TIME: Doors/bar open 7:30 pm, Music from 8:00 pm
TICKETS: Pre-sale tickets: $35, Members: $30
At door on night $40
VENUE: Wauchope Community Arts Hall Oxley Lane (opp Bain Park)
DURATION: Approx 2.5 hours
CATERING: Bar open selling beer, wine, tea, coffee, cold drinks, icecreams and Baba Lila chocs (cash preferred)
Stiff Gins, featuring Wiradjuri/Yorta Yorta woman Kaleena Briggs and Yuwaalaraay woman Nardi Simpson, form a powerful musical duo.
Their fourth studio album, Crossroads, marks the 25-year career point for Australia’s longest-performing all-female First Nations band. It also reaffirms the band’s status as matriarchal pioneers in the Australian Blak music scene. Produced by Syd Green (Casey Chambers, 19Twenty), Crossroads combines Stiff Gins’ signature blend of folk, roots, and First Nations language and culture with newfound depths of lyrical storytelling, intricate harmony, and rich layers of instrumentation. The result is a sonic landscape resonating with both introspection and resilience, forged against a political backdrop advocating for greater representation and recognition of First Nations people in Australia.
Crossroads not only delves into the emotional landscapes of transformation but also sings up profound belonging amidst change. As Stiff Gins navigate these crossroads, they craft a musical tapestry that resonates with themes of resilience, self-discovery, and letting go. The album reflects personal and collective evolution, bearing testament to Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs’ enduring spirit and sisterhood.
Crossroads is a celebration of Stiff Gins’ role as cultural custodians of the Australian musical environment—one that invites the past into the present, merges tradition with innovation, and seeks to sing a future overflowing with strength and grace.
TIME: Doors/bar open 7:30 pm, Music from 8:00 pm
TICKETS: Pre-sale tickets: $35, Members: $30
At door on night $40
VENUE: Wauchope Community Arts Hall Oxley Lane (opp Bain Park)
DURATION: Approx 2.5 hours
CATERING: Bar open selling beer, wine, tea, coffee, cold drinks, icecreams and Baba Lila chocs (cash preferred)
Alcides Neto is a Brazilian-born, Naarm-based composer, guitarist, and percussionist. His music is rooted in the rich traditions of Brazilian culture and shaped by the experience of living far from home.
With a percussive approach to guitar, inspired by Afro-Brazilian rhythms, Alcides creates a dynamic, textured sound that brings warmth to his music.
Since moving to Naarm in 2014, he has become a dedicated contributor to the local scene, inviting audiences into the joy and complexity of Brazilian music. His performances blend tradition with experimentation, offering space for reflection, celebration, and connection.
In late 2022, Alcides released his debut single “Partindo Alto”, a playful nod to the samba subgenre Partido Alto. His first full-length album, recorded in 2024 and set for release in 2026, features eight tracks that reimagine traditional Brazilian genres through a contemporary lens.
TIME: Doors/bar open 7:30 pm, Music from 8:00 pm
TICKETS: Pre-sale tickets: $35, Members: $30
At door on night $40
VENUE: Wauchope Community Arts Hall Oxley Lane (opp Bain Park)
DURATION: Approx 2.5 hours
CATERING: Bar open selling beer, wine, tea, coffee, cold drinks, icecreams and Baba Lila chocs (cash preferred)
The Maes are celebrating the release of their fourth studio album, ‘Abreast’, with a national headline tour encompassing their favourite cities and small towns in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia! Already in 2025 so far they have toured the UK opening for Grace Petrie and played the Shetland and Orkney Folk Festivals. They celebrated the album’s release day with a sold-out folk-festival-style event, ‘Abreastival’ in their home town of Castlemaine, Central Victoria. The band's previous albums, 2019's self-titled record and 2017's Take Care, Take Cover won the Music Victoria, Folk/Roots Album of the Year among a host of other accolades.
The Maes bring modern folk to life with lush harmonies and acoustic mastery on guitar, mandolin, fiddle and banjo. Born in Central Victoria, the sisters grew up immersed in a melting pot of music from around the world washed up on stolen land. The Maes are outstanding live, with engaging storytelling and spine-tingling harmonies. The sisters draw their audience in like your sweetest and scariest friend. With echoes of Gillian Welch and The Waifs, there is a timeless luminescence and simplicity to the songwriting and sound of Maggie and Elsie Rigby.
As well as selling out headline shows around the country and overseas, their international festival appearances include the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (USA) Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) Orkney Folk Festival (UK) and Woodford Folk Festival (Aus).
‘The Maes folk/pop sensibility is alluring. I'm a sucker for harmonies and these girls cover this ground with such bluegrass perfection, it makes me realise so many styles of our music grow from the same old tree - we are merely branches away from each other.’ – Troy Cassar-Daley
I’ve always had such love for The Maes! Their timeless sound is always sung with such sincerity and emotion straight from the heart. – Josh Teskey
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Wauchope Community Arts Council acknowledges the Birpai peoples as the traditional owners of country and pays its respect to Elders past and present.
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