The best of Adelaide's music scene takes centre stage in the city's East End when West Thebarton headline the fifth instalment of A Day Of Clarity.
The annual, free music festival has become a staple of the local live music landscape over the past five years, organised by the legends at Clarity Records. “Footy [Matt] and Laura at Clarity Records are such a positive force in the Adelaide music scene,” West Thebarton guitarist Josh Battersby says.
“They have put out a couple of songs for us on a seven-inch [vinyl] in the past, and we launched our album there… I'm trying to say they've been a very positive force behind the band and always helping us push forward.
“It's amazing to be part of the [Clarity] line-up again this year after not playing for a couple of years because we've been away. They've put on an awesome line-up, and it's just awesome to see how the event has evolved over the years as well.”
In addition to West Thebarton, the line-up for A Day Of Clarity also features the likes of Camp Cope, Clowns, Jen Cloher, Loose Tooth and Falcifer as part of a 40-plus strong contingent of local and interstate bands.
With the release of West Thebarton's debut album 'Different Beings Being Different' last year, Josh says they'll be looking at performing more of a wide-ranging set list for A Day Of Clarity. “We've been trying to give a lot of the new songs we've been playing a road test – [A Day Of Clarity] is a good platform to try out new stuff,” he says.
“We were playing the album songs for a long time before the album came out and then we were playing them for a long time since the album came out, so it's cool to change up the show a bit. At the same time also, there's been a few songs pre-album that we haven't played for a long time so I think we're trying to bring some very early West Theb tracks back out as well.”
It's a sad fact of being in a band that sometimes you lose members along the way, a brutal reality with which West Thebarton recently became acquainted when guitarist/ percussionist Brian Bolado had his prized red tambourine pinched by heartless, brazen thieves.
“Brian had that [tambourine] for the whole time he's been in the band, maybe six or so years now. We've been around the world with it,” Josh says.
The whole incident played out on Facebook in a farce of Fawlty Towers proportions that has been dubbed 'Tambo-gate'. Rest assured though, Tambo-gate has been resolved with a little help from their manager, as Josh explains.
“Our manager Tank, who is originally from the UK, he used to manage [English rock band] Reef and I believe Tank told his parents we were missing a tambourine, and they sent Brian a tambourine that Tank believes might have been Gary's [Stringer] from Reef. We're going to have to fasten it to Brian in some way so no one can steal it.”
