Blending indie and garage rock music and entwining a shared passion and deep love of blues music, 2-piece Melbourne-based act Agnes Blue creates music for listeners who like an array of music genres woven together and are not necessarily always happy listening to the same styles. Not conforming to a single sound and looking to add elements of their unique music tastes to their music, Agnes Blue have settled on the fact that they will not be bound by a single genre or style.
Comprising Jack Blandford on guitars/vocals, and James Barwick on drums, Agnes Blue kicked off 2022 with a packed-out show at the Cactus Room in Thornbury, VIC, one of their favourite spots to rehearse, have beers and check out other local bands. They’ve since supported Destrends at the famous General Hotel at Mt Hotham, played the Brunswick Artist’s Bar and Bad Decisions in Fitzroy and recently made their first Festival appearance in over 3 years at Spring in the Vale, Central Queensland.
Lead guitarist and vocalist Jack has been playing guitar since age 7 and gigging since 13. At a young age he began writing and performing at his school and local events, followed by local festivals and venues with other performers. He grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Stevie-Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, INXS, Metallica and Dire Straits but his music tastes have also since expanded to include reggae, funk, neo-soul/jazz, hardcore, metalcore and punk.
On top of his own musical endeavours and prior to relocating Melbourne, Jack spent weekends on the Sunshine Coast playing session guitar in multiple touring bands including reggae/funk act The Floating Bridges, blues/rock band Olivia Ruth and roots/reggae band Mufassa and The Pride. This expanded his musical abilities and love of playing different genres. Being in Melbourne the past few years, Jack has immersed in its world-leading music scene, watching and learning from the city’s best established and up and coming acts that fill hundreds of music venues on a weekly basis.
Drummer James Barwick lives and breathes drums. Spending his days working in a huge drum shop, and his nights at home playing drums in the garage, James is literally never more than 10 metres away from a drum kit, proven in his incredible abilities and finesse on the kit. Originally hailing from Tasmania, James couldn’t have grown up in a more geographically opposite part of Australia compared to the hot, sunny beaches of Queensland where Jack grew up. Starting off his drumming journey playing in various metal and rock bands, James’ playing is a perfect mix of technical prowess and that other part of music that’s not able to be measured, but everyone knows if you’ve got it; feel and groove.
Agnes Blue released their latest single ‘Pie, Coke, Ciggie’ in August, available on streaming platforms and Bandcamp.
Don’t miss Agnes Blue closing out the #AgnesBluesFest main Marquee Stage 2.30pm-3.45pm Sunday 19 February 2023 www.facebook.com/agnesblue.band
Rocking out since 2008, the Agnes Blues, Roots & Rock Festival is a 3 Day Annual Event held in the Great Barrier Reef’s Sensational Deep South. Book tickets and places to stay: www.agnesbluesnandroots.com.au
Be sure to follow @AgnesBluesFest on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The 2024 Festival will be required to operate in line with current QLD Govt Health Directives for all attendees, staff, volunteers, stallholders, vendors and performers.
The Agnes Blues, Roots & Rock Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar.
