Entertainment
7 September, 2024
The Whitlams’ new act heading up
THE Whitlams’ Tim Freedman is excited to be bringing an “A-team of roots musicians” as part of his new country act, The Whitlams Black Stump, to Savannah in the Round in October.
The Whitlams were originally created in 1992 by Tim Freedman and other original members, who have since passed, and were named after former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.
The Australian band holds numerous achievements under their belt with their most notable being an ARIA Music Award for Song of the Year in 1998 for No Aphrodisiac.
Tim Freedman’s latest alternative-country project, the Whitlams Black Stump, was formed in 2021 and sees him and longtime Whitlams drummer Terepai Richmond joined by an A Team of roots musicians, reconstructing the best of The Whitlams’ repertoire with a small number of new songs.
The five-piece band features Tim on keys and lead vocals, Terepai Richmond on drums, Rod McCormack and Matt Fell who are both CMAA Producers of the Year, on banjo and bass, and young gun Ollie Thorpe on electric and pedal steel guitar.
With Mareeba the last stop on their national tour, Tim is excited about performing at Savannah in the Round.
After spending some time in Cairns during the lockdown, Tim sarcastically joked that his favourite part about Far North Queensland was the sluggish or “somnambulant” heat.
“I’m excited to let my new country band loose on a big stage. We really enjoyed playing at Blues Fest and the Gympie Muster and we can take it up another notch at Mareeba,” Tim said.
“I’ve played at the Tanks Art Centre a lot and during the lockdowns me and the Whitlams drummer holed up there for four weeks because we had to try get into South Australia to do some gigs, so we became fairly familiar with the surroundings.”
The new Black Stump band has been received well by crowds and Tim is eager to hear the response from the crowd at the Mareeba festival this year.
“Well it’s a new act, our debut album was in the country charts for three months and we have a few festivals coming up so it’s been successful in allowing us to play to new audiences which was the intention,” he said.
“I don’t know what to expect from the crowd, I heard it’s (the festival) been going well the last few years, we play at about 5pm when it’s cooling off so it should be good.”
He also explained how the name “Black Stump” came about for the new band.
“I chose Black Stump just to delineate the Whitlams country lineup from the four-piece Whitlams, I like it because it’s a very rural term, a very Australian term,” Tim said.
“It was actually first used to describe a court case in Sydney in 1830 because Black Stump was used in a perimeter conflict, but now it just sort of means agricultural you know.
“Like a black stump philosopher is a bloke who’s never been to university but he’ll still sit at the front bar and philosophise. So with it’s rural and Australian connotations, I think it suits the country act.”
Tickets are on sale now for Savannah in the Round. Go to www.savannahintheround.com.au
