Bacchus Marsh musician Benjamin Dowd has been in new garage rock band Apes for only just over a year, but he’s already making his mark on the Australian music scene.
Together with fellow Bacchus muso Sam Reale, Dowd and the four piece Apes (formerly known as the Boo Hoo Hoo’s) have already taken out Triple J’s Unearthed competition on the back of rockin’ new track Seven, and performed at Melbourne’s Big Day Out in January.
Dowd, 21, who manages bands at Bacchus’ Border Inn says the BDO experience was ‘‘insane’’.
‘‘It was just a really different experience,’’ he said. ‘‘To meet some of the international acts and see how they operate was great. I met the singer from Deathgrips, he was insane on stage, but so relaxed off it.
‘‘We’re not very similar, we get up to a few antics in real life (laughs).’’
Apes and fellow Bacchus Marsh band Hollow Everdaze will feature at the 12th annual Myrniong Music Festival on Saturday, March 23 and event organiser Alan Baulcher said the festival was building a very loyal following.
‘‘The first year we had 150 attend we expect in excess of 1000 this year,’’ he said.
The event was started up by elected volunteers of the Myrniong Recreation Reserve Committee.
‘‘We were concerned at the time that the reserve was getting very little use,’’ he said. ‘‘Our love for music as well played a part so from humble beginnings Myrniong Music in the Park began.’’
The festival kicks off from 1pm at the Myrniong Recreation Reserve and will run in conjunction with community stalls.
Stall holders can contact Karen from the Myrniong Primary school on 53687 232 to register.
All funds raised on the day go towards the upkeep of the reserve.
