For those who love performing or viewing live music, the thought of months of lockdown could have broken them; not the talented and enterprising Matilda Hassall. Matilda was driven to start @undertherug.venue on Instagram where Geelong musicians and artists could keep connected and keep performing.
On Fridays, throughout lockdown, four bands or musicians live streamed ‘music magic’ from their loungerooms, garages or decks via the free, all ages, virtual venue so as not to be swept ‘Under the Rug’. Matilda tells us of their last hoorah:
“Under the Rug is calling it quits on the regular Friday Instagram lives – however, we want to go out with a bang. We are hosting one last live-streamed finale event on this Friday July 3rd. The ‘Rugged Up’ Livestream Finale will present 20min back-to-back sets from local artists and abroad – all fresh faces to Under the Rug! Go to our Instagram page @undertherug.venue for the full details.
“We’re also launching a compilation album called ‘Under the Radar’ of local artists’ demo tracks on Bandcamp. The album will be up and available for purchase on Fri 3rd when Bandcamp are waiving their fees for a day – half of proceeds from the album will go directly back to the artists involved, and half towards the First Nations Artists and Community COVID-19 Appeal.
“There are so many amazing artists in our region, Under the Rug was created to showcase that talent.
“Long term, I’d love to keep Under the Rug going in some form. If there were more initiatives and venues around Geelong, maybe we wouldn’t see our great artists relying on gigs in Melbourne.
It is no surprise that the talented Matilda has a solid musical and theatre background through participating in GSODA and the Sweethearts. She and two friends went from being backing vocalists in the Sweethearts to their own band ‘Hey Mammoth’. Matilda is a vocalist and songwriter who also plays guitar and keyboard. Besides creating Under the Rug during lockdown, she wrote a song ‘Bring on the Lockdown’ and entered it in the ‘Positive Corona Experience’ category of Sydney Rd Brunswick’s song competition.
This energetic young musician teaches music at Waves Torquay and can be found playing around town, she’s @hassallmusic on Instagram.
Story: Jacqui Bennett. Photo: Joshua Maxwell de Hoog
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