From Chewton to Carlton – Monnone Alone and chEEsEs hit the road for a short ’n’ sweet tour to warm the masses with a couple of late-winter shows at the Red Hill and John Curtin hotels, respectively.

Based around the songwriting of ex-Lucksmiths bassist Mark Monnone, MONNONE ALONE are a power-jangle combo comprising members of Melbourne luminaries Architecture in Helsinki, Ciggie Witch, The Smallgoods and Mid-State Orange. The band recently released their fourth album Here Comes the Afternoon (on Lost And Lonesome), launching to a sold-out crowd at Coburg RSL.

chEEsEs use analog synthesizers, guitar and bass, combined with quirky songwriting and en pointe vocal harmonies, to create their hypnotic lo-fi electro sound. chEEsEs is the latest from long term musical collaborators Jane McCracken and Eva Sommerfeld who have released several exquisite indie pop albums as The Foots.

Old friends and musical comrades from a previous century, the combination of these two bands together, hooning in convoy up (and down) the Calder, is almost guaranteed to disrupt the status quo or, at the very least, unleash a barrage of sweet aural fireworks.

The Shops (formerly Straight Skirt) are the sound of a neon-lit corner store at midnight — familiar, a little bit dangerous, and impossible to walk past. Channeling a cocktail of post-punk sharpness, late-night pop hooks, and an undercurrent of garage grit, this band doesn’t just play songs — they build atmospheres. Known for their razor-edged live shows and lyrics that flirt between the cryptic and the brutally honest, The Shops turn every set into a short story you can't put down. Forget genre boxes — they’re stocking the shelves with whatever hits hardest.