The countdown to Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival #6 continues.

You’d have to think hard to come up with a more evocative name than Catfish Voodoo for a high energy, low-down boogie Chicago blues band. The Melbourne-based five-piece will be making their Festival debut next month.

Catfish Voodoo mix original material with their own take on early 1950s blues classics. Their 2015 album Live At Way Out West Blues Club captures their barrel house sound.

Vocalist Julian James was in Bendigo last November. “I came as a punter to last year’s Festival. The crowds are very appreciative. We’re really looking forward to playing there for the first time.”
Bendigonians will get three chances to see Catfish Voodoo at this year’s Festival, including a prime-time afternoon slot in Rosalind Park on the Saturday.

Kenta Hayashi is another Festival first-timer. The Japanese singer-songwriter takes the term ‘one man band’ to a whole new level. He layers vocals, guitar, percussion, effects and electronic beats through a loop pedal, resulting in a fused blend of ‘psychedelic dub jazz’.

Kenta Hayashi’s energy isn’t confined to the stage. His Bendigo stop-off will be one of 41 on the Australian leg of a world tour that has already taken in over 20 countries. Hayashi will play three times at the Festival, including Saturday mid-evening at Rocks on Rosalind.

A week prior to the Festival, on Thursday, October, 28 the Ulumbarra Theatre hosts Aussie rock icon Tex Perkins.

In Far From Folson, multi-tasking rock ‘n’ roll outlaw Perkins once again visits the songs of Johnny Cash. An appropriate event for the Ulumbarra, perhaps, given its history. Perkins joins forces with the Tennessee Four in a show that draws on Cash’s 1960s prison concerts at Folsom and San Quentin.

Far From Folsom journeys to the heart of Johnny Cash’s music, showcasing Perkins’ obvious reverence for the Man In Black.

For radio listeners who want a bit of variety, a Bendigo-based alternative show is steadily building a following. On The Wires of Our Nerves is hosted by Mick Derrick on Saturday afternoons from 2-4pm on Phoenix 106.7FM. It’s worth tuning-in for what I can only describe as a varied listening experience.

Challenging even.

Derrick offers up jazz, punk, post-punk, industrial, metal, electronic, experimental, hardcore and some generally weird stuff. His show is never dull. You’re as likely to hear an experimental 1960s recording of people clanking different length iron bars together as a one minute blast of nu-punk from an obscure collective out of Portland. Open your ears and give it a try.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is, however, someone you’re not likely to hear on Mick Derrick’s show. But she will be performing to a sold-out Ulumbarra Theatre on Friday, October, 28. Bendigo is one of only a few cities she’s visiting on this short tour. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be accompanied by acclaimed pianist Terence Dennis.