Leave Your Monday to Friday Behind at Music in the Podium!

Music in the Podium continues this month at Warners Bay with a host of great acts lining up to kick off your weekend in style. Grab a picnic basket and head to Warners Bay Foreshore on a Friday night – we guarantee the work week that’s just passed will be a distant memory by 9pm! There’s a couple of acts that you truly won’t want to miss this month.

Spank N the Monkey Duo (21 Feb 2020) – It’s hard to believe that Spank N the Monkey are turning 13 this year. Like any rampaging teenager, this act just doesn’t seem to want to comply. If you’re used to duos who seem to be a part of the furniture and try hard not to interrupt your evening, you’re in for a shock.

Muzz Roach founded Spank N the Monkey with his then guitarist in the hope of capitalising on the tired duo scene that had developed in the Newcastle area at the turn of the millennium. The thriving pub rock scene of the 80's and 90's as giving way to inane DJs and do-little soloist and duo acts. The brief was to create a duo using available sequenced backing files, stripping them back to their fundamental instrument tracks, removing the artificial layers of musical gizz and relaying them live at the shows with solid guitar riffs, powerful lead vocals and harmonies and plenty of charm on stage.

But what name for this act? Ideas came and went between serious discussions. It took a shared bottle of scotch and a torrent of stupid drunken suggestions one evening before “Spank N the Monkey” arose out of the ether. The boys knew almost instantly that the name encapsulated what they wanted to do.

Bring your dancing shoes, because these boys will get you singing along, dancing and clapping for more of your favourite tunes.

Love That Hat Trio (28 Feb 2020) – LTH will be oozing fun at their gigs and this is just what you can expect from this trio, amping up the dag factor with songs by ELO, Pilot, The Buggles and more while slyly impressing you with their jaw-dropping interpretations of classics by Queen, Kate Bush, Guns n Roses and Led Zeppelin, amongst others.

You will remember Sue for her spectacular performances in several of Newcastle′s favourite acts including Sligo Maid, Killkenny and The Sue & Mikey Show.

Dave Carter has performed with almost every single Australian musician, alive and dead, that has ever graced a stage within 50 miles of Newcastle. And he doesn′t look a day over 70! He currently performs with The Cooch Potatoes, Gas, 24 Strings and Newcastle′s favourite madcap duo The Loonatic Fringe. David is another multi-instrumentalist, being a dab hand at the guitar, bass, piano, banjo, bagpipes and Irish pipes. He has an amazing collection of musical instruments, some he has even built himself!!!

Mikey has been breaking new ground in the Newcastle music industry for more years than he cares to remember. Although involved in numerous high profile, successful bands including Swanee, The Curvettes, Hussy, Killkenny and The Sue & Mikey Show (the latter two with Sue), Mikey′s biggest claim to fame (or notoriety) would have to be his role in the legendary Funbusters, where his skills as idiot front-man and quirky lead guitarist became a trendsetting style. Mikey′s seamless adaptability from rock, Celtic, and folk to commercial material is well respected within the musical fraternity.

Music in the Podium runs from 6pm until 9pm on Friday evenings. Follow Music on the Podium on Facebook and Instagram for updates on bands and weather cancellations. For more information, visit www.warnersbay.net.au

Words: Di von Essen