First Wine of the Day 6 featuring Frank and Louis, Shad Wicka, Holly Austin, and Thea Newton

A Flower Growing Out of a Compost Heap — with Charlie McGee

"A song is sort of like a flower coming out of a compost heap." — Charlie McGee, Formidable Vegetable Charlie McGee once turned down $120,000 a year cutting carrots for a fossil fuel company. His finger wouldn't send the email. Instead, he took $2,000 and spent a year volunteering at festivals around the country — ending up at Woodford, where the seed of Formidable Vegetable was planted in a permaculture talk at the Greenhouse. More than 20 years later, he's built a straw house in Denmark, WA with 40 friends. For a while, he could buy a croissant from the local bakery made from the same wheat crop as his walls. He's played Glastonbury five times, quit flying for seven years, and written a viral song from a hotel room in Slovakia that got shared by Reggie Watts and contributed — he'll take it — to a wobble in a certain streaming giant's share price.. Harley Breen sits down with Charlie for a conversation that covers an almost unreasonable amount of ground. They talk about what permaculture actually is once you get past the composting dunny of Charlie's childhood and into the systems thinking, the indigenous knowledge frameworks, and the radical idea that self-sufficiency is a myth — community is the point. About the impossible balance of being a touring musician who believes in living locally. About a major streaming platform investing artist royalties in AI killer drone technology, and the song Charlie wrote about it in a hotel room in Slovakia. About what it means to be a Luddite in 2025 as an act of resistance. And about active hope — the Joanna Macy framework that keeps Charlie going on the days when nihilism starts winning. Also: garden snails purged with flour, eaten like salami bites, and treated as pets first. You've been warned. This episode is for: * Anyone who has ever wondered if the small ethical choices they make actually add up to anything * People who believe music can change the world — and want to hear from someone who has spent 20 years testing that theory * Anyone who has looked at the state of the world and needed someone to give them a framework for not losing their mind Dive in to hear about: * The $120,000 fossil fuel job Charlie's finger wouldn't let him accept — and the year of festival volunteering that followed * How a permaculture talk at Woodford's Greenhouse stage became the origin story of Formidable Vegetable * The viral song recorded in a hotel room in Slovakia, Reggie Watts, and what it means to chip away at a giant * Why Charlie quit flying for seven years, what it cost him, and why he started again * Active hope — Joanna Macy's framework for staying functional in the face of the world's problems * Why AI music is the next frontier and Charlie's plan to troll it back * Key topics: Formidable Vegetable, Charlie McGee, permaculture, regenerative living, music activism, Woodford Folk Festival, sustainable building, Glastonbury, AI music, active hope To come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/ [https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/] FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au [https://www.harleybreen.com.au] Formidable Vegetable: Socials: https://www.instagram.com/formidableveg/ [https://www.instagram.com/formidableveg/] https://www.instagram.com/not_just_charlie [https://www.instagram.com/not_just_charlie] Web: https://formidablevegetable.com.au/ [https://formidablevegetable.com.au/] https://formidablevegetable.bandcamp.com/ [https://formidablevegetable.bandcamp.com/]  Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects: https://workthatreconnects.org [https://workthatreconnects.org] CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Charlie McGee of Formidable Vegetable | Executive Producer: Benny Wallington, Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Producers: Cameron Scurrah, Georgia Shaw, Amelie Barham, Benjamin 'Tofty' Toft | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country Recorded December 2025 #RadioWoodfordia #FormidableVegetable #CharlieMcGee #HarleyBreen #WoodfordFolkFestival #Woodfordia #Permaculture #Sustainability #MusicActivism #AIMusic #RegenerativeLiving #ActiveHope #Podcast #LiveMusic Join the Woodfordian Citizens: Perks - - Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating. - Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special. - Bonus podcast content - Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets - Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen More information at www.woodfordia.org For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/ Credits: Host: Harley Breen Executive Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Josh Weier, Benny Wallington Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson Music by: The East Pointers ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Piano Fixed the Maths. Then She Played Woodford — Grace Alexandra

"I started doing piano lessons and I started getting better at maths." — Grace Alexandra Grace Alexandra came to Woodford on a pay-it-forward ticket. The next year, she was performing at it. Grace is 16, Darug, and already the kind of artist who makes you lean forward. She first came to Woodfordia as a child, dancing with the Jinibara Dance Troupe in 2018. She came back in 2024 as a punter — watched Jaguar Jones, Yothu Yindi, and Caravana Sun — and left knowing she wanted to be on those stages. Twelve months later, here she is. Harley Breen sits down with Grace — and, delightfully, her mum, just off camera — for a conversation that's warm, unhurried, and quietly remarkable. They talk about the unlikely chain of events that led Grace to music: failing maths, choosing piano lessons over a tutor, and discovering, almost by accident, that she could sing. About growing up Darug , travelling to Sydney to connect with the Gadigal community, and writing a song about a place that moved her so deeply at age ten that she couldn't not write about it. About what it means to be a young Indigenous artist right now, and why the community of peers she needs doesn't quite exist yet in her area. What she's already done is not nothing. One of 15 First Nations artists nationally, Grace was selected for the First Sounds National Album, funded by AMRAP. She's played Bluesfest and the Gympie Muster. And now, Woodford. This episode is for: * Anyone who believes the best origin stories start with failing maths * People who want to hear what the next generation of Indigenous Australian music sounds like * Anyone who needs a reminder of what it looks like when a young person is completely, quietly sure of themselves Dive in to hear about: * How failing maths led Grace to piano lessons — and how piano lessons fixed the maths * The pay-it-forward ticket that brought her to Woodford as a punter, and the moment she decided she'd be back as a performer * The place Grace visited at age ten that became the heart of an original song * Being selected for the First Sounds National Album out of 15 First Nations artists nationally * Why there's a gap in peer community for young musicians in her area — and why Woodford helps fill it Key topics: Grace Alexandra, First Nations music, young Australian artists, Woodford Folk Festival, singer-songwriter, Indigenous storytelling, Sunshine Coast music scene To come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/ [https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/] FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au [https://www.harleybreen.com.au] Grace Alexandra: https://linktr.ee/grace_alexandra_music [https://linktr.ee/grace_alexandra_music]  CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Grace Alexandra | Executive Producer: Benny Wallington, Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Producers: Cameron Scurrah, Georgia Shaw, Amelie Barham, Benjamin 'Tofty' Toft | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country Recorded December 2025 #RadioWoodfordia #GraceAlexandra #HarleyBreen #WoodfordFolkFestival #Woodfordia #FirstNationsMusic #IndigenousAustralian #SingerSongwriter #AustralianMusic #NewMusic #Podcast #LiveMusic Join the Woodfordian Citizens: Perks - - Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating. - Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special. - Bonus podcast content - Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets - Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen More information at www.woodfordia.org For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/ Credits: Host: Harley Breen Executive Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Josh Weier, Benny Wallington Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson Music by: The East Pointers ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

A Cornucopia of Inspiration — with Large Mirage

"It's a concentrated fantasy, this whole place." — Large Mirage They'd never been to Woodford Folk Festival before. You wouldn't have known it. AJ, Bailey and Blake of Large Mirage arrived at their first Woodford — first time as a band, first time as human beings — and immediately looked like they belonged. Within five minutes of their first set, the Pineapple Lounge was heaving. The second night was better still. And somehow, between all of it, they still had time to pull up chairs at a campsite bluegrass session and call it a private gig. Harley Breen sits down with three quarters of Large Mirage for a conversation that moves at the pace of one of their extended instrumental jams — warm, a little unpredictable, and genuinely fun. They talk about what psych rock actually means when you're the one playing it, why the genre label is both accurate and completely insufficient, and how AJ ended up in the band after being spotted at a lawn bowls club gig by a man in double denim. They talk about the band name — born from two bandmates both seeing the same thing on an airport tarmac, and a rhyme that only works in an Australian accent. And they talk about what it means to fly to New South Wales on New Year's Eve afternoon to play a show, then fly back to Woodford to play Bluestown stage at 1am. Stretching. Eating well. Drinking water before the set. Rock and roll has changed. This episode is for: * Anyone who has walked into a tent at Woodford not knowing what was playing and ended up having the best time * People who believe the best bands are the ones that can't quite be contained by their own genre label * Anyone who has ever dramatically underestimated how heavy a Hammond organ is * Dive in to hear about: * What psych rock actually sounds like from the inside — extended jams, organ solos, Texas shuffles, and a sound that wears many hats * The lawn bowls club gig, the double denim, and the very random encounter that brought AJ into the band * Why "Large Mirage" only rhymes if you're Australian — and the airport tarmac moment that started it all * The New Year's Eve schedule that has them flying to a Central Coast show and back to a 1am Bluestown set at Woodford * Key topics: Large Mirage, psychedelic rock, Woodford Folk Festival, live music, Australian independent music, Hammond organ, festival culture To come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/ [https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/] FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au [https://www.harleybreen.com.au] Large Mirage: https://largemirage.com/ [https://largemirage.com/] https://www.instagram.com/largemirage/ [https://www.instagram.com/largemirage/] https://www.tiktok.com/@largemirage [https://www.tiktok.com/@largemirage]  CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guests: AJ Stanton, Blake Rochester and Bailey Brown of Large Mirage | Executive Producer: Benny Wallington | Producers: Georgia Shaw, Amelie Barham, Benjamin ‘Tofty’ Toft, Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country  Recorded December 2025 #RadioWoodfordia #LargeMirage #HarleyBreen #WoodfordFolkFestival #Woodfordia #PsychRock #AustralianMusic #IndieMusic #LiveMusic #FolkFestival #Podcast #RockAndRoll Join the Woodfordian Citizens: Perks - - Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating. - Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special. - Bonus podcast content - Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets - Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen More information at www.woodfordia.org For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/ Credits: Host: Harley Breen Executive Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Josh Weier, Benny Wallington Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson Music by: The East Pointers ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

From the Crowd to Playing the Pineapple Lounge – with Tjaka

"For us being at Woodford from an early age, seeing so many shows — you walk into a tent and you just start dancing. That's the feeling we try to put into our shows, because we know how great that feels." — Tjaka Geoff, Jake and Felix of Tjaka know exactly what a Woodford crowd feels like. They've been standing in one since they were kids. In 2024, they found out what it looks like from the other side. They are, in the truest sense, Woodford babies — kids who watched their dad perform on the Grande and the Amphitheatre stages, who spent years in the crowd absorbing everything from eight-piece jazz funk bands to carrot flutes before they ever set foot on a Woodford stage themselves. In 2024, that changed. Tjaka played four shows, including New Year's Eve just after the countdown, and the crowd went exactly as wild as they always knew it would. Harley Breen sits down with the three of them for a conversation that's as warm and chaotic as a Tjaka set. They talk about how a dislocated elbow, a radio show, and a very long friendship between families became a band. About touring Taiwan, playing The Great Escape in the UK, and still stacking yoghurt in the dairy aisle twenty-four hours after a sold-out show. About the Didjeribone — Charlie McMahon's slide didgeridoo invention, made from PVC pipe, capable of ten keys in one, and apparently a serious conversation starter with airport security. And they talk about what Woodford actually does to musicians who've grown up inside it: how the diversity, the energy, and the sheer what-the-hell-is-this-and-why-do-I-love-it magic of the festival becomes a philosophy of performance. This episode is for: * Anyone who has stood in a tent at Woodford and had their mind completely changed by something they never would have chosen * People who believe the best artists are the ones who grew up loving live music first * Anyone who wants to hear a slide didgeridoo improvised live in a podcast studio Dive in to hear about: * The Didjeribone — Charlie McMahon's slide didgeridoo invention, how it works, why it's perfect carry-on luggage, and the airport security performances it keeps generating * What happens when your own band is recommended to you by a stranger in a beer queue * The gap between "we're going on a national tour" and "I am stacking yoghurt in a supermarket right now" — and why Felix thinks he's already won anyway * How a dislocated elbow, a missed psychology exam, and a lifelong friendship became the origin story of Tjaka * Why Woodford crowds hit differently when you've spent your whole life in them To come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/ [https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/] FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au [https://www.harleybreen.com.au] Tjaka: https://tjaka.bandcamp.com/music [https://tjaka.bandcamp.com/music]  Charlie McMahon, and the Didjeribone: https://www.charliemcmahon.com/ [https://www.charliemcmahon.com/] https://didjeribone.com/ [https://didjeribone.com/]  CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guests: Geoff Fabila, Jake Fabila and Felix Fogarty of Tjaka | Executive Producer: Benny Wallington | Producers: Cameron Scurrah, Georgia Shaw, Amelie Barham, Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Sound Editing: Keiron Atkinson | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country Key topics: Tjaka band, Woodford Folk Festival performers, Didjeribone, Charlie McMahon, contemporary First Nations music, independent music careers, live performance culture #RadioWoodfordia #Tjaka #HarleyBreen #WoodfordFolkFestival #Woodfordia #Didjeribone #CharlieMcMahon #FirstNationsMusic #AustralianMusic #IndieMusic #FolkFestival #LiveMusic #Podcast #WoodfordBabies Join the Woodfordian Citizens: Perks - - Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating. - Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special. - Bonus podcast content - Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets - Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen More information at www.woodfordia.org For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/ Credits: Host: Harley Breen Executive Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Josh Weier, Benny Wallington Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson Music by: The East Pointers ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

A Million Litres and Counting

"The wastewater doesn't lie." You've walked past it a hundred times without knowing it's there. Beneath the stages, the food stalls, and the dusty paths of Woodford Folk Festival runs more than 50 kilometres of sewers — and a treatment system so sophisticated it's now a cover story in American engineering magazines and a blueprint for festivals around the world. Harley Breen sits down with Ben Kele, the quietly hilarious wastewater engineer who has been running Woodfordia's decentralised water system for the past 16 years. What begins as a conversation about poo quickly becomes something much bigger: a story about world-leading science, practical environmentalism, and what it looks like when a festival takes its responsibilities to the land seriously. Ben explains how Woodford processes up to a million litres of wastewater a day during the festival — every drop treated on site, with not a single litre trucked in or out. He talks about the unique challenge of a system that swings from 15,000 litres on a quiet construction day to a million litres on the 27th of December, what the water chemistry reveals about who's on site and what they've been drinking, and how a small research project that started right here at Woodford became the foundation for Australia's national pharmaceutical wastewater tracking program — now used by public health agencies and federal law enforcement nationwide. He also tells the story of his brother Andrew, a flannel dressing gown, a dozen flushed bras, and a very unfortunate encounter with Chris Martin. This episode is for: * Anyone who's ever wondered what actually happens when 130,000 people flush * People who believe the most interesting infrastructure is the kind you never see * Anyone who finds genuine joy in a person who is brilliant at something the rest of us would rather not think about Dive in to hear about: * How Woodfordia became the unlikely birthplace of Australia's national drug-detection-via-wastewater program — and the AFP funding that got it started * What the water chemistry difference is between a Woodford Folk Festival crowd and other music festival crowds — and what it says about what people choose to drink * Why composting toilets work brilliantly in Tasmania and terribly in a Queensland summer, and the fly hatching cycle that explains everything * The story of Andrew the bog monster, a flannel dressing gown, a dozen flushed bras, and a very famous rock star who witnessed the whole thing from a stretch limousine To come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/ [https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/] FOR MORE:  Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au [https://www.harleybreen.com.au]  Ben Kele and Arris Water: Woodford Folk Festival Water System — Arris Water Case Study: https://www.arris.com.au/water/water-projects/queensland-folk-federation-qld/ [https://www.arris.com.au/water/water-projects/queensland-folk-federation-qld/] Woodford Folk Festival feature — The Onsite Journal, Summer 2024: https://www.nowra.org/Customer-Content/www/news/PDFs/Onsite_Journal_Summer_2024_Online.pdf [https://www.nowra.org/Customer-Content/www/news/PDFs/Onsite_Journal_Summer_2024_Online.pdf] CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Ben Kele | Executive Producer: Benny Wallington | Producers: Cameron Scurrah, Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Sound Editing: Keiron Atkinson | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country #RadioWoodfordia #BenKeele #HarleyBreen #WoodfordFolkFestival #Woodfordia #WastewaterManagement #Sustainability #Environment #MusicFestivals #FestivalLife #Podcast #WaterScience Key topics: Decentralized water systems for festivals Innovative wastewater treatment techniques Research and monitoring of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in wastewater Join the Woodfordian Citizens: Perks - - Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating. - Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special. - Bonus podcast content - Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets - Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen More information at www.woodfordia.org For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/ Credits: Host: Harley Breen Executive Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Josh Weier, Benny Wallington Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson Music by: The East Pointers ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.