Music in Vincent
The Music in Vincent project began in 2019 with the aim to record and showcase the stories of key people associated with live music venues in the City of Vincent.
Thirteen interviews were conducted in 2019 with musicians, venue owners, program directors and bookers connected with five iconic live music venues in the Vincent area, past and present.
Artist Biographies
Cléo Schurrer
Cléo Schurrer (pictured left) started her own marketing business at the age of 18, and has since worked on major marketing projects for many organisations, in music and other industries. In 2015, her deep love of music inspired her to take on the role of Program Director at The Ellington Jazz Club. Since taking the reins, Cléo has worked hard to diversify the club's offerings, while ensuring that the club continues to provide a platform for both up-and-coming and established jazz musicians.
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Bernard Kong
Bernard Kong (pictured right) is the owner and manager of The Ellington Jazz Club. Bernard opened the Ellington in 2009 in partnership with musician and music educator, the late Graham Wood, former Program Director in Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Under Bernard’s management, the Ellington was converted from a disused dye works to one of the country’s best loved and most highly regarded jazz clubs, offering live music and a strong listening culture seven nights a week.
Ali Bodycoat
Ali Bodycoat is regarded as one of Western Australia’s most talented and respected professional jazz vocalists. She has held a long-term residency at the Subiaco Hotel with her trio, has performed with The West Australian Symphony Orchestra and at the Perth International Jazz Festival, the Perth Fringe Festival and performs regularly often to sell-out crowds at The Ellington Jazz Club. A graduate of the Western Australian Academy Of Performing Arts, she now teaches jazz vocals at WAAPA.
Rick Steele
Rick Steele is the president and one of the founders of the Perth Blues Club. After arriving in Perth from his native New Zealand in the 1970s, Rick performed as a member of numerous rock bands, including the highly-regarded Hot Biscuit Band. Rick also played a key role in developing the Bindoon Rock Festival in the 1980s. In 1992, he helped found the Perth Blues Club, which soon after its creation found a permanent home at the Charles Hotel.
Chris Angelkov
Chris Angelkov is the owner and manager of the Charles Hotel. Chris’s family took over ownership of the Charles in the early 1990s. Under his management, the venue has become a beloved home for the Perth Blues Club. Chris has also overseen the development of the Charles’ sports bar, bottle shop and its main room as a venue that hosts a range of high-profile touring acts and reformation shows for iconic Perth bands.
Peta Lee
Peta Lee is WA’s premier exponent of the raw rhythm and blues vocal styles pioneered by many female singers in the 1940s and 50s. With her regular backing band The Vibrolators, she is a key proponent of the jump blues style, performing regularly around Perth and having toured around Australia and appearing at all major blues festivals across the country.
Paul Higgins
Paul Higgins is a publican and venue manager with an extensive history in Western Australian hospitality. Paul’s family bought the Hyde Park Hotel in 1979 and since the 1990s Paul developed the hotel as a live music venue featuring live entertainment seven nights a week in both its lounge bar and corner bar. Paul has also managed a number of other venues including the Karalee Hotel, Aberdeen Hotel, The Comedy Lounge and he currently runs The Shoe Bar in Northbridge.
Tara John
Tara John is a musician and graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She was a core member of Schvendes throughout the band’s lifespan. Tara has subsequently performed with a number of other local musicians including Lucy Peach, Joni and the Moon and as part of Abbe May’s Gospel Choir. Tara was also a bartender at the Hyde Park Hotel for ten years from 1999 to 2009.
Luke Rinaldi
Luke Rinaldi is a promoter and booking agent working with some of Perth’s most iconic live music venues including the Hyde Park Hotel, the Rosemount Hotel, the Railway Hotel, Badlands Bar, the Bassendean Hotel and most recently Lyric’s Underground. Luke has managed local bands including Red Jezebel, Capital City, The Ghost Hotel, New Talk and Emperors. He is a former WAMi Festival co-ordinator and the former State Coordinator for the Music Manager’s Forum Australia. Luke has won two WAM Management awards and is a three-time Golden WAMi winner.
Hyde Park Hotel
Rosemount Hotel
Andrew Ryan
Andrew Ryan is a musician and the founder and managing director of Cool Perth Nights, which oversees bookings and event management for the Rosemount Hotel, Mojos Bar, Rock Rover and formerly Babushka, Leederville. Andrew is also a business member and Vice Chair of North Perth Local, Managing Director of Mojos Bar and a current RTRFM Studio Trustee Board Member. He has performed in a number of bands since the mid-1990s, including Adam Said Galore, Fall Electric, Felicity Groom and the Long Lost Brothers.
Vanessa Thornton
Vanessa Thornton is one of Perth’s most loved musicians, having performed with Jebediah since the mid-1990s. She has also performed with End of Fashion, Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke, Axe Girl and The Tommyhawks. She is a two-time WAMi Award winner, having been voted as Most Outstanding Female Original Bass Player in 2002 and Best Bassist in 2005.
Francis Fong
Francis Fong is a musician and educator with an extensive career teaching and performing non-Western music. He was the centre co-ordinator for the North Perth Ethnic Music Centre and in that role developed the centre’s strong focus on educational programs and furthered its advocacy of non-Western music. Francis has also taught music extensively both privately and at Ursula Frayne Catholic College.
Mark Cain
Mark Cain is a saxophonist, instrument maker, composer and music educator who has been performing since the early 1980s. Mark co-founded concept group AC/PVC in 1987 and has also performed with Nova Ensemble, Eastwinds, The Flying Carpathians, Daramad and many other groups. He has worked throughout Australia as a solo performer in schools with Nexus Arts. Mark was also a broadcaster on Radio 6NR and was responsible for training Western Australia’s first Indigenous radio journalist/broadcasters as part of Noongar Radio.
Marion Granich
Marion Granich is a community arts administrator and advocate with an extensive career that has connected her to music since the early 1980s. As the former administrator for the North Perth Ethnic Music Centre, Marion organised and managed the centre’s many events including Café Folklorico and the Ethnic Arts Festival, as well as overseeing other strategic projects. Marion was involved in setting up and running Abmusic and is currently the Manager of Community Development for the City of Nedlands.
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Music in Vincent