By Tania Phillips
After an impressive showing in the 2020 Busking Championships Murwillumbah’s Ollie Twohill – a young musician on the rise – is back to compete again.
Stanthorpe’s Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC) South East Queensland Regional Finals are on this March and will fill the town’s main street with live music and visitors to the region.
Twohill, 21, made the final and finished third last year behind eventual winners Nine Year Sisters and Warwick’s Smooth Talk – in a strong field of 40.
Not bad for his tilt at the title and the start of an exciting year for the young artist – even though he spent most of it in lockdown – which culminated in the release of his first single Tapping Away late in the year. His second single Stone Cold Killer comes out the week after the busking titles.
“I started my musical journey street busking in my local town of Murwillumbah, Gold Coast, Tweed Valley and Byron Bay,” he said.
“I came across a social media post for the Stanthorpe event and thought it would be fun to be a part of and get back to my roots as a busker. So I made the 3.5hour journey out to the Granite Belt.
“It was the biggest crowd I have played in front of. The audience was amazing and incredibly supportive of all the performances.”
He said although he isn’t busking as much now, playing at more and more venues and planning to release five singles this year, he still didn’t hesitate to sign up to head out to Stanthorpe again.
“It was such a positive experience, playing my music to a new audience,” he explained.
“I also made several new music connections. I have kept in touch with these artists and it’s great to see how they have all progressed over the past 12 months.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting up with them all again in March.
“It is an excellent event, professionally run by volunteers and the talent from young to old is not only amazing but quite broad in genres and performance styles.”
• For more information on the Australian National Busking Championships SEQ Regional Finals, or to register your interest as a busker, visit www.appleandgrape.org/busking/.
