Harry Angus Songwriting Workshop
SCU Lismore | TH 5 April | 10am-12pm
Australian musician Harry James Angus from The Cat Empire will be giving a songwriting workshop in the Contemporary Music Program in Session 1.
Harry James Angus, the firebrand trumpet-playing vocalist from The Cat Empire, is known both for his thrilling live performances and for his constant musical reinvention.
Stories, little and large, have played a crucial role in musician Harry James Angus’s life. The born-and-bred Melburnian has been telling them, listening to them and reading them his entire life.
And when he performs solo, just him and his guitar, he likes to weave his own tales for his audience. ‘These little stories have provided me with hours of entertainment, just me in the lounge room. Sometimes my long-suffering wife will patiently listen as I stumble through an idea. But usually it’s just me – laughing at my own jokes, lip trembling at my own tragedies, watching the characters come alive – and the whole story just unfurls, eventually, like a patchwork sail,’ Harry said.
Harry will be presenting a free songwriting masterclass at Studio One29 at D Block Theatre at SCU.
Breabach
Mullumbimby Ex-Services | Sa 7 April
In 2017 acclaimed Scottish folk band Breabach received their second Scots Trad Music Award for Folk Band of the Year, and Album of the Year for their fifth album Astar. Nominations for Best Band at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and for European Album of the Year in the Songlines Music Awards followed, along with packed tours of the UK, Sweden and Canada and the European festival season. They kick off 2018 with shows in the UK and Australia.
Tix and info: www.redsquaremusic.com.au
The Garifuna Collective
Mullumbimby Civic Hall | TH 12 April
The Garifuna Collective has consistently provided music and dance performed by composers and musicians who push the boundaries of their dynamic, centuries-old musical traditions and make it accessible to an enthusiastic worldwide audience. The collective continues to break new ground with performances that leave no doubts as to why UNESCO officially proclaimed the collective as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’.
Tix at www.redsquaremusic.com.au
The Journey of Life: Umberto Clerici and Karin Schaupp
St Martin’s Hall, Mullum | Sun 8 April | 3pm
The Journey of Life is a concert that brings together Italian-Australian cellist Umberto Clerici with German-Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp, for a musical journey through a rich tapestry of cultures, ages and emotions.
Clerici and Schaupp discovered an immediate musical connection when they first played together at the biennial Musica Viva festival several years ago. ‘It was a magical connection, as if we just knew each other musically, even though we hadn’t met before,’ says Schaupp. ‘It’s something very rare. We played a few pieces and decided we simply had to do this again. Last year we gave some recitals and built a program. Then we decided to make this album, and built a whole new program.’
They settled on the linking idea of ‘songs that trace a path from birth to death, with everything in between’, a ‘wayfaring’ or ‘journey’ through life. Spending long hours in libraries combing through repertoire, they gradually whittled down their options. The final list expresses joy, grief and every emotion between.
The repertoire stretches from the early Baroque (Monteverdi and Caccini) to the present day, with contemporary works by two Australian composers: Elena Kats-Chernin’s Eliza aria and A Flower’s Purpose by Katie Noonan, the singer/songwriter with whom Schaupp has toured and recorded. They also cover music by Dvorák, Rodrigo (a stunning song adapted by the composer himself from his beloved Concierto de Aranjuez), Rachmaninoff, Schubert and more.
Umberto Clerici is the principal cellist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and an acclaimed soloist. His musicianship has been described as ‘soulful and beautifully sculpted’ (Limelight). Karin Schaupp is an ARIA-winning guitarist acclaimed by the German press for playing ‘so perfect, so complete, that it seems like a miracle’.
The artists clearly couldn’t be happier at having found one another. ‘It’s as if we feel the music intuitively the same way,’ says Schaupp. ‘Several times in rehearsal Umberto’s playing even moved me to tears. It’s such a gift to be able to play music and make albums.’
More info at Byron Music Society
Áine Tyrrell and Susan O’Neill aka SON
Brunswick Picture House | Fr 6 April
For one weekend only (April 6, 7, 8) Áine Tyrrell and Susan O’Neill aka SON will collaborate to create a unique show presenting music lovers with the rare musical experience of two County Clare musicians travelling Australia and singing eleven thousand miles from their original homes. Powerful performers in their own right, this evening promises to ignite the passion for sounds, songs and live music, within an eclectic mix of original music and some carefully selected cover songs including both Irish and worldwide genres.
Susan and Áine shared festival stages in Ireland in 2017 at the country’s biggest festival, Electric Picnic, and 2018’s Easter will see them both performing at The National Folk Festival in Canberra before three intimate shows together in NSW and QLD.
Irish-born singer/songwriter Áine Tyrrell cradles the spirit of her native homeland. Ache, honesty, elated melodies and garnishing rhythms which a thousand years of ancestry have slammed foot to floorboards for both celebration and protest. Her music is a call to arms, a siren’s wisdoms and warnings, and most importantly the soundtrack of a woman who walks her own beat.
All the way from Co Clare, Ireland, and on her first Australian tour, the prodigiously gifted Susan O’Neill’s soulful and husky-voiced performances are truly something to behold. Using guitar, harmonica, trumpet and a loop pedal, Susan delivers a timeless and powerful blend of the old and the new. Her inspirational fusion of soulful Irish folk and her own acclaimed original material makes for an entertaining and enchanting musical experience.
Tix at brunswickpicturehouse.comhttps://brunswickpicturehouse.com/
Lillie Mae plays Bello
Bello Winter Music 12–15 July
Lillie Mae has been singing and playing on stages since she could stand on her own two feet.
A multi-instrumentalist of incredible talent, she is a beloved artist in Nashville, and according to Jack White ‘is one in a billion. You won’t find anyone else quite like this woman no matter how long you live.’
A longtime fixture in country and bluegrass circles, she is highly recognised in the rock world for the considerable amount of time she spent as a member of Jack White’s all-female live and studio band The Peacocks as fiddle and mandolin player.
For more info go to www.bellowintermusic.com
The Loveys hit their Target
The Loveys have managed to raise $5,000 with their Pozible crowdfunding campaign to pay for their second EP Swing in your Skirt, recorded by Art of Audio’s Kamal Engels in Wilsons Creek. ‘We took a big risk doing something so far outside our comfort zone,’ said Janet Swain. ‘We even managed to raise money from as far afield as Singapore, Kuwait, France and Azerbaijan.’ The Loveys have already recorded five original songs, and will be launching the newly minted EP later this year, with a tour around regional NSW, Sydney, Canberra and Perth.
Don Walker
Club Mullum, Mullumbimby | Sat 21 April
Don Walker is regarded as one of Australia’s best songwriters and his songs have been mapping Australia, from Kings Cross to regional towns and the spaces between, for more than thirty years, through solo albums and shows, with Catfish, three acclaimed albums with Tex, Don and Charlie and, of course, with one of this country’s finest-ever bands Cold Chisel.
The Don and his band The Suave Fucks are hitting the road in April 2018, performing songs that transcend across his solo work with one of the best band lineups ever assembled. These will be performances not to be missed.
King Parrot
The Gollan, Lismore Wed 4 April | Hotel Great Northern Sun 8 April
After stomping their way through the nation’s capital cities last December in support of their devastating new album Ugly Produce, King Parrot retain their insatiable work ethic announcing a new edition of their Regional Rampage tour for 2018. King Parrot stay true to touring the regional centres of Australia, and this April will see them venture on a massive east coast tour encompassing every nook and cranny from Victoria to far north Queensland. Along for the ride on their first-ever visit to Australia will be the USA’s Child Bite after releasing Negative Noise on Housecore Records in 2017. The lethal duo of bands have blitzed their way through North America on many tours over the last few years, and King Parrot believe their Australian audiences will love the addition of Child Bite, one of their all-time favourite bands.
Popcrimes at Billi
Billinudgel Pub, Sat 7 April | 1-11pm
Popcrimes is an intimate daytime (into the night) outdoor event for the northern rivers that presents gothic and desert blues, outlaw country, folk, swampy swagger and rock’n’roll with a punk ethic.
Featuring The Flamingo Jones, Dicklord, Captain Squidlicker and more. Free entry
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
