Ellen James creates music with vulnerable lyricism and building melodies that cuts in, opens up and leaves you reeling with love and grief and longing and whisky. Hailing from the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, James’ voice is at home both calling from mountain tops and speaking softly to river water.

Sooty Owls are an original three piece band formed during pandemic lock-downs of 2021. They’ve quickly honed a cheeky but cranky style of forest-fed activist music from the Yarra Ranges. Dropping their first single “War With China” at the end of July, just before Beijing started Xi Jin Pinging missiles over Taiwan, their current set also trolls litterbugs, political sloganeers and the charlatans of eco-fascism.

$5 at the door