Kadidjiny Park, Saturday March 21, 2026
What a lovely setting for a couple of country/blues bands to put on a free show for the locals. Surrounded by old gum trees, on a perfect autumn March evening, Clare Perrott mesmerised and Kangaroos with Machine Guns baffled the family-friendly crowd. Is shit still a swear word? Archer reckons he said poo.
Clare Perrott and her band took to the stage first with her Americana-tinged folk-rock. A Melville local born and bred, showing off some excellent songwriting and a solid band back up. With herself on the nylon string acoustic, the music moved between quieter ballad-like moments to full blown folk/country rock with soaring guitar solos.
A cover of The Faces Ooh La La was a nice touch, and she followed it up with the strong single Philadelphia, before probably the catchiest of her original tunes, Complacent (record it, right now). The song is by far her most radio friendly yet, with the sing a long chorus “I can’t stop from loving, and wasting, and feeling, and changing”. Interesting to see if she keeps this momentum going – if she does, the sky is the limit.
Now Kangaroos with Machine Guns are a different beast entirely. While Perrott’s radio friendly folk-rock reminded the boomers of the Laurel Canyon crew, Kangaroos were much rougher round the edges and borderline inappropriate for the kiddies in the crowd. This, of course, is in no way a criticism of the band, though maybe the smoky Tom Waits-esque bar room blues could be adapted to the Wiggles-age market? Maybe it already has been, just need to say poo or poop.
Age ratings aside, the band played a fine set out in the open under the big gum trees. With cockatoos swooping overhead, they blew out some authentic, creek blues (Aussie swamp. Let’s call it the genre and see if it sticks) with unusual rhythms coming from Todd Pickett, who is an exceptionally creative percussionist.
The enigmatic frontman Archer, alternating between acoustic gitar and interpretive dance, presented as a bush tucker eatin’, by the coolabah tree sittin’ type, and played with confidence and persona, making for an intriguing show. The cover of This Little Light of Mine was a nice touch to show the influences. Archer brings to mind Chung Ling Soo (look it up), whose real trick was keeping up his persona off stage, as well as on, and thus being more convincing. Walk the walk, talk the talk; I was convinced either way.
It was hard not to look up and around during the bush park concert. Clare Perrott and Kangaroos with Machine Guns presented two polar opposite sides of the country, folk, Americana genre. The combination worked, and I suspect it’s because below the surface there is a bit more grit in Perrott’s songwriting, and a marketable appeal to what Kangaroos do. Either way it was perfect aesthetics for the free park concert, and good on ya City of Melville for putting these events on.