters’ celebration of the Australian songwriting tradition. “The shows are kid friendly, and they’re held during the day,” Rogers says. “We’re encouraging mothers to bring their babies – everyone from one month to 50-years-old is encourage to come along. It’s about real bands, doing real music – and taking out all the swearing,” Rogers laughs.
While not wanting to pick favourites, Rogers nominates the Up Late With Kate event as an event he’s particularly looking forward to seeing. “Up Late With Kate is a Kate Bush Tribute Night,” Rogers says. “We’ve got a great list of Melbourne musicians coming together to celebrate and re-interpret Kate Bush’s music.” And then there’s This Does Not Belong to You, a street-based performance in which ukuleles will be left randomly on streets and laneways in Darebin, with an open invitation to anyone to pick up the instrument and engage in impromptu performance. “We really want to make sure that everyone can get involved,” Rogers says. Or you can immerse yourself in the social-media-fuelled festival Pop Up Music. “Pop Up Music is basically a treasure hunt for live music,” Rogers says. “There’ll be various live performances in unexpected locations, and we’re not disclosing who, or where they’ll be performing, and the audience will be encouraged to track what’s happening via our Facebook page and Twitter feed.”
Even with such a rich and diverse program, Rogers is matter-of-fact about Darebin’s unique appeal as a live music precinct; it’s about opportunity, not pretension. “One of the things that separates us from other parts of Melbourne at the moment is the large number of live venues in close proximity,” Rogers says. “And none of those venues are taking audiences off each other – they’re all helping each other.”
BY PATRICK EMERY
