Skipping Girl Vinegar

The sheer power of showcasing at Melbourne’s roots festival the AWME (Australasian Worldwide Music Expo) is phenomenal. This year the three day event returns to Melbourne in November, bringing together up and coming musicians like Mojo Juju and Ngaiire, with industry professionals from all over the world.
Point Lonsdale based Skipping Girl Vinegar headline the opening night, and they are stoked for their return to the Playhouse Theatre.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to go back into the room and to be part of the AWME which is a really remarkable event,” vocalist Mark Lang says.
“All these great agents and people from all around the world come in there, so to be able to showcase this new album and this new performance in that environment, should be really special.”
With this show, the band promises an “immersive experience” filled with moving projections. As it is their last set of the year with the full band, it seems only poetic that it’s in their hometown.
“I mean, Melbourne’s our hometown, and it appears that we only play at the Playhouse Theatre in Melbourne,” Mark laughs.
“[We’re] making it a very special and immersive event that you can’t really do in pubs and things like that, so it’s a great way to round up a year in Melbourne for sure!”
In what has been a huge year for the indie-rock outfit, the last time Skipping Girl Vinegar were at the Playhouse Theatre was for the launch of their latest album The Great Wave. Created entirely along the coast, the album has special significance for Mark, whose wife was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer at the time.
“It’s really about the kind of release of moving away from the city, going through a challenging thing, and for healing from the environment we were in and around – travelling through that journey and out the other side into recovery,” he says.
“I think most of it’s really about a celebration of life,” he shares. “We’ve sort of had a lot of feedback from people saying that it’s a very well articulated album in their own journey and has been very helpful for them – that’s kind of what powerful art is.”
Giving a shout out to the crew at Geelong’s Andrew Love Cancer Centre, “The nurses there are remarkable. We are actually very fortunate for the amazing teams of people that live around us.” Mark’s personal circumstances aren’t the only unique facet of the album recorded in Point Lonsdale.
“We would go around the town into these weird little abandoned halls and places and record vocals with the natural reverbs playing around, so you can kind of hear the sound of the ocean behind it. There’s this authenticity that happens to a record when you have a sense of place to it,” he says.
“The album is really written about that little town, and about the side of the coast, which, to me, is the best side of the coast,” he adds. “I write a lot of my lyrics riding my bike along the sea wall down there.”
As Skipping Girl Vinegar headline opening night of AWME, they have their sights set on re entering the US market early next year, and they have some smart advice for attendees.
“If you have the opportunity, while you’re playing at this event, to actually go see other artists and network… it kind of opens up the doors,” he says.
Written by Jessica Morris
The AWME is on from November 12-14 at the Arts Centre Melbourne, Max Watts, Shebeen, The Toff, Ding Dong and Lounge. Tickets available at awme.com.au.