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Town Folk musos on how to do the festival

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The Nugget
November 14, 2025

★ Town Folk musos on how to do the festival ★

Nick Kearton and Dainis Lacey of Cool Sounds

Weee! Town Folk weekend is here — and Castlemaine is primed for what’s shaping up to be the biggest day of the year.

The weather’s civilised, the crowd’s huge, and everything’s in place: 3,500 tickets sold, 201 volunteers, food trucks, cocktails, and nearly 16,000 cans on ice.

C-Rock City local Nick Kearton, playing with indie pop band Cool Sounds, has some advice on how to do Town Folk right. 

“Pace yourself. I’ve got it wrong at festivals plenty of times,” he says — kidding/not kidding.

“For a band like us, playing a festival isn’t much different from being a punter. There’s just one hour you’re not watching.

“My tip? Take a punt on things you don’t know. Trust the curation. Jeremy and the team have great taste, so there’ll be plenty that surprises you. Just give it all a go.”

This year’s musical buffet of 21 acts was hand-picked by Town Folk founder Jeremy Furze, award-winning manager of the Teskey Brothers.

The lineup of international stars and local legends includes Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Meg Washington, Pigram Brothers, Dan Kelly, Jenny Don’t & The Spurs, King Stingray, and Castlemaine favourites Jazz Party.

For Dom Hede, Jazz Party’s drummer, playing Town Folk is a dream gig.

“I live 150 metres from The Bridge Hotel. It’ll be awesome to play on the street I drive down most days and have the kids and neighbours all hanging out.”

Dom says he leaned on his friendship with Furze to get Jazz Party on the bill.

“I pestered him and said I reckon Jazz Party would be good.”

Jazz Party is an eight-piece powerhouse fronted by the incredible Loretta Miller — and anyone who’s seen them knows it’s, as Dom says, “a wild ride. We bring the most energy we can to every show.”

Jez laughs off the idea of lobbying.

“Dom’s such a nice guy — he didn’t pester me. We were having a BBQ down the coast with friends, and he put on their new single, which hadn’t been released yet. Everyone just went quiet and started nodding along — there was a vibe. I said, ‘Dom, you’ve got to play Town Folk,’ and that was it.”

Excited yet? Four venues. Ten hours. So much to take in.

With the tunes dialled in and the food trucks fired up, all that’s left is to turn up and lose yourself in the Town Folk soundtrack for a day.

Let’s goooooo!

Nick’s top picks: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, W.I.T.C.H., Dan Kelly’s Regional Crisis

Dom’s top picks: W.I.T.C.H., Meg Washington, Cool Sounds, Pigram Brothers

❀ Castlemaine World Record Attempt ❀

How many Aussie band tees can you fit in one oval? Castlemaine’s about to find out.

It’s all in the name of AusMusic T-Shirt Day and raising money for Support Act, the legends who look after musicians and crew when things get tough.

Wear your fave, bring ya mates and let’s see if we can set a world record!

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