Mosey lead singer Bridie Johnstone tells Matt Crossman that music has always been a central part of her life.
What are your ties to the area? How long have you lived here?
I’ve lived in the Macedon Ranges for 16 years, growing up in Woodend and moving to Mount Macedon in my high school years.
I’ve been to Woodend Primary School and Braemar College.
How did you get your start in music?
I’ve been musical since I was born. My parents met playing music together, and have passed it on to me.
We’ve always been known as the crazy musical family.
Mosey started when I became friends with Jimmy [O’Hare] and Isaac [Trickey], both incredible, amazingly talented musicians.
We were all interested in the same types of music, and started catching up more often with our instruments to cover songs we loved.
What led to you entering last year’s battle of the bands?
We wanted to move away from covers and show the world our original music.
Battle of the bands gave us the opportunity to stand on that stage and perform our original music.
Knowing we had entered also inspired us to write more of our own songs to show our friends and family.
What has it done for the band, and for you?
For the band, well, we got all the way to the final stage and got to share even more of our original work to a larger audience from all over Melbourne.
We got to support one of our favourite bands, Alpine, and got wonderful feedback from them.
We’ve been seen by even more people now, who want us to play gigs for them … and the support and followers have just been so incredible!
What was it like performing at the state final during this year’s Moomba?
Moomba was amazing. What a great festival! We felt famous up on that huge stage, playing alongside other incredible acts.
The audience was so supportive … and the feedback we got from strangers made us feel so happy.
What’s next for Mosey?
We have a line-up of gigs coming closer to the end of the year.
We are also keen to record our songs, so we can have them on CD for people to listen to.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I have very little spare time, with work, uni [international development studies at Australian Catholic University] and the band.
But when I do get a spare moment, I like to write lyrics, watch Netflix, go for adventures with my dog, and cook.
Where do you like to hang out?
I love the Village Larder (mmmmm … chai latte). I also love exploring the track around Buffalo Stadium in Woodend, the old horse racing track.
■ Entries for this year’s Macedon Ranges battle of the bands close August 1. Details: 5422 0242 or facebook.com/MacedonRangesYouth
