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Check out the live feed from the launch of the Solar Stage at the Northern Beaches Music Festival at Collaroy on Saturday October 22nd. Clip includes interviews with ‘Under The Weather’ from Walgett,Members of Lock The Gate and Knitting Nana’a and a tour of the off grid zone.
Despite cloudy weather the stage worked with Solar powered Sunny Bins and a Solar inverter/generator crowd funded for this event and beyond.

Although it was cloudy the Sunny Bin generator was previously sun charged so was able to provide stage power for the bands on the day . As whales breached out the back of the near perfect 3ft grey long waves Mal riders lazily surfed beachwards.

Sun powered sounds filled the air, global beats D.J’s Mashy P and Dr Kalimantan spun sets and live bands played for about 5 hours.
The crowd funding campaign that raised the money for the Solar generator buggy to be made for the festival also got the Walgett band ‘Under The Weather’ to come down from Northern N.S.W and play on the stage.
Finally the sun came out late mid afternoon and topped up the batteries from the quite heavy current draw from the Walgett band with their Marshall and Bass amps and the zones stage mixing equipment. Other live acts, Stu Tyrrell, The Lurkers, Scarlet’s Revenge weaved acoustic, folky, celtic post punk vibes through the day. Stay tuned for more off grid cinemas and gigs with this Sunny Bins Solar Sound System this summer and beyond. Click and surf the slideshow of the day…

On October 21st/22nd/23rd 2016 in Collaroy, site of the recent climate change driven destruction, there is a music festival called the Northern Beaches Music Festival. Thanks to a crowd funding campaign driven by Daniel Robins from Lock the Gate Alliance the components for this Solar generator was made possible. The Sunny Bins Solar Generator will be used at the festival to create an off grid Solar Stage. Performers on the stage include The Lurkers, Scarlets Revenge, Patrick Harte & Jo Bolan, Adder’s Fork, Ian’The Punp’ Macintosh,Stu Tyrell, Under The Weather, D.J Dr Karimantan, Mashy P.
A set of 4 times 40 amp/hr batteries in parallel drive a 1500w inverter meaning off grid 240v power can enable live bands to play through self powered Sunny Bin wheelie bin sound systems. Bands with their own demands of stage power for amps, mixing desk etc will be catered for, also off grid cinema events can now be put on. We look forward to testing out the new unit.

Sunny Bins Spring Cycle

For the second year in a row Sunny Bins has provided the sound track for the Spring Cycle by having mobile wheelie bin sound systems at some of the various stops on the circuit.

Once a year I have to get up at 5.30am with my trusty dog Piccolo and lug several Wheelie Bin sound systems to spots around Sydney so when the cyclists turn up theres a party happening.
Yes we were in a car ( and trailer ) but you try lugging 5 heavy wheelie bin sound systems on a bike.
So Piccolo the ever eager hound and I weaved our way through the springy emerald city from Leichhardt to Western Sydney Parklands dropping off the sound systems with a special Spring Cycle playlist before the 10,000 riders started their circuit.

Since 1984 the Spring Cycle has been attracting riders of all ages and abilities, on bikes of all shapes and sizes. By showcasing Sydney’s growing cycling infrastructure and facilities, the event promotes cycling as a viable and sustainable recreation and transport option for everyone.

My journey through Liechhardt and Haberfield took me past the shocking building sites/loss of public lands to the disastrous Westconnex project before heading out west to greener pastures.

Great to see so many cyclists out on a sunny spring day managing to get about despite Westconnex’s attempt to destroy this town for needless badly designed toll roads.

more pix from the day on the Spring Cycle Facebook page