Regional music project keeping gigs in Mount Gambier
Six bands from Mount Gambier, Adelaide and Victoria are billed to play across two editions of a new regional tour, boosting the profile of live and local music.
The Music South East Project launched in 2024 to connect up-and-coming artists in Mount Gambier with local venues and reactivate the regional live music scene post-pandemic.
This May and June, the initiative will run two tours to bring local headliners to Mount Gambier’s The Globe, The Crown and Anchor in Adelaide, and The Penny Black in Victoria.
The project — a joint collaboration between MusicSA and the City of Mount Gambier — will support six bands from Mount Gambier, Adelaide and Victoria to have their music heard beyond their hometown.
The tour, dubbed Coast to Coast, will kick off in May, with electronic indie duo Sexy As Shit joining Adelaide’s Molly Rocket, and Melbourne’s Dole Manchild.
The next edition of Coast to Cost will be in June, featuring Mornington Peninsula’s Stimpies, Mount Gambier’s Stokes, and Adelaide’s The Shadow Ministers.
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Josh King, one half of Sexy As Shit, says he’s grateful for initiatives like this one as it’s allowed the Mount Gambier “born and bred” duo to make their interstate debut and become more career-focused.
“Because we’re so far away, we probably do have the access, but we just don’t have the knowledge as much about what sort of help’s available there to, you know, progress your career and to achieve your goals,” Josh says.
“Sometimes, it feels a bit like you’re just blindly fumbling through.
“It’s helped us sort of crystallise our vision a bit, and think a bit more about what we want from our careers and stuff like that, whereas before, we probably didn’t think as much about it, because we were just happy playing shows and making music.”
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Mount Gambier’s duo Sexy as Shit is influenced by 2000s indie sleaze and 80s synthpop. This picture: supplied.
When asked what Adelaide and Melbourne audiences should expect from Sexy As Shit, he tells CityMag “you probably can’t quite explain it until you’ve seen it.”
“We’re pretty wacky. We put a lot of work into trying to put on a good show for everyone,” he says.
“I also want people to leave kind of feeling a bit shellshocked and wondering what the hell they’ve just seen. So yeah, hopefully we can put on a good show and leave a good impression on people that come, but most of all, just want people to have fun, you know, that’s our sort of priority more than anything else.”
Josh says the Music South East project has been vital in reestablishing the spirited momentum that was alive in Mount Gambier’s local music scene but was interrupted by the pandemic.
“I think it’s just been very good at sort of enabling the artists already here to keep working and working harder and make it all work a bit more easily,” he says.
“So hopefully it keeps going after this program and we start seeing a lot more stuff as well. We’ve already had a lot more touring acts come through which is great and gives a lot more opportunities to artists.”
Josh says Mount Gambier has a “warm and welcoming” ethos, with a community that wants to include new talent and encourages budding music groups in the region.
“I’ve been here a long time, and it’s just always very warm and you never feel like you’ve got to try to ‘break in’ or anything like that,” Josh says.
All the Coast to Coast shows are for punters aged 18 and above. The first round of gigs are from May 8-10. Entry is free entry but capacity is limited.
