Timber and Steel

Image Courtesy of Peasant Moon

***Read Part 1 Here***

Sydney alt-country duo Peasant Moon took their late-night folk and acoustic Americana sound to Toronto for Canadian Music (CMW) week last week. They kept some notes for us about their tour, discovering new artists and being on the road with a baby – here’s part two.

CMW Day 4.
It’s our last day playing CMW, and we are super excited to be playing the Sounds Australia Soundgallery with heaps of awesome Aussie artists. After kicking off the day with a coffee we head into the conference and attend a session on festivals – it’s interesting, but to be honest the business side of the music industry isn’t our favourite topic of conversation … we’d rather play music. We have a couple of beers at a microbrewery in town and then get ready for the Soundgallery showcase.

First up is an acoustic set from The Lazys, they’re loud, funny and so Aussie – a great way to set the scene for Soundgallery. Next is Lo Carmen, she’s rocking an awesome blue gingham dress with tambourines on her shoes. Her sexy vocals remind me of Hope Sandoval and she’s playing a set of witty songs, some written when she was a teenager. We love her.

HOWQUA is wearing the same shirt as Harvey and puts on a moving set. We’ve got 30 minutes and it’s amazing to play knowing there are heaps on industry-types in the venue.

We stick around to watch a brilliant Ella Fence from Queensland with her cinematic rock; haunting vocals and arrangements from producer Woodes; and a solid set by Demi Louise, who seems to have seriously won over the hearts of Canadians while she’s been here. It’s so cool to see so many amazing Aussie girls rocking the Supermarket! Sounds Australia do such an excellent job curating these events and we are so honoured to have been included.

[Aside: As of 11th May Sounds Australia was not funded by Catalyst which means their music export program will not be available after 31 December 2016. Please sign the following petition to let the government know how important music export is for Australian artists:
https://www.change.org/p/minister-communications-gov-au-saveoursounds-funding-for-sounds-australia?recruiter=55562947 ]

After seeing a bit of Russell Morris we make it over to the Horseshoe Tavern to watch The Sheepdogs and Diarrhea Planet as part of the Dine Alone x Sirius XM Showcase.

Post-CMW

We fly, family-style, from Toronto to Austin and arrive Saturday evening in time for Harvey to catch a captivating William Elliott Whitmore show that night at Sidewinder.

After contacting our mothers on Sunday morning (Mothers day!) we had an amazing Mexican breakfast at Lichas Cantina and discover the baby likes refried beans. The day was spent exploring South Congress and East Austin and then we did a little support for awesome local duo, The Division Men, at a cool dive bar, Hole in the Wall, that night.

On Monday we headed to Congress House Studios to record a couple of live tracks (for release in Australia later this year) which was a blast. We then head over to the Whisler’s courtyard to play a two set show in the blistering humidity.

Capped off our time in Austin with a bit of Dale Watson and His Lone Stars at the iconic Continental Club; obligatory on a Monday night in this town. Of course, Josie was asked to dance….

Peasant Moon’s next Sydney show is 22nd June, Acoustics Anonymous at Newtown Social Club with Sam Newton.