‘Stars aligned’ to bring WAMusic Week to Albany with night of live, local music at 6D

A 10-day celebration of WA music is scheduled to spread to Albany on March 26, when some of the region’s finest homegrown talent joins seasoned rockers The Scotch of Saint James at Six Degrees.

For the first time, the State’s peak music body, WAMusic, will host WAMusic Week from March 19-28, with more than 60 events across regional and metropolitan WA to showcase our contemporary music scene.

The festival will reach the Great Southern thanks to Six Degrees manager Geoff Waldeck, who secured a $1500 grant to curate a line-up of local acts for a live music event.

Perth indie rockers The Scotch of Saint James, featuring ex-Albany musician Michael Paver, have been booked as the headline act.

Waldeck said the “stars aligned” to secure the talents of The Scotch of Saint James, who shot to fame in the noughties after winning the Triple J Unearthed prize.

They have since performed alongside some of the world’s biggest artists at Southbound, The Big Day Out, V Festival, and Groovin the Moo.

Albany alt-rockers Liz Dexic will launch their latest single at the show, followed by rising psychedelic-indie pop stars Spacedive.

“I think it’s awesome that we can highlight two local original acts, and especially one that is launching its new single,” Waldeck said.

Waldeck said he hoped to see an even bigger focus throughout regional WA on the development and promotion of original music.

“WAMusic Week will definitely assist this,” he said.

“We have some wonderful original musicians in Albany who don’t really get a shot at a lot of live performance locally — primarily for financial reasons — beyond some of our live events, the encouraging efforts at Wilson’s Brewery, and the Open Mic night at The White Star.

“I’d love to see this develop further.”

The WAMusic Week funding follows a $25,000 Federal Government boost late last year to launch The Revelator Series at Six Degrees, which aims to give regional musicians the opportunity to perform their original work.

Six Degrees was among 100 venues across Australia to share in the funding from Live Music Australia, designed to help live music venues rebuild their capacity after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waldeck has already held two Revelator Series shows, with the next show set to bring Denmark bands The Morsels, and General Admission — formerly Westy and the Benchwarmers — together on February 12.

“The support from the Albany community for original live music has actually been a little greater than I expected,” he said.

“There are a number of local acts that have contacted me and have asked to be considered for a performance at a show, and though I’m pretty slow at getting back to some of them, I certainly do endeavour to.”