Two of Australia's most acclaimed acts are set to play the Town Hall stage for Out West Fest this weekend, and each are looking at the upcoming event through different (rose-coloured) glasses.
Nic McKenzie of Sydney's psychedelic-pop group Deep Sea Arcade is banking on a reliable guess that Out West Fest will be a fantastic ride. "To be honest with you, I don't know Ararat very well - I don't really know how to imagine it," he admits. "But through [touring], you do discover these incredible things when you go regional. When you're travelling regionally, you uncover things that are just so exciting.
"And I feel that there's a real enthusiasm, an appreciation, when you go to someone's town."
Ararat is in Out West fest organiser Bel Kil's blood - she grew up on a farm between Stawell and Ararat (which you can read all about in our interview with the musician, here). But Hayley Mary, fest headliner and former Sydneysider, is building her own intimate understanding of our region.
"I actually live in regional Victoria now, on the outskirts of Clunes, which is also my officially favourite town in the country," the Jezabels vocalist and soloist reveals. "But the whole area is amazing. I love the history and the more fancy country towns, as well as the rugged ones. All have a different sort of sublime.
"Having lived in regional Victoria for a while now, I see how beautiful this part of the world is and remember not having any idea about that beauty when I lived in the city," she adds. "I have that desire to spread the word to more people. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to help do that. I would love to get something similar to Out West Fest going in Clunes one day, but it's just a pipe dream at this stage, so I was super happy when Bel Kil reached out so see how something like this goes down."
McKenzie notes the "struggle of live music venues in the city" as a reason for his enthusiasm for Out West Fest. Mary adds: "These days, punters and musicians alike find travel more difficult, due to the economy and other social changes. So small regional festivals are a good and affordable way for musicians to get exposed to audiences that may never see them, and locals get to see a bunch of things that would cost a hundred times more for them to travel to individually."
Mary's new album Roman XS was released in late October, and she notes that she'll be playing some of these songs amongst their first times on the Out West Fest Stage. (Look out for Some Rainbows and Primordial Afterglow as the ones she's most interested to see audience reactions to.)
Meanwhile, a reissue of Deep Sea Arcade's seminal 2012 record Outlands is shortly arriving on "the two greatest colours in existence - shocking pink and teal" vinyl this month, a project McKenzie brought to life after discovering old videos of his late friend and co-founder of the band, Nick Weaver. "It was really special," he says of the discovery of the clips, which featured his mate-since-teenagehood (who passed away in 2021) plucking out the riffs which would become classics like Girls, Lonely in Your Arms and Ride.
The decision also came from a genuine love of the slow listen.
"There is this tendency - which I know myself - that when you listen to music on Spotify or Apple Music or whatever streaming platform, you tend to have a slightly shorter attention span," McKenzie says. "You can choose to move on quickly, and I think that our attention spans can get the better of us, and disrupt what is an enjoyable listening experience! When you put on a record, you're kind of transported to the place that the record is about.
"The listening experience can become an inspiration," he adds. "So it came about naturally, and it felt like a really great way to celebrate my memory of working with Nick, but also to get into that zone of writing music again."
And there is new music coming.
"I've been doing a new album with Jay Watson from Tame Impala and Pond," he says, describing meeting the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist while "trawling the internet for microphones," and stumbling across a listing by Watson. Keep an eye out for it in 2025.
If you're still yet to secure your Out West Fest tickets, head to the Town Hall website now:
https://ararattownhall.com.au/event/out-west-fest/
DATE: Saturday 9 November 2024
LOCATION: Ararat Town Hall
TIME: 1.30pm - 11.59pm
Images T - B: Hayley Mary, Nic McKenzie, Bel Kil.
