Rock the Bay
Are you ready to rock, Darwin? Well, you better be. Tassie rock band Luca Brasi and Melbourne pop punk and indie rock outfit Slowly Slowly descend on Darwin Ski Club for one epic arvy of tunes, the homegrown award-winning acts both making their Darwin debut.
By Tierney Seccull
"We've had it in the back of our minds for a while now that we’ve needed to get up there. There’s a couple of band members that have been to Darwin before, or members of our touring party, but for the most part the majority of us have never been that far north,” says Slowly Slowly frontman Ben Stewart.
“Over the lockdowns and the last couple of years of not touring, we kind of made a pact that when the gates opened up again, we’d see some parts of Australia that we hadn’t. We are so excited about it.”
A space often booked by third party event organisers, this is the first big concert organised in-house under current Darwin Ski Club management.
“We had the idea of having a rock concert that we wanted to put on ourselves about two years ago, prior to COVID or in its very early days,” says Darwin Ski Club’s Paul Gurr.
“Luca Brasi and Slowly Slowly were two bands we were particularly keen on having. Unfortunately, at the time we couldn’t go through with it, but this year presented us with the opportunity to forge ahead, and both bands are really happy to come to Darwin.
“[The bands] are actually pretty friendly with each other – they’ve got a really good connection, so that’ll be good in terms of the performance.”
Stewart corroborates this.
“I’m quite close with Tyler [Richardson], and the rest of the fellas we’ve been playing gigs with for a long time. But in particular Tyler because we’ve actually been making a record together over the last couple of months, his solo record, so I’ve been producing that, which has been awesome,” he says.
“There’s crossover in our friendship groups, and a few ways we’ve caught each other in our spider webs, but yeah, we love those guys!”
Supported by local legends Temperamental and Draftday, this giggy is a biggie, the seaside setting serving up the perfect vibe to sink a few cold ones and enjoy some live tunes.
An added bonus to the regular Ski Club bar is a pop-up cocktail bar, shaking up chilled classics. Fill your bellies with tucker from Bistro Lumen, enjoy one of The Potato Man’s famous hot spuds or some pasta and pizza from Little Italy.
All things going well, Darwin Ski Club looks to continue putting on these large-scale concerts in future.
“We have Oktoberfest, which is in its third year this year – more a beer festival than a rock concert – but the Ski Club’s known for live music and featuring Australian artists, so we want to continue that and maintain the frequency. Now that we’re out of COVID, we want to re-establish ourselves as a live venue for growing artists.”
Round up your crew, soak up those last Darwin Dry season days, and gear up for some sweet sounds by the seaside.
WIN A DOUBLE PASS!
For your chance to score a free ticket for you and one of your lucky mates, simply email win@offtheleash.net.au with your name, number and response to this question in 20 words or less: Why should you win these hot tix? Entries close Thu 8 Sep, winner notified by email. Good luck!
Rock the Bay
WHEN SAT 17 SEP | 4PM
AT DARWIN SKI CLUB
COST $71.40
INFO darwinskiclub.com.au
Header & top: Luca Brasi. Photo: Luelle Images
Thumbnail & bottom: Slowly Slowy. Photo: Kane Hibberd
