Slipways guitarist and vocalist Zack Jenkin could talk music for days.
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The 21-year-old was raised in a musical family, and fell in love with music while watching his dad play a gig on a beach near Huskisson at the age of five.
“I remember sitting on my sister’s lap thinking ‘this is amazing, I want to do this’,” Jenkin said.
“It’s all about the grittiness of the city they come from, it makes it feel more real.”
- Slipway's Zack Jenkin
“We had toy guitars around the house, and a wooden ukelele with no strings I’d carry with me everywhere I went.”
When he moved to Eden he was in a new place full of new faces, and made new friends through his love of music.
“I met Matt Olm our guitarist in music class at Eden High and it took me a while to pluck up the courage to ask if he wanted to start a band,” Jenkin said.
His teenage years were spent with his head drenched in heavier genres, including time with the progrock outfit The Last Flow, before The Smiths combination of Morrissey and Johnny Marr changed everything.
“The vocals go with the guitar like they were always meant to be together,” he said.
“They were just so different, there’s no other band like them.”
Slipways started as a side-project, as Jenkin was beginning to write songs by himself, for himself, and evolving as a songwriter.
“Pop is immediate, you don’t have to think about it, before we were playing seven minute songs with different progressions and it started to bore me,” he said.
The band slowly manifested, and Jenkin and Olm were soon joined by bass player Adam Perkins and drummer Adam McMaster.
Manchester bands such as The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Oasis strike a chord with Jenkin.
“It’s all about the grittiness of the city they come from, it makes it feel more real.” he said.
Jenkin draws from his surrounding environment for lyrical reflection.
“When I write words, most of them I’ve figured out are about escaping,” he said.
“There’s a song we have called Small Town News, which is about everyone talking behind your back, not paying into those rumours and the jealousy in can create when you show you don’t care.”
After a packed out show at the Cobargo Folk Festival, Jenkin and Slipways will be playing Bega’s Funhouse Studio on Saturday, March 11 with support from Hypo Hydro, Lochie Marson and Crash Ride.
“We used to have to travel to Sydney Wollongong and Canberra just for shows, but now with Funhouse we have somewhere to play to our local fans,” Jenkin said.
“It’s awesome, the Bega Valley has needed this space for years.”
Doors open at 6pm, and tickets cost $10 on the night.