Interview: Kylie Auldist on funky music and FUSE Darebin’s Out of the Park Picnic
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22.03.2022

Interview: Kylie Auldist on funky music and FUSE Darebin’s Out of the Park Picnic

Kylie Auldist
Words by Ben Lamb

Kylie Auldist is bringing the funk to the Out of the Park Picnic this weekend thanks to the FUSE Darebin and MAV, and she’ll be joined by an array of performers that’ll get you up and moving - Kwame Tosuma, Tina Demelo, Maya Vice, and Belove, who cover drumming, dancing, and a whole lot more.

This show bookends the amazing FUSE festival that has transformed Darebin into a musical and arts mecca over the last few weeks, closing with a funky party that’ll be a chance for everyone to let their hair down.

What you need to know

  • This event closes FUSE Darebin.
  • It’s taking place at Edwardes Lake Park in Reservoir.
  • It’s happening on Sunday March 27 at 12pm. Tickets are free.

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

Auldist has been a staple of Australia’s funk and soul world for a number of years now, rocketing into the mainstream with popular group The Bamboos back in 2006, where she debuted as a powerful vocalist.

Since then, she’s had a highly successful solo career and her fourth release, This is What Happiness Looks Like came to fans in 2021, and received an AIR nomination after much critical acclaim.

Her soul-funk blend has found fans across the nation: the power she and her band bring can transform any venue into a party, specialising in getting people up and moving. She says she’ll be creating a jam celebration at the Edwardes Park in Reservoir this weekend, the outdoor space allowing for experimentation when it comes to a stage show from her fellow performers.

“I did a little bit of a walk around the park, and was having a look at everything,” Kylie says. “I think it’s going to be awesome; I can’t wait to see all the dancing.

“When you have drumming bands which are acoustic, you can feel it all through your body, and they’ll be going around through the audience, so it’ll be in the round, there’ll be stuff happening in the audience as well, not just the stage. It’s kind of a natural amphitheatre too, so there’s a slight rise on the hill up from the stage, which is lovely.”

You’ll be able to bask in Kylie’s musical glow while chilling out on a picnic blanket, enjoying the last days of the wonderful Melbourne sun.

Kylie’s brand of music brings elements from disco, funk, and soul, and embodies the feel-good vibe that’ll chuck a smile on your face. It’s the show to head to when you want an escape from everything, and you can lose yourself in chunky bass lines, engaging vocals, and fast tempos.

“A lot of people in my life, in my age group, don’t really have music in their lives,” Kylie says. “I guess people from other countries seem to have music as a part of their culture, but here, we don’t seem to have music, it’s kind of something you do only in your private time. No one even knows how to sing the national anthem.

“We don’t embrace music as much as we should. I feel so lucky to have that as a job, I’m so lucky to be able to play. I enjoy it while I’m playing.”

The show caps off a broader FUSE program that’s brought an artistic energy to Darebin that’s otherwise been missing for the last few years, due to the variety of lockdowns and cancellations many musicians faced.

Dancers, drummers, and singers will bring the local residents together to celebrate all the things we love most, and forget about the madness.

“(Out of the Park Picnic) is all about coming together as a community, finding out what you’ve got in a community, and understanding that all this is in your town, all these people are here, all these amazing performers, and all these families can get together and have a picnic. It’s been a long time since people had a picnic together, I think that’s a nice vibe,” Kylie says.

“We’ve been a little bit dehumanised, so having a community gathering where people go ‘Oh I didn’t know this park was here, or I didn’t know this band was from here’ is going to be lovely.”

 

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Catch Kylie Auldist at Out of the Park Picnic on Sunday March 27, register your spot here.