Welcome to ‘Behind The Lines’, a new series of interviews where we talk to the people that make it all happen. Most of us don’t even begin to think about the timescale, logistics and work that goes in to make tours and large live events happen, so we thought we would reach out to those that deliver these musical spectacles. From sound techs, to lighting people, stage managers to promoters we thought we would find out what it takes to bring these events from the ideas table to reality.
With The Rockpit heading to the Mundi Mundi Bash this week to cover a festival nestled in the heart of outback New South Wales, we thought where better to start than with Birdsville Big Red Bash & Mundi Mundi Bash founder and organiser Greg Donovan, a former insurance executive who took and gamble to bring music to the outback…
Sean: Greg, thank you so much for your time, especially as we are almost on the eve of the Mundi Mundi Bash, which goes ahead this coming week.
Greg: No problem at all. Your welcome.
Sean: Well I have to say I am extremely excited for this as The Rockpit have been allowed to head over to cover the Mundi Mundi Bash. I feel like a kid in a candy store [laughs]. These two events that you are putting on annually are really starting to leave a musical legacy on the festival scene here in Australia. Where did this passion originate from for creating these events?
Greg: I guess it has just evolved over time. The Big Red Bash started off as a little thing and we decided it was a great place to have music and we just built on it bit by bit and it just grew over the years. We never dreamed it would get to the size and stage it has got to but we’ve managed to do pretty well with that. With it going so well in Birdsville we decided to try to do something similar somewhere else. We wanted to put it somewhere that still had a beautiful outback setting, but also maybe a bit closer and a bit easier to get to for everyone and so that is how we have now ended up with the two.
Sean: I’m originally from the UK and started coming to visit Australia when I was a kid and at the time my Uncle lived in the Pilbra in Newman so I would leave the the lush green fields of Kent behind and end up in the harsh red dirt of the North West and it just blew me away – it’s what I feel in love with so to head to Broken Hill is just such a bucket list thing for me.
Greg: It really is amazing.
Sean: We’ll be driving up from Adelaide so looking forward to the scenery.
Greg: Awesome. That’s a great way to do it.
Sean: I’m intrigued to know just how you talked so many incredible artists to go all that way out to the bush! [laughs]
Greg: [laughs] Interesting question. When we first started approaching people they were asking, “Where is Birdsville?” then they would look at the map and realise it was in the middle of bloody nowhere [laughs] so I think it was more our of curiosity and general interest that they decided to look into it further and realise it could make for something really interesting because most would have never played out in the middle of Australia before. We got a few of them out and then word spreads around the industry and suddenly they are all saying, “This is great. Your should get out there!” Luckily we managed to convince Jimmy Barnes to come out back in 2015 and things just grew from there. When you get someone of Jimmy’s calibre coming out it really helps put the event on the map.
Sean: One thing I love about both events is the diversity in the line-ups; rock, folk, indie… there really is something for everyone. I’ve been following the Facebook groups and it really does feel like a community or family gathering. Some of the distances they are travelling is just mind blowing.
Greg: Yeah that’s right. I mean we have people coming from pretty much every corner of Australia and most are turning up in their caravan, motorhome or camper trailer. They are all self-sufficient with their accommodation. Like you say it blows your mind when you see and hear where they come from – places like Broome, Darwin, Cairns, Hobart and even Perth, literally anywhere and everywhere.
Sean: Well, the chance to chat to you Greg gave me a great excuse to start my new series of interviews called ‘Behind The Lines’ that I’ve wanted to do for a while now, where we get to talk to the people who make it happen. We always chat to the artists and stars about tours and new music releases but to get to find out how these shows come together has always interested me, so thank you for being the first. Us, the punters, we buy our ticket, turn up, have an amazing day, but we don’t ever think about how we got to this stage – the logistics, stage builds, planning. How do you even begin to plan an event like this?
Greg: Well, with Birdsville we truck the stage and all the stuff out there. There are about six B-Doubles of gear we need to transport out there by road. It then takes quite a few days to set up the stage and the production and that – Mundi Mundi gear is actually going out today (Saturday 10th Aug) – and then when we have finished, it gets broken back down and gets trucked back to Broken Hill. Most of our gear lives in Melbourne mainly and we truck it round the country. We have an great production crew and power crew, who also do tours like the Red Hot Summer shows too. They love doing ours because it is something so different. Because it’s a three day festival, once they set it up they know they don’t have to pack it down the next day like many of the one day shows.
Sean: We are looking forward to catching up with some of the artists that we have covered many times on The Rockpit; the likes of Jon Stevens, Sarah McLeod, Chocolate Starfish, the Pierce Brothers and so many others.
Greg: Ah that’s great.
Sean: There is some much more going on outside of the music too. My legs are killing me from my Nutbush attempts at home – I’m desperate to be a part of the world record attempt but unfortunately have two left feet [laughs]
Greg: [laughs] You’ll have fun with that.
Sean: So when does the planning start for the 2025 events? Is it straight back to the drawing board before the desert dust has even settled?
Greg: Yeah, I mean we have pretty much got the artists pencilled in for next year already. When we get back from the Mundi Mundi event we will sit down and get all the contracts sorted and signed. We normally announce next year’s events in the middle of October so that’s only eight weeks away from when we finish. So, that has got to be locked down and ready to go, so we have probably been working on that for six months or so already.
Sean: Just before I let you go, I would love to briefly talk to you about your love of music and where it all started for you. What were your early musical memories and what were you listening to through your earlier years?
Greg: Well I’m in my early-60s now so I grew up on the Northern beaches of Sydney and when we were in our late teens and early 20’s it was the pub rock scene of the late 70’s and 80’s. Pub rock was huge back then, not just in Sydney but across the whole country, so that was my real upbringing musically – we had the like of Cold Chisel playing up the road, the next weekend it would be Midnight Oil playing, or INXS… I actually went to school with all the guys from INXS and knew them pretty well before they even became INXS [laughs] so I got see them evolve into one of Australia’s most iconic rock bands so yeah, they were my earliest musical memories and leanings.
Sean: I chatted to Andrew Farriss just the other week, because as you are probably aware he has gone down a completely different musical route with his country music.
Greg: Yeah, that’s right.
Sean: I like to always finish with a couple of regular questions; If you could invite three musicians, dead or alive to sit with you for dinner who would you invite to join you?
Greg: Oh dear! I would say… maybe… Paul McCartney? I would say Nick Cave – I think he’s an interesting guy. And I think Tina Turner would be great to have along for the evening.
Sean: Great table Greg. What was the last album you listened to?
Greg: What was the last album I listened to? Full album? It’s funny nowadays because we tend to not listen to full albums as much with all the streaming platforms. It was probably a Cold Chisel album. I got pretty excited when I saw them announce the 50th Anniversary so I bought tickets and whacked on Cold Chisel’s ‘East’ and just listened to the whole album which is excellent.
Sean: Brilliant. Greg thank you so much for your time as I know you have a busy week ahead. And thank you for keeping live music alive and well, especially with this unique set of festivals you have created. I can’t wait to get out there to see it all for myself and hopefully bump into you at some point.
Greg: We will definitely catch up at some point for sure.
Sean: I’m working on plans to cover Birdsville next year. I’m so looking forward to this one.
Greg: It really will blow your mind when you get here, that’s for sure. It’s crazy. It’s really great to chat and safe travels getting up there and we’ll see you there pretty soon.
