Illawarra musicians honoured in new compilation featuring Hockey Dad, Bec Sandridge, Tumbleweed
A collection of rare and unreleased tunes from some of Wollongong's greatest musical exports has been neatly packaged into the new Family Values compilation, released by Farmer and the Owl.
The double-album is a COVID-19 project by the Illawarra-based record label, who have included golden nuggets like a You Am I cover by Hockey Dad and Tumbleweed covering Frank Zappa.
"'Purple Sneakers' - the cover we did - we played that live at Splendour in the Grass in 2018," Zach Stephenson of Hockey Dad said.
"Tim Rogers from You Am I came up and sang with us, which was cool. I [had a] fan moment, but I think my dad was having a bigger fan moment."
Other notable musicians who made it onto the album include The Pinheads with a cover of Elvis Costello, a remix of Stanwell Park singer-songwriter Bec Sandridge and the electro-pop debut "Anymore" for Austinmer group Tired Girl.
"It's something we've wanted to do for ages, but I guess it's never been a big priority and always been pushed aside," said Farmer and the Owl co-founder Jeb Taylor.
"The first two-weeks of lockdown, everyone was like 'what is everyone going to do'?"
You Am I is Zach Stephenson's fave band - he and mate Billy Fleming cover the song 'Purple Sneakers' on the new Family Values compilation. Picture: Adam McLean
All but a handful of artists on the record hail from the Illawarra, while the cover art is by one of Wollongong's latest art exports, Christopher Zanko.
Zanko is a former band-member of The Pinheads and is known for his nostalgic depictions of suburbia.
Last year he was named a finalist in the nation's foremost landscape painting award, the Wynne Prize, for the same image which now adorns the cover of Family Values.
The painting depicts an orange-brick home with quaint cottage garden which is still in existence on the Princes Highway at Bulli, and probably synonymous to thousands of other homes around the nation.
"He's had a long association with the label from the start, as far as being a musician goes," Taylor said of the artist.
"In that time, he's developed as an emerging artist to ... one of the best local artists and Australian [contemporary] artists.
"His artwork is so iconically Wollongong as well ... and suburban Australia."
Meanwhile, the record label is gearing up for take two of Hockey Dad's drive-in concerts at Bulli Showgrounds this weekend.
The gigs were originally meant to launch the Windang group's latest album Brain Candy back in July 31 and August 1, though organisers blamed heavy rain for the postponement.
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