Watch out for Rosie Burgess Trio
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Watch out for Rosie Burgess Trio

Sometimes it’s hard to fit people into boxes, and The Rosie Burgess Trio (Rosie Burgess, Sam Lohs
and Tim Bennett) are no exception. Hailing from Carnegie in Victoria, the trio slides from folk to blues to gypsy-roots and back, they cross more genres than state borders, giving off “more energy than an illegally sparked firecracker” whilst still maintaining their unmistakable flavour. We chat to Rosie ahead of their Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival appearance.

Congrats on landing a slot at the Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival. Have you played the festival before?
Yeah, we played a couple of years ago! There’s so many different things to go and see, and you can see music in all different places. One of the gigs that we did was at the end of an alley way, which was super fun. It was a nice, intimate feeling because everyone kind of crowded into the alley way. We did an acoustic number as well, so we stood in amongst the crowd and it was really fun.

Did you stay for the whole weekend and enjoy the festival?
Yeah, we did. They put us up in the caravan park with all of the other artists on the block, so it was a lot of fun. A bunch of friends were also playing, so we got to see their gigs, and we did our gigs, and it was wall-to-wall music for the whole three days that we were there. It was totally pumping.

Do you get to gig much during the year together, or do you save it for these special times?
We were playing full-time together up until a couple of years ago, and then I’ve taken a bit of a break from that project. So we’ve just been doing more intermittent festivals here and there, which has been really special. We’ve been pursuing a few other projects at the moment, so it’s really awesome to get back together and have a go. We’ve just started a new band the Tuck Shop Ladies, which is me and Sam on ukuleles, and it’s kind of like a comedy band. That’s taking up quite a lot of our time at the moment which is super fun. For us, music is life and life is music, and all of it intertwines into one bit conglomerate of awesomeness.

Is there anything you’re looking forward to on returning to Bendigo?
I think the community is so great. When people come out, they’re really coming out to have a good time, and we like to share that; what works for us works for you, what works for you works for us. It becomes a bit of a symbiotic thing. Also, there’s a really nice guitar shop that I’m looking forward to going back to. We like to get around and I remember there’s a big lake in the town that we took a nice walk around and had a bit of a snooze under a tree. There’s a whole bunch of great pubs and lot of good… Oh, we had awesome Vietnamese food when we were in Bendigo last time.

Have you decided what your set is going to look like this year?
No, not yet. It’ll be my trio, me, Sam and Tim, and we do fly by the seat of our pants a bit. We’ll just see how we feel in the half an hour before we play each set to decide what we’re actually going to play. We’ve been playing together for almost 10 years, so we can lock in pretty easily and we’ve got a big catalog of songs to draw from. Our main shtick is to get out there and have a lot of fun. We also might cameo a little Tuck Shop Ladies song here or there.

Are you going to go down for the whole time?
Yeah. I think we’ll be there from Friday to Sunday. There’s always lots of our mates playing because it’s such a big festival, and there’s so many different bands playing, that it’s a really good chance for us to see our friends play. Otherwise, we’re always working every weekend, and so are they, and unless we’re at a festival together, we don’t get to see each other play.

Make sure you check them out in Bendigo this November.

For more information and updates on the latest music gigs leading up to and across the festival weekend, jump onto the website at www.bendigobluesandroots.com.au.