by Noni Kuhner
Canberra punters might be fooled into thinking that local legends The Cashews have long been regulars at the National Folk Festival. According to Alison Procter, the time between appearances has been much longer than you might realise.
“I reckon the last time we played, I was pregnant with Liam, who is now 11. So that was 2012,” she says. “At that festival, Dan (my partner at the time) and I played 12 gigs across the four days…
“So, that sure as heck meant that I didn’t want to play another Folky for a while!” she jests.
Other half of the band, Pete Lyon, is surprised by this. “Is that why it’s been so long; I’m just discovering this now!?” he laughs.
They are over the moon to join the 2024 Folk foray, of course, marking the beginning of big band plans for the coming months.
“It does feel really great to be playing,” Pete enthuses. “We got management recently, and it’s been a hilarious ride, but it’s resulted in things like applications for more festivals. It’s helped us break through that.”
So what, exactly, is on the cards in the short and long term?
“We want to do more of these guerrilla gigs that we’ve built a little reputation for doing,” Pete explains. “If we could just organise to be in the right place at the right time!” (search YouTube for past guerrilla goodness)
“This is such a beautiful time to be doing stuff and making [the] most of the good weather while it’s still here. I’d love to have a season of those this year and [to] play a lot more of them.”
He goes on to add that new material could also be on the cards: “We’re looking forward to the songwriting we aim to do between now and Easter. [I have] a new song coming up for me on the subject of office romance,” he teases.
Meanwhile, Alison whispers of new recordings sooner rather than later, which would be their first since their Details EP in 2017.
“It would be great fun to do live recordings this year, I reckon, in a similar vein to our first live recording album in a small room with a small group of people to get the new songs down,” she muses.
Naturally, both Cashews expect a robust local contingent in their festival audiences. This said, they’re confident that punters from further afield will connect with their songs.
“I don’t want to answer with a cliché, but a lot of people love to think of us as a band that just plays songs about Canberra,” Alison says. “But if you really listen, we play songs about what it means and how it feels to relate to life [while] firmly embedded in one place.
“It makes sense that a song about the Tuggeranong Parkway and having a broken heart on that amazing road will appeal to locals. But everyone’s had heartbreak… and everyone’s driven on roads! So, we can connect with Canberrans and visitors alike.”
Both Pete and Alison aren’t just excited about their own shows but the entire festival experience, with each of them sharing their highlights of previous years.
For Alison, it’s the joy of mingled voices.
“I have really enjoyed the Singer’s Room late at night” she says. “Upstairs, there’s often a chorus singing session, and it gives me the chance to exercise my harmony singing OCD-ness… I greatly enjoy sitting around and singing songs unaccompanied with other people that I may or may not have ever heard before.”
Pete says the social aspect is an added bonus.
“I love the chance to run into people who have just played sets that you might’ve really enjoyed or running into old friends; that reconnecting often in the space between the performance venues where you can say, ‘Hey, I saw that set earlier!'”
Still, the affection between the band and their hometown runs deep. Pete even suggests a specialised tour to show those visiting some of the most important sights in the Territory.
“Not the big icon stuff,” he clarifies. “The little stuff. Like riding down next to Sullivan’s Creek underneath the Mark Oliphant Bridge in the ANU; emerging from the bottom of Sullivan’s Creek where it meets the lake, and you see the mountain range of the Brindabellas with the framing of the bridge above it.
“I was just riding there today with a friend, in fact,” Pete continues, having gotten himself going. “It made me realise what a golden little moment that is as you ride down, and there’s this great reveal of nature. It’s like, ‘Yep, people should see this.'”
He pauses to jokingly add, “Not just The Cashews. We’re not the only thing to come and see in the ACT… there’s more!”
The Cashews will play at the National Folk Festival over the Easter long weekend. All the details and tickets can be found at folkfestival.org.au
Keep up with The Cashews via Instagram, Facebook and https://www.acousticnuts.com/
