TICKETS HERE

I Feel So Solo Only: solo sets by local musicians at Franks Wild Years, Thirroul. First up is RJ, New Age Nudes and Field Commander Ali (Ali from The Morning Star).

TICKETS HERE

Focus Group, the Melbourne/Naarm post-punk outfit, are launching their new record “Australian Drama” with a run of shows this April. “Australian Drama” is the inaugural release on record label Who Dares Wins, and is due out on 12 April 2024. The new 8-track LP is the bands second release, and their first release since the 2020 debut, “Theories”. It marks the band's evolution as they explore new ideas, seek new sounds and pose new questions.

Spoilsport Records are ecstatic to release the second album from Hooper Crescent, ‘Essential Tremors’. Following their wirey and rhythmic debut ‘Object Permanence’, and the refreshing art-pop double single ‘Best In Town/Instant Lawn’, the band take their melodic, off-kilter sound to new heights through sonic experimentation and playful songwriting on this new 11 track LP.

Save the date! Bands, DJs and a bunch of records hitting the shelves

TICKETS HERE

TICKETS HERE

Following the announcement of new solo album 'Move To The Trees' as well as two new singles 'I Will Be The Same' and 'Red Wool which saw support from 3RRR, PBS, ABC Country, Pilerats, New Commute and more, Melbourne / Naarm based musician Winter McQuinn has announced a slew of tour dates. McQuinn will be backed by a full band named The Garden Gnomes made up of Jack Kinder & Lewis Mosley from Hot Apple Band, as well as Acacia Coates from Pinch Points, Elena Jones from Sunfruits and Rudy Polacheck from Mature Themes. The band will be playing 5 special shows throughout April in Melbourne / Naarm, Sydney / Eora and Thirroul / Dharawal. Catch the band play at Franks Wild Years on Sunday April 14th in the arvo with special guest Chet Sounds on support. 

TICKETS HERE

Mount Trout play Franks Wild Years after releasing their second album Petrol Bush, with support from Punko.

Petrol Bush is a beguiling demonstration of existential songcraft and poetic folk/rock experimentation. For most tracks, Ainslie and Faigan help transport Brown's deep verses from simple beauty into confounding wonder - with unwieldy yet serene guitar and trance-state devotional drumkit. On others the session offers wider space for sonic wandering off and searching - stumbling to a place where firecrackers pop & stink, stars sparkle, near divinity. The recordings are warm, cooked on an open fire.

Trout have us recalling the intimacy and thoughtful tangled beauty of Dag's Benefits of Solitude, Cat Power's moon pix or Dirty Three live in a rainstorm. But at the end of the day, moonlight shining down on the swamp, they read to us from their own unique story book.

TICKETS HERE

The Vovos (Blossom Rot Records) play an arvo show at Franks

TICKETS HERE

Bandmates / BFFs Nat Pavlovic and Liam “Snowy” Halliwell embark on a tour across NSW and Victoria throughout April. Their dynamic two-piece performances range from the intimate to the immediate drawing from their vast and varied back-catalogues as well as previewing material from their forthcoming records. 

Melbourne musician Liam Halliwell performs, writes and records under the name he is most commonly known - Snowy. In his group - Snowy Band-  and its various permutations he dabbles in a variety approaches - continuously experimenting, documenting and revisiting musical ideas. The Snowy Songbook is an endlessly evolving work-in-progress best exemplified by his live shows.

Founding member and alternate bassist/guitarist of Dianas, label-parent to the Blossom Rot Records family, and a member of too many local bands to count, Nathalie Pavlovic also creates ethereal alternative folk songs that meditate on love and longing: for people, for place and for sense of self.

TICKETS HERE

Rory J S from Honey 2 Honey plays a solo set at Franks on Thursday 28th March at 7pm. Solo Career (Annabel from Body Type) opens. It'll be good.

TICKETS HERE

Join Naarm/Melbourne based trio Obscura Hail for the launch of the band's new album 'Playing Dead' out March 1st (Dot Dash/Remote Control Records).

TICKETS HERE

Cheatin' Hearts Records 3rd Birthday featuring Claire Anne Taylor, Rhys Scoular and Franks DJ's

Presented by Great Southern Nights
FREE SHOW - REGISTER HERE AS SPOTS ARE LIMITED

Claire Anne Taylor will be joined by her incredible band, as they present 'Giving it Away'; the highly anticipated third studio album from the lauded songwriter.

"One of those rare artists that comes along once in a blue moon"- Shane Howard (Goanna)

 "One could make many a comparison when it comes to Claire Anne Taylor's voice – Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, early Mia Dyson, all spring to mind and all are evident in Taylor's vocal delivery. But essentially, it's hers and hers alone. Husky, smokey, velvet and barbed, it's an instrument in itself and it commands your attention" - Sydney Morning Herald

With a distinctively emotive and powerful vocal ability that simultaneously expresses both an inner strength and a vulnerability, Claire Anne Taylor has garnered a reputation for her breathtaking live shows – tough and tender performances that command audiences to a silence.

Great Southern Nights 2024 will take place from 8-24 March 2024 featuring more than 300 gigs across 17 nights throughout Sydney’s inner city and Western Sydney, as well as shows in seven key music communities across NSW, including Tamworth, Wagga, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Northern Rivers.

TICKETS HERE
Toby Martin and Ðǎng Lan + Doldrums + Bree van Reyk

SET TIMES: BREE VAN REYK 3:30PM + DOLDRUMS 4:30PM + TOBY MARTIN AND DANG LAN 5:30PM

Join Toby Martin and Ðǎng Lan as they present their debut collaborative album 'Song Khúc Lượn Bay (Two Sounds Gliding) – a melding of traditional and modern sounds ranging from epic Viet-Psych jam outs, to more intimate moments of gentle storytelling. It’s a gorgeous show exploring the diverse experience of modern Australia and features Lan and Toby singing and playing dan bau, dan tranh and guitar. They are also joined by renowned musicians Matthew Steffen on bass and Bree van Reyk on drums. Support will come from Doldrums and a solo opening set from Bree van Reyk. 

Đăng Lan arrived in Australia in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam. She was a renowned musician and singer in Saigon, and once settled in Sydney continued to work as a singer of traditional Vietnamese folk song and an in-demand performer on the instruments đàn tranh (zither) and đàn bầu (monochord). TobyMartin, born in Melbourne in 1975, is an acclaimed songwriter, rock/folk musician and singer/guitarist in the rock band Youth Group. 

Lan and Toby met while working on the Songs From Northam Avenue music project in Bankstown, western Sydney, in 2015. During a residency with Urban Theatre Projects they began experimenting with songwriting and combining their musical styles. They wrote a series of songs about journeys to and from Australia, about family, and about belonging. They also re-arranged traditional Vietnamese folk songs as folk-pysch-rock songs. They sang these songs in a mixture of Vietnamese and English. The resulting album 'Song Khúc Lượn Bay (Two Sounds Gliding) represents a meeting place between two people and two musical traditions and is due out on AMC Music on February 16th. 

Lan and Toby have performed together at Casula Powerhouse for Sydney Festival, Bankstown Arts Centre and for the lunar new year at the Phước Huệ  Buddhist temple in western Sydney. They are often joined by rockin’ rhythm section Bree van Reyk (drums) and Matthew Steffen (bass), who also played on the album, which was produced by Bob Scott.

The first single Qua Cầu Gió Bay (The Wind on the Bridge) is a well known traditional song of Vietnam. It has the universal themes of secret romantic dalliances, and lying to your parents. In this version they raise the distortion levels to find some darker overtones, as Lan wails on the đàn bầu!

The second single God's Will  is a song co-written by Lan and Toby and based on a long conversation between them. The song is about a dream Lan had about having a son - a dream that turned out to be true - and is a cosmic investigation into deep maternal love.

TICKETS HERE

Franks Wild Years and Great Southern Nights presents:
Dave Mason (The Reels) w/ Brendan Gallagher (Karma County) + support by Elmo Aoyama. Saturday 16 March, 3pm. Franks Wild Years, 3/2A Raymond Rd, Thirroul NSW.

Dave Mason (The Reels) plays Franks Wild Years on Saturday 16 March! We love The Reels, and it is an honour to be able to host an intimate performance by the lead singer and songwriter. 

The Reels began in Dubbo in the late 70s, playing sophisticated, high energy pop with a strong suburban Australian aesthetic and sense of humour in the lyrical themes and visuals. The music became slower and more atmospheric in the early 80s, utilising primitive electronic instruments to deconstruct and rebuild iconic covers like ‘This Guy’s In Love (With You)’ and ‘Bad Moon Rising’. While they might have had more hits with their unique take on other people’s songs, their original ‘Quasimodo’s Dream’ has become widely recognised as an Australian classic. 

Since The Reels disbanded in the early 90s (after one of their best singles ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’), Dave Mason has played in bands sporadically with people like Reg Mombassa and Pete O’Doherty (Dog Trumpet, Mental As Anything), Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown (The Go-Betweens), and released Reelsville, an album of acoustic versions of Reels songs. 

Karma County front man Brendan Gallagher, producer of over forty albums in as many years, including Jimmy Little’s instant classic Messenger, joins Dave on acoustic guitar.

Support comes from Elmo Aoyama, Sydney-based, Tokyo-born synth artist and vocalist curiously exploring the relationship between memory, time and space. Layering synths, tuned percussion and vocals, Elmo’s live sets take you on a sensory journey through organised chaos and nostalgia.

Great Southern Nights 2024 will take place from 8-24 March 2024 featuring more than 300 gigs across 17 nights throughout Sydney’s inner city and Western Sydney, as well as shows in seven key music communities across NSW, including Tamworth, Wagga, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Northern Rivers.

TICKETS HERE

Great Southern Nights and Franks Wild Years presents:

The Native Cats + Punko // Sunday 10th March, 3pm // Franks Wild Years, 3/2A Raymond Rd, Thirroul NSW

The Native Cats play Thirroul to celebrate the release of their latest LP on Chapter Music, The Way On is the Way Off.

From The Native Cats album notes: The Way On is the Way Off is the fifth and best album for celebrated Hobart, Australia post-punk duo The Native Cats - bassist Julian Teakle and singer and electronics operator Chloe Alison Escott (who released solo album Stars Under Contract via Chapter in 2020).

Spiritual forebears to the current wave of speak-singing post-punk a la Dry Cleaning and Sleaford Mods, The Native Cats have grown a sizeable cult following from their home in Tasmania (Australia’s remote and chilly island state) since the late 2000s. Their minimal bass and drums rumble is offset by Chloe’s lyrics which twist, confound and linger. The band have toured the US and played Memphis’ legendary Goner Fest, been written up by the likes of Stereogum, NPR and Brooklyn Vegan, and performed at the Sydney Opera House.

In 2020, they were riding a growing wave of recognition and admiration following their best run of records to date, culminating in killer double A- side single Two Creation Myths. But the pandemic and Australia’s extended lockdowns brought with them a period of intense loneliness, isolation and despair. Chloe's confidence as a lyricist, singer and performer was at an all- time low.

Even in those low times, the apparition of Native Cats LP #5 just kept on calling out. Julian never stopped recording instrumental demos and emailing them to Chloe. Chloe never stopped writing, and even began revisiting lyrics that had previously felt too raw or revealing to include.. Small moments of inspiration grew into more substantial ones. The band committed to weekly songwriting sessions, started to accept invitations to perform again, and had crowds fall instantly in love with their new songs.

Recorded with producer Ben von Fürstenberg, The Way On is the Way Off takes a meticulous, painterly approach to the band's heavy, scorching songs. Every element is chosen for its thematic resonance and emotional impact. Chloe's lyrics arise from deep-rooted trauma and identity issues she is finally facing head-on, as well as reflections on post-punk history and lineage - the title of the album is drawn from the rules and principles David Thomas wrote for his band Pere Ubu. With the setbacks and self-doubt now a distant memory, The Way On is the Way Off is everything The Native Cats hoped it could be when its completion seemed impossible, and everything they have been working towards since the day they began.

Great Southern Nights 2024 will take place from 8-24 March 2024 featuring more than 300 gigs across 17 nights throughout Sydney’s inner city and Western Sydney, as well as shows in seven key music communities across NSW, including Tamworth, Wagga, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Northern Rivers. 

TICKETS HERE

Jodi Phillis is a singer, songwriter and composer. She has made many solo albums, soundtrack work as well as being a member of alt-rock band The Clouds. 

Jodi Phillis plays 2 sets at Franks Wild Years in Thirroul, one solo and one with Damien Lane.

TICKETS HERE

Concrete Sea is an initial offering of three songwriters Nick Elias, Cody Munro Moore and Rohan Wilcox who are best-known for their contributions to Sydney bands, Big White, New Lovers, The Money Go Round and Wallspace.

TICKETS HERE
Maia Toakley and her band are on a roll. Hailing from the inner-west of Sydney, they are packing the 2006 Corolla wagon to the brim and hoping it lasts the tour. Having worked on her debut EP ‘Reverie’ at the local treasure, Stranded Recording Studios, it only makes sense to bring it full circle and not only play a show at Franks but have Cody Munro Moore kick things off.

Intimate ballads and pop-rock-bangers, Maia’s captivating songs have received radio play on Triple J and FBi. After performing on the same lineup as one of her musical idols, Missy Higgins (Unwind In The Vines), as well as opening for artists such as Sons Of The East, Kingswood, Adam Newling and Maple Glider, Maia Toakley has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

TICKETS HERE

Peter 'Blackie' Black from The Hard Ons returns to Franks for an intimate acoustic show, this time with Jess Jean Ravens, from Raising Ravens

Alice Joy plays a free afternoon show, 3pm

TICKETS HERE

A prolifically creative musician, Jamie Hutchings has built a career in the Australian scene that stretches back to the early 1990s. 

He first established himself as the cornerstone of noisy indie-rock auteurs Bluebottle Kiss before embarking on a solo career with the release of The Golden Coach in 2002. If that wasn't enough to satiate his musical curiosities, Hutchings also formed the band Infinity Broke, releasing the first of their three albums in 2014 and using the framework of the group to venture even further into angular guitar art rock, with a strong through-line of inventive and repetitive rhythms and percussion.

Earlier this year Hutchings released his most experimental solo album, Making Water, a collage of rhythm and noise, drone and abstraction that explored free jazz, Krautrock and the kind of terrain inhabited by The Necks and late period Talk Talk. 

As Hutchings tends to do, he has pivoted again stylistically, returning to a more traditional sounding solo album with A New.

A New celebrates fresh beginnings but in doing so it also encapsulates all the different strands of Hutchings musical past, a seamless sonic renewal of sorts for one of Australia's most relentlessly adventurous and intelligent musicians.

Catch Jamie as he tours the album solo and draws from all corners of his sprawling back catalogue. 

Special guest is Adam Geoffrey Cole, known for his solo work as well as with acts such as Trappist Afterland, Arrosa and more. Cole creates a unique blend of folk music drawn from his love of British Folk, Gamelan Music, Middle Eastern music and Indian raga.

https://events.humanitix.com/the-brights-at-franks-wild-years

The Brights are a Sydney, Gadigal-based band who write folk and alt-country-leaning indie rock. After two great EPs, they are back with their first LP ‘Oyster Rock!’

Their debut album is another DIY effort gem, that boasts soothing jangly guitars and infectious melodies.

The Brights play Franks Wild Years on Sunday December 17th at 3pm. 

TICKETS HERE

Pop Filter return with their third album, ‘CONO’, and will hit the road for a handful of shows to celebrate. Featuring members of bands The Ocean Party, Cool Sounds, and Snowy Band to name a few, Pop Filter are a band built on friendship who aren’t too concerned about much more than coming together to make records.

TICKETS HERE

Melbourne musician the Man from Atlantis (TMFA) returns to NSW for a series of intimate shows including 2 sets (one acoustic and one electric) of raga-influenced American Primitive guitar and psych folk.

The man from Atlantis is the moniker for Melbourne musician and Ramble Record owner Mike Sill. Mike started 90s experimental noise, prig-rock art-punk outfit Ray of Creation in the early 90s and went on to form krautrock duo Imperial Leatherman in 2000. the Man from Atlantis and its various iterations is an extension of ideas formed in his previous bands and sonically traverses somewhere between American Primitive finger-style guitar and raga, blues, no wave, outsider/acid folk/psych. 

In 2023 TMFA released Blues for Archie Shepp

(included in The Third Eye’s best Psychedelic Rock Albums of July 2023) 

and Golden Light.  Both releases epitomised the outsider psych and sonic experimentation that has become a common thread on the majority of Ramble Records releases.

Recent live shows have incorporated both elements of light and shade (acoustic guitar, Weissenborn and electric guitar with effects and loops) and highlight gentleness and fragility as well as a heavier more experimental element.

TICKETS HERE

Since 2011, Pete Ross & The Sapphire have toured Europe & released records through French label Beast Records, playing their noir country-folk style. Now based in Sydney, the band have teamed up with renowned guitarist Matt Allison (Spurs For Jesus, The Exile Co) and French batteur merveilleux Lisa Mosse. 

Pete Ross & The Sapphire will play 2 sets from 3pm. 

TICKETS HERE

Melbourne based, 7 faced, acid laced, experimental funk machine Steppers bring forth their debut single Funkovski. Led by the soulful vocals and beats of the esteemed Reginald AK, Steppers boasts deluxe guitar, sultry rhodes, a luscious 3-piece horn section featuring trombone, tenor sax and effected trumpet, all driven by heaving basslines. The pedigree of talent Steppers has to offer is raw & honest; decades of combined experience in and around the Melbourne music world, coming together to create harmony and dance. Gearing up for their debut single and upcoming November east coast tour, Steppers have a catalog of achievements under their belts with members featuring in The Bamboos, Harvey Sutherland and Melbourne Ska Orchestra, to name a few.

TICKETS HERE

With a diverse style incorporating alt-pop, rock and subtle folk influences, Georgia Mulligan’s live performances deliver a raw and moving experience that invites both connection and introspection. 

Mulligan's list of achievements includes being shortlisted for FBi's Northern Lights competition, as well as appearances at Fairgrounds Festival, St Kilda Festival and BigSound. Mulligan’s sophomore EP ‘Mirror’ was released in 2019, garnering support from community radio and regular spins on triple j. In 2019 Georgia joined Julia Jacklin's Crushing World Tour as a member of her backing band as well as performing solo in support of Jacklin's sold out run of dates in the UK and Ireland.

Following on from the 2021 single Singing Stripe (produced by Tim Fitz, Middle Kids), she has recently been working with producer Blain Cunneen to complete her debut full-length album ‘Nothing Wrong’ (slated for release November 2023). Singles ‘Paper’, ‘Omissions’ & ‘Disintegrate’ have been featured on Fbi Radio, 2Ser, Double J and Rage.

TICKETS HERE

Born and raised in the shadows of the Grampians, David M Western grew up with no one around for miles with music shaping his view of the world, humour and perspective. Mixing alt-country, indie and folk, his songs are introverted anthems set to take you through a whirlwind of emotions and nostalgia, likened to Wilco, Father John Misty, Waxahatchee and Blake Mills.   

Sharing his music with the world since 2015 David is a proficient guitarist and accomplished songwriter and supported the likes of fellow Aussie greats Julia Jacklin, Spacey Jane, Gabriella Cohen and Asha Jeffries among others.   

Now living in Melbourne Australia, he is what many consider to be the artists’ artist. He has built a dedicated cult following with his earnest interrogations of the mundane, the unusual, the tragic and the beautiful. Bringing his full 5-piece band on tour, his live show is captivating as it is sobering, cementing him as a frontrunner for the most intriguing indie folk artist of the year. 

TICKETS HERE

Bringing together four of Melbourne’s most prodigious young jazz artists, The Rest is Silence’s debut album A Short Film, explores melodically driven compositions against a backdrop of indie-rock, country, and electronica. Featuring siblings Flora Carbo (alto saxophone) and Theo Carbo (guitar) alongside long-time friends Isaac Gunnoo (double bass) and Maddison Carter (drums), their music is a breath of fresh air, fearlessly moving between genres to create a soundtrack to the multiplicity of our modern lives.

Local ambient folk duo Queenie opening on the night!

TICKETS HERE

Daniel and Marcus are Hot Tubs Time Machine. Marcus Rechsteiner (UV Race) and Daniel ‘Tubs’ Twomey (Deaf Wish/Lower Plenty) play a little Saturday arvo show at Franks Wild Years, Thirroul, showcasing their own strange brand of bedroom pop, new-wave and electronica. They’ll be joined by Solo Career.

The band formed from the ashes of Luxury, a project with both Marcus and Daniel which ended due to a member relocating overseas during the covid crisis. Initially as a way to keep the momentum going, Hot Tubs Time Machine turned into a regular project. Going from writing the first batch of songs in two and a half weeks for their first show with local punks Blonde Revolver, they’ve gone on to play festival lineups for Wrapped Up 3, Chopped, and become one of Melbourne’s most entertaining live bands.

With Daniel writing and recording all the instrumentals at home, made up of mostly a drum machine, bass, a Yamaha DX21 and even a recorder, they lay the canvas for Marcus to put his distinctive vocal spin on them, picking a topic and telling a story with both conviction and a sense of unpredictability, a skill he’s honed for the past 15 years. Recording all the vocals in a rented booth at the State Library of Victoria, Marcus plucks stories from his own personal life and twists them with a feeling of familiarity.

Double Tubble, their second LP, lyrically touches multiple corners of everyday life while also being laced in a heavy sense of Australiana and local references. Traversing through Australian folklore with songs like “Ned Kelly” or “Sizzler”, named after the Australian location of the iconic food chain. As well as Victorian towns, with the sparsely approached “Warragul” and the more chaotic “Street Fighter Man” about the Mornington Peninsula, with instrumental backing that’s reminiscent of a warped early LCD Soundsystem track.
 Double Tubble might be full of funny observations, wacky instrumentals and some completely off-the-wall moments, but when you hear how great the songs are you’ll realise Hot Tubs Time Machine are no laughing matter (even if you are laughing).

TICKETS HERE

Newcastle based songwriter Samuel Winder plays Franks Wild Years after releasing his debut EP Fragments earlier this year - an introspective murmuration on growing up and learning how to feel again, ‘Fragments’ melds pulsing drum machines and swirling electric guitar with candid lyrics and rolling acoustic progressions... 

Samuel Winder is playing to celebrate the release of new single 'Steady Hand' and will be joined by local folk duo Frankie & Albert.