Iconic Australian pop duo Bachelor Girl are effusive in their praise of the Mundi Mundi Bash which boosted town coffers just last month but a moment during their performance has struck a chord with a local man who has been battling depression.
Tania Doko, the lead vocalist in of the duo, and Broken Hill man Jason McCarthur had what both call “a transcendent moment” during the performance of the band’s song Speak.
Both Tania and Jason described the moment as such as both felt they were the only people in the Mundi Mundi Plains during that performance.
The moment affected not only the band, but Jason as well.
Jason said he suffered from depression when he was younger and the band’s music was a great influence on him. When he heard they were coming to town for the Bash, he was excited.
He couldn’t turn down the chance to see them live.
“In the late 1990s, I was suffering from pretty bad depression. Bachelor Girl was a group I would listen to a lot.
I always found their music to be very uplifting.”
Before the band arrived, Jason emailed them to see if they would be doing a signing at the Bash.
When he received an email back from the other half of the musical duo, James Roche, confirming they would be doing a signing, he couldn’t have imagined the experience he would have.
As soon as the band started their set, Jason tells us, “it was overwhelming, a wave of emotions overcame me.” During the performance of Speak that feeling hit its apex.
“I honestly felt like the only person in the world right then, and she was singing directly to me.”
When we spoke to the band, Tania confirmed that the feeling was, in fact, mutual.
“I caught eyes with Jason in the front row and we locked eyes. He was clearly emotional, and the moment transcended me. In that moment I forgot there was 8000 other people there,” Tania told us.
After the performance, Jason met with the band during the signing at the merchandise stand.
They have since touched base on social media, and Jason wants to get the word out there about how healing music can be to people suffering from mental health issues.
“Sometimes as an artist, you very privileged to hear that a song you have made really means a lot to someone,” James says.
When they are not touching people’s hearts with their music, the duo keep themselves incredibly busy.
“I am in the middle of producing an album for Melinda Schneider. Outside of that I am busy with dad duties at the moment,” James says.
Tania is keeping busy too, and looking forward to playing the Sunset Sounds Festival. “We are playing in Wagga soon,” she tells us.
To keep across Bachelor Girl and all their tours, new music and everything else they have going on, head to https://bachelorgirl.com/
Picture: Andrew Gosling
