'Kozmik' showcase celebrates a big year in live, local and original music

Wagga’s local live and original music scene has blossomed over the past year and creatives are getting set to showcase their best at this weekend’s Kozmik Music Festival at the CSU Playhouse.

“These musicians are tirelessly working and doing so much amazing things with the music that they’re creating that they deserve to be heard,” says artist and festival organiser Kayne Lyndon.

“I feel that for a lot of us musicians and creatives, there’s sometimes this overwhelming sensation that you’re not understood, so to have friends and family and other community members come along and support this community will be just sensational.”

Kayne was part of the recent LIVE LOCAL ORIGINAL event at the Civic Theatre and says momentum is building and the community is growing.

“We had a great turnout for that and it just goes to show that it is gaining traction,” he says.

“I’ve only been in Wagga for about two years now and over that time I’ve been trying to create more and more original music events.”

The Curious Rabbit Cafe has provided a regular venue for emerging talent and a platform on which to build towards larger collaborations.

“It started off with the first ever Curious Music Festival, which was for singer-songwriters, and instead of trying to just do a three-hour gig, where there’s one person, we’ve shared the stage and it allowed us all to connect with one another and build friendships.

Kayne hopes the inaugural event will be another step forward in promoting Wagga’s original music scene and says there was so much interest from artists that they had to expand the bill.

“I reached out to a lot of them and because so many were so excited to work together again, it ended up being a double showcase instead of just a single showcase!”

The Kozmik Music Festival will now include two, three-hour showcases comprising an eclectic mix of live, local and all original music in the 200-seat riverside venue.

“The trickiest aspect with some of the venues in Wagga is that they can’t really accommodate large amounts of people who are there solely for the purpose of seeing music,” he says.

“But also having this in such an intimate setting allows the artists to both connect to the audience and the audience to connect to the artists on a more personalised level where it’s more of a showcase as opposed to just background music.

The lineup includes Isaac Staines, Courtney Barron, Sam Butt, Gone Fishin’, Social Afterparty, Jez Swan, Summer Sonder, Catseye Parish, Frostbite, a.d.o.lfo & Kozmik and of course Kayne himself.

The Wagga artist is excited by the support so far and the way local performers have been able to build networks and collaborate.

“They get to have the support and that feeling of being part of a team because I guess throughout life, we need that, we need our community, we need our tribe,” he smiles.

“The success we’ve had shows there’s a hunger for original music in this community, so the best thing we can all do is show up, buy tickets, buy the music, follow them on socials and connect.”

The festival takes place across two events on Saturday at 11 am and 6 pm and you can find more information and buy tickets here.