The “Ned Kelly Region” outfit of the Riff Raff Radical Marching Band started in 2025. Streetbands are mood lifting experiences and breathe new life into town, school and jazz bands. Many bands businesses and communities are struggling to recover after the COVID pandemic but we should aim to bounce back even better.
Ned Kelly, love him or hate him, what causes do you think he would be fighting for today with a musical instrument and messaging on his armour?
This regional band is not tied to any specific township and so we can pop up and be owned by all the communities anywhere in the whole region who have local musicians. Centred in Benalla, we have musicians that for a good gig have travelled to Yackandandah, Mansfield, Marysville, Euroa, Echuca and even Melbourne to play. These places have a long history and tourism connection to the Kelly Gang. All we need is enough players to form a viable musical gang on the day and we could strike anywhere!
Streetbands are really popular with event organisers festivals, markets, street arts launches and events. There are not many protests up here but we do our bit to help sometimes in the cities! Our no fees policy is to encourage more new players and ex-instrument players and singers to participate. You often have to cover your own travel and accommodation but can often tie music in with other holidays or visits.
We are also exploring making our own fun music videos to promote our group, good causes and to play along with. We have already made inroads into using electronic arrangements of music for writing, practice and rehearsal. We are also exploring AI cardboard costume design, mock ups of prompttional posters and video ideas.
We will hopefully be in a position to support the Melbourne chapter easily by jumping on the train and give other Riff Raff musicians some fun outings. Some of our rehearsals will be from recordings and computer generated files to overcome the distances. Sometimes we might rehearse as part of, or adjacent to, the rehearsals of other community and school bands to save on travel and venues.
You don’t have to dress up in cardboard Ned Kelly outfits if you don’t want to. Wearing a cardboard Ned Kelly on your head might not be for you. There are also Ned helmets that sit on plastic pipes way above your head and nod! In addition to Ned Kelly armour, there is also a similar arrangement as the Village People where there are other armour costumes you can also choose from…
- – Roman Centurion
- – Gladiator
- – Pharaoh
- – Knight in Armour
- – Storm Trouper
- – Grid Iron
- there may be more…
Playing with the varying levels anonymity and character of a cardboard helmet on your head is quite an experience. Alternatively just stick with the flexible red, yellow and black assorted clothes of the Riff Raff if you want be a part of it all.
We welcome any musicians making contact and there is no pressure. There are potential gigs to choose from coming up all the time in our area and Melbourne. Sometimes even interstate and Honk Oz events will be hard for you to refuse! Some events even come with free music festival tickets and camping sites!
We also aim to set up a bit of a recreational musician career structure so you can progress the types of instruments, charts and events you play at. We might look at trying to attract regional sponsor/s to fund and reward the more challenging parts of managing a band on occasions step by step so the rest of us can enjoy playing even more. There is a lot of interest from schools and considerable interest in supporting school music programs.
Voluntary roles for those interested include…
- – Cardboard Costume design
- – Music composition, arrangement and printing
- – Lyrics and Protest Slogans
- – Venues and Gig Coordination
- – Catering, accommodation and transport
- – Media Photography, Music Videos and AI.
All these and other components add to the fun and those with skills in these areas could do with some funding to support their professional commitment.
Cheers Callum
Our email address is riffraffneds@gmail.com