Coming up at The Orphanage
| 26/07 | Lianna Rose |
|---|---|
| 23/08 | The Harmonators |
| 27/09 | Katie Brianna |
| 25/10 | Racz 'n Waters |
| 22/11 | The Huckleberry Swedes |
The Mars Hill Café
Mars Hill Café is a local music and art venue as well as a cool place to hang out.
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About The Orphanage Sessions
Original Australian country/roots music in one of Sydney's intimate and personal venues.
The Orphans and Mars Hill Café present unique monthly music sessions from original Australian country/roots musicians who will come together to perform live in an environment that is close and personal.
The Orphanage Sessions start in February with songwriter Caitlin Harnett and feature Sam Hawksley, Jessica Belle, Dave Walls and Karl Broadie in the following months. Come and join us in listening to some of the best musicians of Australian country/roots in this unique and intimate environment.
Orphans meet their own at "The Orphanage Sessions"
By Craig Moffatt
I often frequent a café in Parramatta called the Mars Hill Café and owner Kevin Crouse asked me if I could interview co-founder and creator Nick Payne of The Orphans who have decided to take live music into their own hands.
When speaking to one half of The Orphans, Nick Payne, who plays guitar for the very gifted Lyn Taylor, he comes across as passionate and determined to get this unique and original live music gig off the ground so the music lovers of Australian roots will have a place of their own and hopefully gain some new listeners and fans of roots music who would like to see great music in a setting which is laid back and intimate.
When I ask him about the reason why The Orphanage Sessions are being played at a café instead of a pub or club he bluntly replies.
Nick: Partly for selfish reasons. We got tired of playing to half empty rooms of drunk middle-aged men who didn't want to listen to us. So instead of playing for someone else we though why don't we organize some gigs the way we'd like a gig to be. But also partly because I’ve really struggled to find good gigs to go to as a punter - especially gigs showcasing country/roots artists.
In a city which hardly offers Australian roots and alt-country musicit's hard to find wonderful and passionate musicians who tour the Sydney circuit so that is another reason The Orphans want to put on something as ground-breaking as this series of live music gigs. I ask Nick what will musicians who have decided to be headliners and new and devoted fans get out of the experience.
Nick: I expect firstly that there will be some great, raw music that connects with the soul. But as well as being able to sit back and hear music that's real, the nature of the venue is such that you can be right there on top of the artist and hopefully participate with the Musos and the music in a way that you just can't do in a big venue.
As I listen to him talk to me so passionately about the idea I ask how The Orphanage sessions was conceived.
Nick: Lyn and I got asked to fill in for Fiona Kernaghan who was playing a series of gigs one weekend late last year with Natalie D-Napoleon. Fiona was coming out from L.A. to play and Natalie was coming from Fremantle to support her. Fiona had to cancel at the last minute so Natalie headlined and we stepped in at the last minute to support her. One of the gigs was at the hill and there was a good sized crowd there and we had a great gig. In doing so it really struck me how good a venue Mars Hill is when you've got a crowd of people in the room who really want to listen to music. So we cornered Kevin that same night to say we'd like play more gigs at the hill but also put some effort into making them special. He was all for it and as we talked the idea through over the coming weeks it began to formulate into the orphanage sessions. What really got me excited though was that every single artist I spoke to about playing was really interested. Even some of the well known artists who I thought wouldn't be interested in playing a "small" gig loved the idea of an intimate venue with a focus on being able to see who you're playing to and interact with them.
While speaking to Nick about the epic Orphanage Sessions I realized it is a great opportunity for people who live in Sydney who love this genre of music and for people who want to expand their tastes in music to come to a place where the atmosphere is intimate, passionate and warm. Where you can enjoy live music and be apart of something that has never been done in Greater Sydney and you don’t have to travel too far to see what Australian roots and country musicians have to offer.