MAIN ROOM / $20 Door
Join The Offtopics and special guests Kylie Auldist, Madeleine Clare, DJ Vince Peach and That Gold Street Sound as they celebrate the launch of “Tomorrow Is A Month Away” at The Retreat Hotel on Saturday 30 November.
“TOMORROW IS A MONTH AWAY” is the long-awaited studio album from Brunswick’s own purveyors of punch-drunk funk and unsteady rocksteady, The Offtopics. Months in the making, the album showcases some of the band’s most danceable tracks as they skip lightly across multiple genres of pre-electronic dance music. From the New Orleans funk of the instrumental “Brunswick Strut” to the bombastic soul of “Love Wombat” to the summery reggae sounds of “Love Lovely Day”, the album offers hip shaking, booty swirling value with 12 songs featured on the limited-edition vinyl and a massive 16 tracks on the CD!
This epic piece of work was co-produced by the band’s own funk dynamo Polash Larsen and celebrated theatrical sound designer and engineer Darius Kedros (Tim Minchin, Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre) with some additional engineering by Danny O’Keefe (Lily Street Studios). The album features a striking cover by Brunswick artist, illustrator and designer Rebecca Stewart.
All songs were arranged by the band which includes Linc Yow Yeh (The Deans of Soul, Kutcha Edwards), Tim Webb (The Oxo-Cubans, Johnny Longshot), Huw Gregory (Chicha Ye Ye, Les Ye Ye Girls) and Richard Giles (Short Order Schefs, The Perfections). Along the way they were joined by musical friends and family, namely Marlene Samson (Bruha Bee, The Fix Ups), Jess Isgro, Tamara White, Nami Nelson, Mark Bretherton (This Frozen Star and formerly The Offtopics), Stu Earl (Elvis Big Band and formerly The Offtopics), Nick Pearce (Speakeasy), Emelia Wilmot (The Deans of Soul, Treehouse) and Basil Byrne (The Deans of Soul, Belly Savalas).
AT THE LAUNCH PARTY, The Offtopics will feature special guest appearances from Melbourne’s very own Queen of Soul, Kylie Auldist as well as Madeleine Clare, an up-and-coming chanteuse of torch songs and badarse ballads. They’re promising an extended set as they set out to recreate the sounds of the album in what is, astonishingly, their ONLY Melbourne show for 2024!
IN SUPPORT, the very acme of Melbourne Soul bands, That Gold Street Sound will take the stage for their first Melbourne show since April. They’ve been secluding themselves in the studio, working on what will be their own very exciting album. We hope The Retreat stage can handle them in all their 8-piece majesty.
CLOSING THE NIGHT, legendary 3PBS DJ Vince Peach will play a set of carefully curated soul bangers. We’re absolutely thrilled to have this iconic figure of Melbourne Soul, who’s fresh off marking an incredible 40 years of Soul Time cap off proceedings at the launch party where we celebrate, not only The Offtopics’ achievement with “Tomorrow Is A Month Away” but our extended Melbourne Soul family as well.
A selection of limited-edition vinyl, CDs, T-shirts and other merch will be available for purchase on the night.
The Retreat Hotel would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which The Retreat now stands, and pay our respects to all elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded and that our venue operates on stolen land.