The buzz over the first Small World music festival, run by the so-hot-right-now Young Henrys Sydney microbrewery, is sure to subside around 9pm on Saturday, just as the intensity rises.
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That’s when rock veterans Tumbleweed will climb on stage for a 45-minute set, less than a month after founding member and bass player Jay Curley unexpectedly died at his Wollongong home aged 42.
Speaking to Fairfax, Lenny Curley has denied rumours a drug overdose caused his brother’s ‘‘sudden’’ death.
‘‘Jay died as a consequence of a long-term alcohol problem’’ was all he wanted to say.
''In all honesty, the magic of the band was in the line-up with Jay.''
Understandably Tumbleweed and the Curley family are deep in grief. ‘‘It comes in waves, we get overcome with emotion,’’ Curley says. ‘‘We will be practising and aware [Jay] is missing. There are a lot of quiet moments when we are reflecting.’’
But Tumbleweed have decided to honour four gigs booked before Jay died, the first of which is on Saturday, partly to help cover funeral costs and partly because the band decided Jay would have wanted them to.
‘‘That way he’s part of paying for his funeral,’’ Lenny Curley says.
Eldest Curley brother, Pat, will fill Jay’s role as bass player on Saturday, while three other musicians will share the bass role at Victorian gigs in November.
‘‘Jay’s playing was focused on rhythm and inspired by African American music, it was more rock’n’roll than just rock. We got a lot of that through Pat, he learned to play guitar first. So in a way this will bring us full circle.’’
Lenny Curley says of all the tributes received – and there have been some terrific ones, including one fan spelling out Jay’s name in stones on the slopes of Mount Etna in Italy (the photo is posted on the band’s Facebook page), the attendance at his funeral of a handful of influential bass players would have pleased Jay the most.
‘‘People like Jim Dixon of the New Christs, Bill Gibson from the Eastern Dark...a lot of the guys [Jay] idolised were from the underground scene of the 1980s and early 1990s, they were not big-time guys. He would talk to anyone in the crowd, he wasn’t a backstage guy, he was a mingler in the crowd. A lot of people knew him.’’
Money raised from the sale of Small World festival T-shirts will also go into a trust fund for Jay’s three-year-old son, Max.
The band have relearned Jay’s signature song too, Acid Rain, which was released at the peak of their powers in 1992.
What about Tumbleweed’s future? ‘‘In all honesty, the magic of the band was in the line-up with Jay,’’ Lenny Curley says. ‘‘That might suggest these will be our last shows...it might be a good time to hang up our guitars, at least for a while.’’
The inaugural Small World festival, which will be held in a back street (Jabez Street) off Addison Road rather than at the brewery of organisers Young Henrys, continues the growth of a live music scene in the Marrickville area.
Tumbleweed, most famous for supporting Nirvana in 1992 and a string of alternative songs in the mid 1990s, will close the day but the festival has 11 bands from noon, live art demonstrations by local artists and illustrators such as Sindy Sinn and food by chefs from Porteno and Bloodwood.
The music line-up includes a strong mix of established performers (such as blues-rock group the Snowdroppers) and several acts coming to national attention right now, including Delta Riggs, gravel-voiced bluesman Steve Smyth and Little Bastard, whose debut album recently earned an Australian Independent Music Award nomination.
Tickets are $59 ($10 for under 13s) and available via younghenrys.com/smallworld.