Six years ago, university drop-out Sharni Honor convinced her parents to host a couple of bands in their Adelaide backyard.
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Now she produces around 30 gigs a year – including the Porchland festival in South Australia – and takes the Porch Sessions tour to backyards along the east coast.
“I’ve always been a massive music fan and I think the realm of acoustic folk gigs happening in dirty, dark rooms with sticky floors was never really a thing for me,” Honor said.
“When we first did it I thought it was going to be a nice time and then I would get a real job.”
For the next three weeks folk tunes from Jack the Fox, Harrison Storm and Alana Wilkinson will make their way through 11 yards from Queensland down to Victoria – including one in the Illawarra on Wednesday, January 9.
Porch Sessions gigs range in size from 50 to 250 people with the "secret address” revealed to ticket-holders within the final 48 hours before the event.
Grace from Bulli put up her hand to host a gig after attending a Porch Session in 2018 – with everything from insurance to toilets to the musicians brought in by Honor.
“It’s part of the magic, this secret adventure into suburbia somewhere,” the festival founder said.
“We’re pretty flexible with what we can make work, as long as there’s access and a big enough open space to put people.
“We find ourselves in all sorts of different properties.”
Events run outside her home state are a BYO picnic setup and family friendly, mainly due to varying liquor licencing requirements.
Currently Porch Sessions is being used as a case study by SA authorities to change licencing for events which aren’t tied to a location.
“There’s just no class of licence that covers what we do,” she said.
“We’ve been on round tables to discuss like a new level of licence reform for festivals and events.”
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Some of the other backyard destinations on the January tour include Mount Nathan in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Emerald Beach, Glenbrook, Melbourne, Geelong and Warrnambool.
“Ultimately it’s a really nice community exchange of good people,” Honor said.
For tickets and more information, visit: www.theporchsessions.com/ontour