Swansong for old Wollongong mansion

‘The Den’ at City Diggers

Friday, September 27

The mansion at 34 Church Street, Wollongong, will soon be demolished. Home to Regent Theatre owner Rowena Milgrove until her death in 2004, the old manor will soon be replaced by a sprawling apartment complex.

Little besides the street number will remain as a reminder of the site's rich history, but perhaps the most lasting legacy - and certainly the last legacy - of the rambling old home is the latest release from Wollongong band The Walking Who.

The three-piece psychedelic rock outfit have just launched their EP Mansions, a five-track effort recorded in the house during the band's residential tenure at 34 Church Street.

Shooting music videos inside, and tapping the natural acoustics of various parts of the house, bassist Jay Drury says the spirit of the house flows strongly through their new release.

"The mansion was the most important part of our band at the time. It just gave us time space and accessibility to be together, to write and record at the drop of a hat," he says.

"When we were living in the mansion, we were just writing and writing all the time."

Recording sporadically between 2010 and 2012, Drury says the band recorded "16 or more" tracks, whittling those down to a solid five for this particular CD.

The remainder, Drury hopes, will become a full-length album in the not-too-distant future.

The Walking Who have been at the forefront of the recent revival of the Wollongong music scene, growing from a "hobby" project into arguably the region's most successful musical export in recent years.

Mansions debuted in the top 200 of the American CMJ charts and No 17 on the SubModern charts, local shows are invariably packed out, raucous affairs, and the band have just returned from Big Sound, Australia's biggest music industry showcase event.

"But for us, the biggest thing is getting stuff done and being happy with the end product," Drury says.