In 2017, Retro Rehash employed Jimmy Barnes’ older brother John ‘Swanee’ Swan to mentor Blue Mountains musicians through running a rehearsal and performance with eight local players. The handpicked group performed hits from Swanee’s 45 years in show business at a sold out event at The Carrington Hotel in Katoomba.
“Willem (Retro Rehash) had the great idea of having established singers come to the Blue Mountains to sing with a bunch of local young musicians. I’d never heard of this or done this before, but it was a great experience for me and the local players. A real win-win situation. Willem did a good job facilitating this whole thing and making sure it was a great success. I hear he’s going for a grant to do more of this and in my 40-odd years of showbiz I couldn’t think of a more appropriate person to carry on his imaginative approach to giving local musicians access to great opportunities.”
~ Steve Kilbey (The Church)
The group also got to spend a whole day rehearsing with Swanee, who provided them with some music career tips and creative advice. After this project, a few of the musicians were inspired to start bands and record their own music.