Castlemaine :: Stephen Taberner with Bush Gothic

As leader of the international sensation ‘The Spooky Mens Chorale’, Stephen Taberner has built a reputation for surprising and delighting crowds with heart-stopping harmonies and outright silliness. The Sydney Morning Herald describes his songs as “Small intimate truths presented without pretense but with considerable artistry.....it’s like gatecrashing someone else’s dreams”. With a jazz pedigree eclipsed by his needlessly eclectic resume as a clown/choir leader/bathroom harmonics aficionado/student of the human condition, Stephen’s musicianship is fully revealed with his collaboration with the trio Bush Gothic.

Known for exploding totally archaic notions of Australian folk music, Bush Gothic have presented their work with Melbourne Symphony Chamber, performed in a World Heritage listed fort in India and been invited to perform at some of the world's most prestigious festivals including Mona Foma and Womadelaide. Constantly experimenting with notions of high and low art, their latest release What Pop People Folk This Popular, is a collision of pop culture and shipwrecks, described by Andrew Ford of ABC RN's The Music Show as 'A very impressive piece of work, a splendid album.'

With fiddler Jenny M. Thomas, double bassist Dan Witton and drummer Chris Lewis colluding with Stephen, they form a formidable and highly adventurous band with four part singing bliss. With the power of Bush Gothic to fully realise the funkiness and outright melancholia of Stephens songs, this is rare opportunity to see this new ensemble in concert.

‘Bold, inspired and beautiful in its intensity,  Bush Gothic takes your breath away.’
— THE NATIONAL TIMES

Beautiful singing; very sharp and witty lyrics.” 
— BBC Radio 2

‘The musicians onstage maintain an energy and intensity that is utterly riveting. Beautiful, evocative and thoroughly enjoyable, Bush Gothic is Australian folk at its finest. Mesmerising.
— RIP IT UP MAGAZINE