Have you ever wanted to play in a band but don’t know any other musicians? Or have you spent countless evenings singing at home to your pets? Well, it might be time to take those skills and share them in a safe space at the Sunraysia Musicians’ Club. Jessica Cornish had the good fortune to spend an evening at the Corporate Moose, chatting to committee members and enjoying a night of music by local performers.
THE first Thursday evening of every month, The Corporate Moose opens its doors and stage to give some burgeoning talent their 15 minutes in the limelight.
A recent surge of interest has led to the reinvigoration of the Sunraysia Musicians’ Club – AKA Muso’s Club in 2018 – overseen by music enthusiast Garry Klippel, a small committee and a mix of local musicians.
Committee member Stu McCarthy, a diesel mechanic by day and bassist in a metal band The Maledict by night, explained: “I had been to previous jam nights when it was still at the Mildura Rowing Club so when I saw online that it was starting back up, I wanted to be a part of it.”
In addition to being a member of the committee, Stu also manages the club’s social media pages.
Stu explains the evenings are pretty casual affairs and the committee members play a key role in the logistics.
“We take care of the formality side of things: like setting up the PA, running it, doing the talking in between and lining up acts, stuff like that,” he says.
The main goal of the club is to support musicians across Sunraysia; whether it be allowing a performer to have a space to practise playing with others in a group setting or offering a starting point for people to expand their network of musicians.
“If someone is a bit of a novice with something but they want to play with a band, there are experienced musicians that can jump on stage and back them up,” Stu says.
“So they have an opportunity to play with other people.”
A similar theme is echoed by musician and fellow committee member James Herberte, who explained the club was currently attracting less experienced musicians in their late teens to early 20s.
These recent newcomers have not yet developed a three-hour repertoire or industry contacts to start gigging, however they do have three or four songs ready to trial before an encouraging audience in a real-life public setting.
James explains there is no particular genre of music when it comes to the Thursday night jams.
He recounts that throughout 2019 alone there has been a huge variety of people from all backgrounds who appear unexpectedly.
“One week there was an Irish backpacker with a mohawk; pretty punk looking and he’d been there for a couple hours and then he comes up and says ‘I’d like to have a play if that’s OK’?” James says.
“And he pulls out an alto sax and played some blues with the Bluesberries on alto sax so that was pretty surprising.
“So I guess don’t judge a book by its cover.
“Another time there was a guy who showed up with a double bass and wanted to play some rockabilly stuff. We’ve even had a hardcore punk band there.”
Another relative newbie to the Mildura music scene who has been coming to jam nights since moving to Sunraysia in 2018 is percussionist Matt Bennett.
With his light blue shirt, wide brown glasses and beef nachos close by, Matt will often come down and spend a couple hours talking to other players and spend the evening sitting back and listening to the tunes.
“It’s great for all the musicians of the town to get together because everyone has their gigs on weekends and some people don’t even have gigs,” he says.
“There was one guy I met at the last muso’s club who doesn’t play anywhere except in his house; but him and his Mum came along and they got up on stage and had a bit of a play.
“It’s helpful for building confidence in young people to actually play in front of an audience, otherwise they don’t have an opportunity outside of their own house and immediately family.”
Matt went on to say: “You don’t really have to be amazing, you just have to have a go.”
And while effort is rewarded, the truth is there are a lot of talented acts on show at these jam nights.
Plus, even if you’re not keen for a song yourself, sitting in the darkly lit Corporate Moose feasting on a tasty brisket sandwich and mystery music is a perfect way to lull you into any Friday.
