Brassbanned braves the Western Suburbs of Sydney to interview Ben Crocker, Conductor of St Mary’s Band Club Brass.
Ben talks about the origins of the band, what it is like to be supported by a ‘club’, as well as how the band is preparing for Nationals.
Check out www.brassbanned.com for more.
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
[Music] hello once again loyal Brass Band internet viewers today we’re here with Mr Benjamin Crocker who is currently the conductor of the St Mary’s band club Ben how you going very good Tim thanks very much for coming out to St Mary’s no worries it was a bit of a trick I actually caught the train out here took me about an hour from
Central and I sort of sat next to some interesting characters but I made it in one piece and fingers crossed I get back home again um tell me a bit how’s St Mary’s going you guys looking forward to Nationals going well yeah look mate St Mary’s is going very very well uh I I sympathize with your Tru out here
I don’t uh go near the St Mary’s train station I always take care to drive out here but I’m well done for braving it um St Mary’s preparation is going really well we um we have I guess a reduced number of weak night rehearsals um probably not what some bands would would expect in the leadup to a
Nationals but we focus very much around Workshop weekends um like the one you’re you’re sitting in on here today so so to most of the players in the band come from from the local area or are they sort of coming in from a bit further a field and that’s why it’s mostly weekend workshops what would you say yeah look we we do have a core of players
I guess who have have been for a long time based in Western Sydney but I think certainly over the last couple of years as the band has has um risen if you like um we have we’ve drawn players from all over town um and indeed as as far a field as Newcastle and the Central Coast so it it does work well of course the thing in in
Sydney and the thing in Western Sydney which you really have to be um aware of and understand is that the traffic is so bad um you really can’t get to rehearsal um unless you’re prepared to drive for a couple of hours if you live um on the other side of town some rather serious first world B Brass
Band problems right here at St Mary’s band club now tell me a little bit what are you playing down at Nationals what’s your own choice what’s your him and what’s your March unless they’re State Secrets fully understand if you don’t want to disclose them well I’ll tell you what we we’re playing playing an Australian composition for the
March that’s unusual we are playing an Australian composition for the March as for the own choice I know you know because you’ve been peeking around our band room but but I’ll keep it under wraps for the Brass Band viewing public has that something to look out for I’m sure you’ll all enjoy it when you hear it though yeah should be great so tell me a little bit more about this is
St Mary’s band club I came here today for the first time it’s really a really big RSL do you get um funding from the venue for the band is the club based around the band is the band based around the club how does that work out it must be quite unique in Australia to have this situation yes mate it is well
I mean it is a long story The the band itself has been around for about a century and the club has been around for a shorter period of time now in the beginning what happened is there was a local band in St Mary’s when this was a Township um just like any in in New South Wales well outside of
Sydney and the guys in the local band used to drink with the coppers and the lawyers um that lived in this area and when the New South Wales commission started started giving out liquor licenses and and gambling licenses they said hey this would be a really good way to raise money for our band so they got together and they started basically a very informal little
Club at first in um a tin Shack if you like on this same site and over time the club developed into this this complex you can today which resembles resembles any RSL or or major club that you’d see and a very very popular um all around town um it was about 30 years I think which you the the club 30 40 years perhaps when you you see the club as you know it as you see it now came into existence and they they really modernized formalized the structure um we we install the board of directors rather than running the band ourselves and yes as um
As a result of that that board of directors and and the club Administration gives us a budget every year so are you in any way subsided by the local Council or it’s all based from the club no no we definitely don’t get anything from from the council that I know of but sure it could be reaching beyond the
Realms of what a musical director might know much you’ll see us you’ll see us um called St Mary’s band club brass that’s because it’s the band club that funds and and sponsors the band and what’s the local support like I imagine it must be quite different to the Brass bands which are sort of funded by the local government to have a band club here do you have a lot of people coming to your concerts today really feel ownership of what the band does would you say uh
Tim that’s a really good question there is certainly a lot of older members of the community who are who are perhaps that way inclined they’re fond of the band they remember it from from the old days however there’s hundreds of people that come to this club every day um that might not actually know what what the band does yeah it it
I mean people come in and use the pokis people come in um and dine at the restaurant and their money goes into our pockets but um they might not be terribly interested in Brass Band music so I guess there’s a real opportunity there to go out and engage with those people who aren’t coming to concerts so far that’s right and and often times we get people very very surprised who who um you know they know the band club but then they they they see why it’s called the band club and what we actually do and we we do year by year get new audience members
And it’s it’s really great so so Nationals coming up let’s talk about how you’re going to do at the end of it um is there anywhere in particular you think you’re going to be really picking up some points do you have any sort of you’re really hoping to get something out of the him or something in the
March you’re a bit scared of your own choice any any secrets you can fill us in on there well I don’t have you heard with um the way we’re going at the moment as you know we do we do a lot of work with Professor David King um and I guess you would you would describe his approach to learning and music making as holistic yep absolutely so there certainly isn’t any one car category that um
I think we’re going to excel in more than the others it’ll be generally though I think the band will perform very well so and the street match do you guys take that seriously or you just sort of rock up and do it on the day I know a lot of bands around the country take have different views on this what’s the
St Mary’s ethos with marching there’s you know there’s always one person in every band that just adores marching is that you I haven’t found that person in our band yet so so I don’t know but I I tell you what the band is very proud of itself and no I don’t think you’ll you’ll find the band doing a bad job of marching they mightn’t be their favorite thing but they’ll turn up and and take it seriously yeah well thanks very much for joining us best of luck down in
Melbourne I think we all help you do really really well thanks very much Tim good to be with brassband thanks for coming out to the sunny western suburbs of Sydney it’s gorgeous and leafy out here thank you once again thanks very much [Music] Tim
