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arts events leisure Better Days ahead as Sunset Sounds sets live music alight again

The Hastings Foreshore Reserve is set to be rocking with Sunset Sounds on November 28. On this day, the iconic festival Sunset Sounds will be delighting music lovers with an epic Sunday session. Starting at 1pm – gates open at noon – the event will generate a buzz until 8pm with an impressive line-up of some of Australia’s top singer-songwriters. You can expect to enjoy the sounds of Xavier Rudd, Pete Murray, Kasey Chambers, Josh

Pyke, Ben Lee, The Church, Kyle Lionhart and D’arcy Spiller.

Mornington Peninsula Magazine scored the chance to speak to Pete about the upcoming event. Pete is an Australian singer-songwriter who has had three albums reach No.1 on the Australian ARIA charts, been nominated several times for an ARIA and had multiple songs reach the Top 40 in Australia. Motivated to always give 110 per cent and maintain his success, Pete’s jumped out of the gates this year with a new EP (and another that’s slated for release soon). It’s called The Night and has spawned Found My Place and If We Never Dance Again. He’s even appearing on SAS Australia on Channel 7 as a contestant. Pete told us that he’s planning a setlist that has a mix of old songs and some new ones from the new EPs that he’s received great feedback from already. So does he hold one of his six albums closer to his heart than others? “They’re all equal,” said Pete. “All of the albums are from different stages in my career. Feeler (2003) was successful and sold six platinum in Australia (450,000 copies) and earned 12 ARIA Award nominations. Yet it wasn’t necessarily my favourite. I really enjoy my recent work because it’s fresh and the new EPs have

received the best reviews since the Feeler album. I enjoy them and I look forward to playing both EPs, especially as I wrote the songs specifically to sound excellent live. The songs I wrote years ago I didn’t think about writing for live performances; some are mellow and some are more upbeat. The songs that you can sing along to, like Better Days (See The Sun 2005), are the best to get the audience truly involved.” Feeler spent more than two and a half years in the Top 100 and introduced the world to Pete’s classic So Beautiful, which became the Most Performed Australian Song of The Year. While the new songs were in the pipeline for a few years, they demand a lot of time in the studio to perfect. “Since the early days of Feeler, I’ve had a rep for being a great live performer, and I love performing live music. After last year, it will be great to step back on stage. It will be so good to blow out the cobwebs and get back out there.” Pete’s performed across the Peninsula and Frankston before and credits the fun vibes, packed pubs, small venues and coastal atmosphere for creating memorable shows. General public tickets for Sunset Sounds go on sale at 10am on Friday, July 2. KATE SEARS