The Keeps Rolling

THE TINY BASS COAST COMMUNITY OF ARCHIES CREEK IS NOW OFFICIALLY HOME TO VICTORIA’S LEADING REGIONAL MUSIC VENUE, WHICH CONSISTENTLY ATTRACTS SOME OF THE FINEST AND BEST-KNOWN PERFORMERS FROM AUSTRALIA AND OVERSEAS.

It is often said that crisis creates opportunity.

Peter Foley had already relocated his hugely popular Caravan Music Club from Melbourne to the Archies Creek Hotel before the onset of the COVID pandemic in early 2020 threatened to pull the plug on the entire live music industry.

Together with his partner Mary Howlett, Peter had bought the pub at Archies Creek in 2019 with the intention of it being a retirement business. His sister Sue, who has been a big part of the Caravan story, also acquired an ownership interest in the hotel.

Peter says that after organising, promoting and hosting in excess of 1,300 live shows under his Caravan Music Club brand in Melbourne over the course of more than a decade he had reached a point where he was ready to slow down.

“The plan was for Mary and I to run this quiet little country pub and hold a few small gigs in the corner. I would continue to look after the music side which has always been my baby. However, the circumstances quite by accident led to it becoming very different to what we had originally envisaged. Ironically, it turns out we have never worked harder,” he muses.

As major cities around Australia entered COVID lockdowns in 2020, live music venues were plunged into silence virtually overnight. Smaller venues in regional areas which were less hampered by restrictions became a saving grace for the musicians who had suddenly lost access to the places where they perform their work.

During lockdown, Peter and Mary transformed the Archies Creek Hotel into an incredible live music venue with the help of a small group of their network of friends from the music and radio scene including 3RRR personality Jon von Goes. The pub has been equipped with both an indoor stage for smaller, more intimate shows, and an outdoor stage for larger gigs where the audience can either sit close to the performers or congregate further to the back on a grassy hill where it is possible to talk whilst still appreciating the music.

“This place has a great festival vibe and some really odd quirks about it, but most of the great venues are quirky,” Peter suggests.

“It’s not perfect, but it works. A lot of it is more down to luck rather than any special insight from me,” he adds modestly.

Peter also established an arrangement to utilise the Archies Creek Community Hall next door to the pub for some of the Caravan Music Club’s indoor performances. He has also equipped this all-weather facility with a fully produced stage and lighting. Around twenty to twenty-five gigs a year are held in the hall, which is particularly beneficial during the winter months when the outdoor stage at the pub is less suitable.

“Looking back at how things have progressed in our time at Archies Creek to date, there is no doubt that COVID contributed to us getting established quicker and becoming more successful here than we possibly would have under normal circumstances,” Peter concedes.

“When all the venues were closed in Melbourne, we did seventy to eighty gigs and were getting two to three hundred people through the door. It just went absolutely gangbusters.”

Peter says the reputation and trust that the Caravan Music Club had built within the industry over more than a decade in Melbourne added to the willingness of high calibre performers to come to Archies Creek.

“We were able to attract bigger names than what we might have normally got, such as Julia Stone,” he states.

“Mark Seymour was another example of someone who hadn’t played venues like ours for years. All of a sudden, performers of that ilk were coming here because they couldn’t play in the big venues in the cities that were locked down. They really liked it and have come back. Mark Seymour was back only a few weeks ago. Joe Camilleri is another one who loves it here and they all do really.”

The Caravan Music Club now brings a veritable who’s who of musical talent to Archies Creek on a consistent basis. Amongst the most recognisable names to have performed at the venue in recent weeks have been Ella Hooper, Mick Pealing and Brian Cadd to name just a few. Headline acts coming up in March alone include Tim Rogers, The Whitlams Black Stump Band and Grammy Award winning American songstress Judy Collins.