With an Irish punk swagger that hearts Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, Melbourne-based energetic rockers Unbroken Expanse's newest release is the rambunctious, rollicking 'Bootstrap Billy'.
Based on a mythical character known as Bootstrap Billy, Unbroken Expanse first cut their teeth in the dusty township of Tennant Creek located in the centre of Northern Territory."Bootstrap Billy was a character. He sure knew how to spin a yarn," the band says. "He was always keen for a good time and he didn't mind rolling up his sleeves either.
"He loved a drink and loved a laugh, and he loved to dance along to the band. As long as anyone had known him, he never took off his boots. He'd been on some wild adventures in those boots."
'Bootstrap Billy' is the follow-up to the band's 2019 single 'Go'.
Here, the band heart their home town, Tennant Creek, giving five solid reasons to pack your swag and head to the red centre. Do it!
See a gig at one of the local watering holes
Tennant Creek always turns out for live music happening around town. It could be the Tableland Drifters at Peko Park. Or Dr Flouride at Jackson's Bar. Neil Murray at Nyinkka Nyunyu.Quite often you'll find The Longtails at The Memo. Maybe Colourfide at Fernanda's. And sometimes TC gets lucky enough to host some of Australia's more well-known musical acts and comedians as they pass through the golden heart of the Territory.
Whatever it may be, the people of the Barkly generally rock up to have a good time and support their local musical talent as well as look for any reason to have a laugh and a dance.
Play two-up at the RSL on Anzac Day
Every Anzac Day, once the official services and ceremonies have come to an end, the stage gets set for the one day of the year where the game of two-up is traditionally played.The marquee tent out the back of the RSL, erected for one day only, plays home to the manic joy and the deflated sorrow of winning and losing two-up. People with their beers and rum cans shouting "head 'em up" and "tails now c'mon!", trying to sway the momentum of the coins being tossed in the air.
It holds a special place in our heart as we would always play at the RSL on Anzac Day right after sunset when the two-up finished for the day.
Head to the Mary Ann Dam
The Warumungu mob call it Tingkkarli. The council calls it Lake Mary Ann. We always just called it 'The Dam'. It has many stories and many memories for us as a band. We played our first real gig there and played many more there after that.I was told a myth that the site was a women's dreaming and that only men had ever drowned or come to any other unfortunate ending there. That never stopped us from treating that place like a second home.
Swimming to the pontoon. Jumping off the footbridge that ran across its western edge. Drinking as teenagers sitting at the picnic tables. Laying on the rolling grass looking up at the stars.
Any night you wanted to go for a decent cruise, The Dam was where you would nearly automatically go.
Get around Desert Harmony Festival
From interactive bicycle art installations to cabaret nights, Indigenous dance workshops to street parades, circus performances to opera concerts. There is always something worth having a look or having a go at during the Desert Harmony Festival.It truly brings together everyone from in town and all the communities from the Barkly bush for a week or so of all kinds of action and fun.
It is the main annual project for the local arts organisation – Barkly Regional Arts. Coloured Stone, Dyson, Stringer & Cloher and Shelley Morris have all been artists to grace the stages during DHF.
We, Unbroken Expanse, even put on our own 'fringe event' called JegFest one year, inviting some of Darwin and Tennant Creek's finest rock bands to electrify the DHF crowd and give everyone something to remember.
Watch the local football
In Tennant Creek, footy is religion. Not even joking. Football season comes round and the local league commences for the year. Two town teams, Janapurlalki Eagles and The Sporties' Spitfires, and several community teams duke it out each year to see who can be the victor by season's end.Fans are fuelled with fire on Saturdays when football matches begin. Flags and shirts and hats, and painted faces, and painted cars with each team's colours adorn the fans all around the Purkiss Reserve football oval grounds. Five bucks will get you in and the hot chips will set you back $2.50.
The kind of football played in Tennant is a different kind to what you see on TV. It's pure grassroots. It's all heart and passion. Heat and dust. Big tackles and big marks.
We, three Unbroken Expanse lads, played a few years for the senior Sporties squad and loved it immensely.
