The Wattle Haus Showcase 02, held at Iceworks 3909 in Lakes Entrance on Saturday, July 18, brought this year’s East Gippsland Winter Festival to a fittingly creative close.
The month-long festival featured more than 100 events from June 19 to July 19 and has been described as one of regional Australia’s largest and most diverse winter festivals.
As the spiritual home of Wattle Haus — where the concept was first imagined — Iceworks provided the perfect setting. The garden came alive with colourful lighting, while a new firepit and outdoor seating created a welcoming space for patrons to gather and eat before heading inside to enjoy an evening of adventurous performance.
Host Ashley Carmody introduced Wattle Haus’ philosophy of “permaculture within the arts” before Panda and Goliath opened with gentle ukulele-driven neo-folk perfectly accompanied by animated projections drifting across the venue.
Ash Carmody returned to perform heartfelt original songs inspired by years busking around the world, reaffirming his role as one of East Gippsland’s driving forces behind grassroots arts events.
Curiosity peaked with Conscript, featuring 13-year-old Pepper and his backing musicians. Pepper delivered a haunting performance of Rudyard Kipling’s anti-war poem Boots over a heavy industrial, Nine Inch Nails-inspired soundtrack composed by Jake Carmichael. The set concluded with a new original piece War Shall Consume, featuring Pepper on baritone horn with Nick Fischer on drums and Loki on bass. It proved one of the night’s standout performances and has since attracted significant attention on social media.
Throughout the evening, artist Rachel Pollac created a large live painting inspired by the performances, producing dreamlike landscapes that echoed the atmosphere of the event.
Jake Carmichael’s trio with Nick Fischer on drums and Loki on bass then journeyed from a soulful interpretation of an Etta James classic into increasingly dark and experimental territory, using striking contrasts between delicate passages and crushing intensity to create a compelling musical narrative.
After a brief break, the wild man Electric Yeti cranked it up to 11. Blending heavy originals with covers including Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, Queens of the Stone Age’s Hanging Tree and an encore of the Misfits’ Where Eagles Dare, he had the crowd dancing within minutes and confirmed himself as one of the region’s most exciting live performers.
Closing the evening, Hamburg experimental duo Subclass 820 delivered an absorbing avant-garde performance combining modular electronica, looping vocals, projections and recordings of Far East Gippsland’s rivers and birdlife. With costumed Nele Zun weaving through the audience while Sasha Kruse sculpted evolving soundscapes, the duo demonstrated that bold experimental art has a thriving audience well beyond the big cities. Live vocal looping and striking projections transformed the venue into an absorbing audiovisual experience that held the audience’s attention until the final note. It was a compelling reminder that bold experimental art has an audience in regional Victoria.
Supported by The Local Metung and The Forge Theatre, Wattle Haus once again proved that regional arts don’t have to behave.
The next Wattle Haus Showcase at Iceworks 3909 is planned for September. Watch this space.
busking travels. (PS)
industrial soundscapes. (PS)
