Shepparton folk, Melbourne Cup weekend is going to be a huge one and not for the races. The Shepparton showgrounds will become home to brand new all-ages music festival, Land Of Plenty, stamping their debut with a mega lineup of national talent. Hip hop superstar, Illy co-headlines with Sydney coast boys, Ocean Alley, and are joined by Briggs, Alex The Astronaut, Slowly Slowly, Ocean Grove, and current ARIA number 1 record holder Tones and I, Eliott, DRMNGNOW, Jack Botts, Heard Instinct Collective, Pick of the Crop winner, Charlie Mccosh and straight fire sets from killer DJs.
After a huge year taking out the triple j Hottest 100 with their major groove, ‘Confidence’ and landing eighth spot with ‘Knees’, Ocean Alley have followed up their Chiaroscuro bangers with yet another two hot contenders. ‘Stained Glass’ shattered our hearts in February and ‘Infinity’ infected our ears on 6 June, both tracks rhythm guitarist Mitch Galbraith teases may be part of a new album to come.
“’Infinity’ and ‘Stained Glass’ could possibly make it onto our next LP release and we’ve kind of been spending time in between touring this year to write more music and record it in the studio and get demos and just start that process but there’s no real date or timeline to get the record out but there will probably be another record sometime next year,” Galbraith says.
The two tracks will also be making an appearance in their Land of Plenty setlist. This year the boys have been no strangers to the regional stage. They recently ventured out to Lucindale as Triple J’s carry on for the delightful One Night Stand.
“That’s a festival that champions small regional areas and when we got the offer to join Land of Plenty we definitely wanted to sign up because it’s part of the country that we don’t get down to visit as often as others when you get the opportunity it’s definitely worthwhile and play to those wonderful people in central north Victoria.”
In the spirit of the festival and the township of Plenty, we asked the hard questions including, what do you have plenty of? A heart-warming response is what followed:
“I have plenty of lovely supportive friends and family and I think that’s one of the main things that makes people happy in life; just having plenty of friends and people to share their life journey with. That was pretty deep, was that too much?” Galbraith says. “I’ve also got plenty of 5c pieces in my coin tray that I won’t be sorting through any time soon [laughs].”
Echoing Galbraith’s humble answer is fellow surfer and line-up sharer, Jack Botts.
“That’s a good question. I think plenty of happiness and good times this year. It’s been good,” he laughs. “We could have said plenty of beers or nights out!”
Jack Botts has been forging a name for himself as a musician to watch with his dreamy EP’s and killer support slots. His recent release ‘Northern River’s’ pays homage to his home time in NSW and the coastal lifestyle similar to that of Ocean Alley.
“I guess it’s that coastal life. It’s pretty easy going and pretty relaxed and most of the time you’re pretty happy and I think carries over into your music as well. It’s kind of just a way of life,” he says.
Botts played at Big Sound this year and has been touring endlessly throughout 2019 (in his car as a lone wolf), supporting some of our favourite Aussie acts.
“We’ve been doing heaps of support tours this year which has been cool playing to heaps of different kinds of audiences and different demographics. I’ve been playing with the Pierce Brothers and John Floreani and I’ve got Ash [Grunwald] coming up. It’s been cool to tap into different types of audiences and they’ve all been super nice to me.”
Crowd continue that support as he hits Land of Plenty.
It’s set to take over the Shepparton Showgrounds on Saturday 2 November. Grab a ticket to Land of Plenty at landofplentyfestival.com
Written by Tammy Walters
