Can’t stop the music!

Live music returns to Orange pubs

Life is slowly returning to normal in Orange. The long weekend saw visitors and locals enjoying the freedom to visit cellar doors, cafes and restaurants and enjoy live music in our pubs.

For Bathurst-based performer Chloe Swannell, her gig at the Metropolitan Hotel on Friday night was her first since the lockdown went into effect.

“I'm pumped! This my first gig back and I'm so excited!” said 22-year-old Chloe, who had no nerves about performing again, despite ten weeks off the stage.

“No, I'm more excited than anything else. The only thing I'm going to be nervous about is making sure that I adhere to all the restriction and make sure I don't overdo it and get people up dancing, because they are not allowed to!”

Chloe has been a professional musician for the past three years and said the coronavirus restrictions saw a year of bookings disappear.

“That was 100 per cent of my income as well as a bit of teaching, so it was a real adjustment period to try and find income elsewhere,” she said. “Before COVID I had a full year completely booked out of gigs across NSW, up to five shows a weekend, and during the week I was teaching a couple of days, but then it completely stopped.

“It was scary. I was sitting at home watching the news and when they announced everything had been shut I thought, Oh my God! What am I going to do?”

After two unsuccessful approaches to Centrelink, Chole was eventually found eligible for the federal government’s JobKeeper program, which has been a lifeline for many in these unusual times.

“They definitely didn't make it easy. I went six weeks without any income at all, which was tough. I had to watch where every penny went for a while, but I'm so glad to be back out again!” said Chloe who was over the moon when she got the phone call from her agent saying they had booked her a gig.

“I was really concerned that we wouldn't get live music back the way that we have and that it would really damage the industry,” but hopefully the restrictions will be lifted again soon and we can get back to partying and dancing and really enjoying live music, which will be great!”

Not that Chloe has been completely idle during the past ten weeks of lockdown.

“I've been writing heaps of new music and I'm actually going to release my debut album at the end of the year, which is really exciting,” she said.

“I've been recording every week with a friend of mine and so it has all been written, it is all ready to go so we have just got to finish recording it.

“I think a lot of musicians will be releasing some music at the end of this year!”