.png){kind=small}
Musicians Unite to Support Harcourt Bushfire Community
- 16 minutes ago
- 5 min read
by Victor Stranges
In early January this year, devastating bushfires swept through the small Central Highlands township of Harcourt in regional Victoria. In a matter of hours a fast moving grassfire destroyed around sixty homes and caused widespread damage to local infrastructure, forcing residents to evacuate with little more than thirty minutes warning as more than one hundred fire crews battled the blaze. For a community of just over one thousand people, the impact has been profound and the road to recovery will take time.
It is against that backdrop that musicians from across Victoria are coming together this Sunday at The Golden Vine Hotel in Bendigo for the Harcourt Bushfire Benefit, a community driven concert designed to raise funds and support for those affected. The afternoon will feature Horizon headlining the event, with Souls Of Ambience also performing and Jerry Speiser appearing with his band Questionable Gentlemen while serving as MC.
The idea for the benefit grew from the friendship between Chris George of Melbourne progressive rock band Souls Of Ambience and Jerry Speiser, the former Men At Work drummer who now lives in the region. Jerry had previously recorded at Mat Underwood’s Studio U in Harcourt, a recording space that was completely destroyed in the fires. When the loss of the studio was confirmed, Chris began developing the idea of a concert that could support both the studio owner and the wider Harcourt community.
Horizon will headline the afternoon and the band’s story is itself one of long creative commitment. The project is led by composer and songwriter Lee Bradshaw and represents more than two decades of musical development. The origins stretch back to the late nineteen nineties when Bradshaw began exploring new musical ideas under the name Sable Ash. Over time the project evolved into a collaboration that eventually brought together Lee Bradshaw, bassist Rich Panaia, guitarist Brett Garsed, drummer Angus Burchall and the late Stuart Fraser.
A major step forward came in 2009 when Bradshaw and Panaia travelled from Western Australia to Melbourne to record at Armstrong Studios where they first worked with Fraser and Burchall. That collaboration sparked a musical partnership that would continue for years. With the addition of Brett Garsed on guitar, the group gradually refined its sound through a series of studio sessions that captured the chemistry and musicianship of the players involved.
The recordings that eventually formed the Horizon album were completed in 2017 but the release was delayed due to several circumstances, including the declining health of guitarist Stuart Fraser. Fraser passed away in 2019, leaving behind a profound legacy within Australian rock. With the blessing of his family the Horizon album was finally released in 2025 and now stands as his final studio recordings.
The musicians involved bring with them decades of experience across Australian music. Stuart Fraser was widely known for his work with Noiseworks and for performing with artists such as Ray Charles, Lionel Richie, Tina Arena and Olivia Newton John. Brett Garsed is recognised internationally for his innovative guitar style and spent years performing with John Farnham, while also developing a distinctive fusion approach that has influenced many players. Drummer Angus Burchall likewise performed for many years with Farnham and has worked with artists including Jimmy Barnes, The Black Sorrows, Kylie Minogue and Boz Scaggs. Both Garsed and Burchall also recorded at Mat Underwood’s Studio U in Harcourt, making the loss of the studio in the fires particularly personal for those involved in the event.
The band is completed by bassist Rich Panaia, a long time collaborator of Bradshaw, and by Bradshaw himself whose work as a composer extends beyond rock music. He is also the composer of Zarqa, the first Western grand opera sung in Arabic and a flagship cultural project within Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative.
The Horizon album is now available on limited edition CD and vinyl and a feature length documentary is currently in development which will tell the full story behind the music and the long journey that led to its release. The band returned to the stage in August 2025 at The Evelyn Hotel in Melbourne alongside label mate Peter Freebairn with Radio Vertigo and has since performed again with Radio Vertigo at George Lane in St Kilda while planning further appearances in 2026.
I have become a strong supporter of Souls Of Ambience in recent times. I should admit that progressive rock has never been my natural musical home, but I was genuinely struck by the ambition and songwriting on their 2024 debut album A Thousand Tears. The record carries a strong British sensibility throughout, drawing on the grand, atmospheric tradition that bands like Pink Floyd helped define while still maintaining its own identity. What impressed me most was the compositional discipline. The album unfolds with patience and purpose, weaving expansive guitar passages, textured keyboards and carefully structured rhythmic movement into pieces that feel almost cinematic in scale. The influence of classic progressive rock is certainly present, but it is filtered through a modern songwriting approach that prioritises melody, mood and storytelling. For a debut release it is remarkably assured and reveals a band thinking in terms of musical architecture rather than simply assembling songs.
My own connection to this event brings together several strands of musical history. Chris George and I first met when he attended a show at The Evelyn Hotel that I organised through Pop Preservation Society featuring Horizon alongside Peter Freebairn with Radio Vertigo. It was a packed room and a memorable night and from that meeting a friendship developed around a shared appreciation for music and supporting local talent.
There is also a personal connection through Jerry Speiser. As a teenager I followed Men At Work closely during their early years and always had a particular fondness for their album Cargo. In the late nineteen nineties I later played with former Men At Work bassist John Rees in an early incarnation of my band Victor Stranges and The Methinks. John and I have stayed in touch ever since and both of us now live in rural Victoria.
My connection with Jerry goes back even further. While I was still in high school in the mid nineteen eighties I attended a play he had written called 'I’ll Do Anything'. Meeting him at the time was a real thrill for a young fan. As someone who was a drummer back in the day and still am among other musical pursuits, I always felt I learned something from watching Jerry perform. His playing has that rare balance of discipline and personality that every drummer hopes to capture.
Seeing him again this weekend at the Harcourt Bushfire Benefit feels like one of those full circle moments that music occasionally provides.
More importantly, the afternoon represents something much bigger than any individual musician. It is a gathering of artists, friends and community members working together to support people who have experienced enormous loss. In difficult moments like these, music has a way of bringing people together and helping communities begin the long process of rebuilding.
