Album Reviews 33, Bergy Seltzer + Ferdydurke 36, Wesley Anne + The Corner Hotel 37, Grapeful + The Gem

THE GEM BAR

Words by Lucas Radbourne

The Gem boasts everything good, warm and welcoming that a neighbourhood bar with live music, DJs and great food can offer. Melbourne has long been in love with their country, soul and rock n roll vibes, but in August the venue is stepping things up a notch with some superb residencies from Jazzparty and The Country & Western Ramblers, as well as the famous Sonnys Fried Chicken & Burgers now set up in their kitchen.

On Monday nights in August, Jazzparty will be playing from 8pm ‘til late with free entry and all welcome. It’s the first time they’ll bring their New Orleans-inspired range of blues and boogie to The Gem - what better way to spend a cold Monday night than wrapped in beer, burgers, and rhythm ‘n blues.

Jazzparty will be well-known to many Melburnians after the runaway success of their 2021 record Nobody Gets Away, which featured their engaging mix of calypso, soul, psychedelia and rock’n’roll. The songwriting partnership of Darcy McNulty and Loretta Miller have been a mainstay of the festival circuit since 2016, so this is a great chance to see the whole band in an intimate setting. What’s more, on August 12 Loretta Miller – Jazzparty’s lead singer – will be playing her debut show at The Gem. The Country & Western Ramblers deliver classic country, honky tonk and western swing in spades – and you can see them for free each Sunday arvo this month. The great work of Tom Brooks (guitar), James Ellis (bass), Ben Franz (pedal steel) and Pat Wilson (drums) – with all four members contributing vocals – will go down a treat at The Gem. August also sees the launch of regular Saturday arvo garage and punk shows showcasing the best local talent including Delivery, Billiam, Stepmother, Future Suck and TB As A Director. Then there’ll be all the usual attractions to get down there: happy hour until 6pm on Wednesday to Friday, $10 margaritas and bloody marys on a Sunday. The menu is bursting with comforting delights made for a Melbourne winter with all your favourite Sonny’s burgers and sides.

Head down to The Gem Bar at 289 Wellington Street in Collingwood.

GRAPEFUL

Words by Joanne Brookfield

What’s the point of being a sophisticated inner-city wine drinker if you can’t enjoy your vino with some quality conversation about the latest emerging creatives?

Thankfully, Grapeful understands that a good drop is best paired with information and insights about the world of artists to take your tête-à-tête to that next level.

Grapeful, an online wine shop specialising in organic, biodynamic and artisanal wines, offer you the option to have these carefully curated options delivered to your door. Being based in Melbourne means that if you place an order within the metropolitan area, you can have that delivered on the same day as long as you get your order in before 1pm. Or, you can set and forget and simply sign up to their Good Grapes Subscription service. Each month you’ll have a bundle of bottles delivered, which comes with a side serving of culture in an exclusive zine.

Featuring all-important tasting notes and food pairing information to help you maximise your enjoyment of the wine, each month the zine also showcases an emerging artist, with an interview feature so you can learn more about their work while also enjoying viewing it – as each month the featured artist is commissioned to create an A3 Grapeful x Artist print and every box comes with one of those. Bundles come in a choice of either three, six or twelve and you can choose from red, white or if you want to experiment with the many options available, you can also opt for a mixed selection. Regardless of the bundle you choose, the zine and art print is part of that package.

While the Good Grapes Subscription service is monthly, it’s also flexible, meaning you can pause or cancel your delivery frequency whenever you like. Just like Grapeful’s extensive collection of diverse, quirky, fun wines from around the world, the artists they select to feature also come from all corners of the globe, so a Good Grapes Subscription allows you to travel the world without leaving your home. We’ll raise a glass to that!

Head to grapeful.com.au to get involved. This article was made in partnership with Grapeful.

COOKIN’ ON 3 BURNERS

Melbourne’s deep funk hammond organ trio Cookin’ On 3 Burners are the perfect example of the Melbourne scene’s huge national and international reach.

Words by Jacob McCormack

Cookin’ On 3 Burners rocketed to global stardom after a remixed version of their track ‘This Girl’ - featuring the one-and-only Kylie Auldist on vocals - topped charts and racked up over a billion streams. Since those dizzying highs, the pandemic stuttered all momentum, but now Cookin’ On 3 Burners are bringing back the funk and soul vibes at September’s Wanderer Festival.

With the inaugural festival due to bloom as winter transitions to spring, a lineup consisting predominantly of Australian musicians gear up for a fruitful gathering of community. Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ maiden release entered the world around 20 years ago, but the trio’s “I still think the hammond organ specialist Jake Mason outlines the promoters and the sense of yearning for live performance and group guys that run the studio sessions has never festivals and all the been more significant. Fed by the lockdowns experienced different sections of in Melbourne, he’s excited to be back recording and where gigs get put on, performing live. “We were yearning realise it’s still early to play live,” says Jake. “I definitely think we as days and it’s kind of performers have had to take coming back, but it a break from it and we yearn even more for it, but we’ve doesn’t feel 100% yet. done a whole bunch of gigs now and we are working in So, we’re in a bit of a the studio, so we feel like we have reconnected from transition phase.” a musical perspective. We feel pretty much business as usual for our show now.” According to Jake the yearning for a live music experience isn’t exclusive to the artists themselves. Rather, it lives within the audiences and members of the public deprived of such recently. “The audiences [are yearning for live shows too]. But I think that as a whole, there is kind of an excitement about getting to festivals. Which is healthy.”

He does admit that the industry isn’t quite what it was pre-pandemic though. With a hesitancy affecting certain members of the community, alongside the continual concern that an event may need to be cancelled or postponed at any stage. “I don’t think all the audiences, or all the demographics are comfortable being back yet and the whole industry has been pretty non-existent,” says Jake.

“I still think the promoters and the guys that run the festivals and all the different sections of where gigs get put on, realise it’s still early days and it’s kind of coming back, but it doesn’t feel 100% yet. So, we’re in a bit of a transition phase.”

Despite noting that the industry’s operating at a lower frequency than it has in the past, Jake has a wealth of confidence in Wanderer being able to go ahead and achieve all that the organisers and promoters have set out to do.

“I think those guys [Wanderer] - if anyone is going to be able to set the scene - will make it warming for that environment. You can’t trick the community, the community is only going to be what it’s going to be. You can only give the community that opportunity and that’s what it’s going to be, and I think that the festival is going to do that, it’s going to be very inclusive.” “There are going to be lots of options for all demographics. Being pretty regional, there is not going to be many festivals like that since the pandemic. I’m pretty confident it is going to be a really healthy turnout. The demand has already been really strong, so I think it’s going to be huge. “I feel like there is a really good music scene here in Melbourne and Victoria that goes out to the rest of Australia.

“Bringing the wider Australian community into a festival and forging new relationships has always been a big part of Cookin’ On 3 Burners. We are a collaborative band, so this is a way to have a chat with someone and maybe 12 or so months down the track you’re in the studio with them.” Cookin’ On 3 Burners are currently working on new material in the studio that they intend to showcase in a live setting. With the release of new tracks, a likely prospect for the second half of 2022. “At the moment our new songs are directed at being played in the studio. For the next month and a half we will be focusing on that, but then once we’ve done that, we will flip them into the live set.”

Cookin’ On 3 Burners will be playing Wanderer Festival, which runs from September 23-25 on the Sapphire Coast.