The Acoustic Peacock - Adelaide's newest music club supporting original artists

The concept of a venue south of Adelaide which supported writers of songs, instrumentals and poetry, arose from a discussion in mid 2009 among a small group of singer songwriters who had been meeting regularly to share their ideas and their music. From that, the locating of a suitable venue occurred almost by accident – although Willunga with its strong arts focus was always high on the ‘possibles’ list.

When David and Julie Stuttard of the Peacock Farm were approached with a view to supporting a music venue, they embraced the whole concept and have become not only sponsors, but also a great source of ideas and inspiration.

The name ‘Acoustic Peacock’ demands little explanation. The choice of the word ‘acoustic ‘is more about the type of sound we were looking for, more so than an expectation of performing ‘unplugged ‘. We have an excellent sound engineer who is able to meet the ‘sound’ needs of our performers.

We didn’t want the ‘Acoustic Peacock ‘to carry a label of supporting only a particular genre of music – it is a broad church so to speak. At this point in time, performers have entertained audiences with musical influences which range from blues and roots to bluegrass, country, country rock, pop and folk – in contemporary or traditional styles. There is an expectation though, that at least two thirds of the material presented by support and main acts is original.

The format was an important consideration, given the emphasis on original works and the need as we saw it, to make the venue as accessible as possible to all writers, regardless of experience and expertise. To that end we decided to open the evening with an ‘open mic’ time slot giving each participant a maximum of 10 minutes to share their songs or poems with the audience. This would then be followed by a 30 minute support act and in turn a 45 minute main act. After the audience would be invited to take part in an open session, taking the evening through to midnight. With the bar operating through the night, and food always available, there’s plenty to sustain musicians and audience alike.

It is made clear to the audience from the outset, that this is a ‘listening’ venue, that opportunities to drink and chat present themselves regularly throughout the evening. The intention always is to support the performer. It is the number 1 priority.

Without the sponsorship of the Willunga Peacock Farm and the enormous contribution by major sponsor Peter Thornton, the ‘Acoustic Peacock’ would have been nothing more than a nice idea. Steve Nye of Clippers Hair Design must also be acknowledged for his generous offer of vouchers to those who take part in the open mic session.