Most musicians are drawn to the allure of the stage.

They dream of bathing in the spotlight, their fans fawning for just a glimmer of their attention.

Jay Bishoff (pictured) prefers to sit with them on the grass.

He’s the founder and creator of Peregian Originals: the Sunshine Coast’s much-loved and sorely missed, free open-air community concerts, which thrived on the shores of Peregian Beach for 20 years.

It was a launch pad for hundreds of local and touring musicians including Andrea Kirwin (pictured), Bobby Alu, Kate Miller-Heidke, OKA, Sun Salute, In2natioN, Cheap Fakes, Mufassa, The Lyrical, Hayden Hack, and audience-favourite Tijuana Cartel.

Even Kingswood, Sticky Fingers, Ash Grunwald, and Scotty and Andy from The Living End made an appearance, in some stellar line ups.

Born in 2000, with Jay and his fellow songwriter friend Paul Fogarty at the helm, the Originals ran twice a month for more than eleven years, eventually reduced to once a month, until Covid ultimately killed the events off in 2020.

While it’s been several years since the beachside park behind the old surf club, filled with gypsies and beatniks, twirling barefoot before a makeshift stage, locals remember it vividly.

Once in a while, someone will pipe up on a Facebook community board: “What happened to Peregian Originals?”

Spread out on colourful tapestries with gourmet picnics, up to 1000 people would gather and connect, while Jay orchestrated a slew of talented soloists, duos, trios and full bands, who filled our hearts and souls with the magic of live original music.

Peregian Originals was where backpackers, corporates, tradies and hospitality workers collided, becoming one on balmy Sunday afternoons.

Full of community spirit and heart, people of all walks of life threw inhibitions to the wind, as the increasingly upper-class northern suburb became a haven of harmony for all.

Families and friends relaxed, while their children climbed trees to catch a glimpse of the performers who serenaded the crowd with an eclectic blend of folk, funk reggae, rock, blues and other roots styles.

People brought their dogs, instruments, beers and frisbees, while kids lined to have their face painted, and surf club volunteers bonded over sausages in tents.

The community always left feeling charged and fulfilled, ready to take on the busy work week ahead.

A legendary community music event is born

Jay and Paul had only recently moved to the area, when they quickly found themselves mourning over front page stories about the death of the Noosa music scene.

Live music venues, specifically original ones, were shutting down, left and right.

“Paul and I agreed this might be the perfect time to do something, to try something different,” Jay says.

“We found this wonderful little grassy square down at Peregian Beach, out in front of Baked Poetry and other cafes.

“In those days there was this wonderful, large wooden stage, put in above the, even older, Peregian swimming pool, from earlier days.

“This stage was amazing, and nobody was really using it for community events.

“Without any formal permission, we ran a cable through the trees, plugged into a cafe called Heaven. I mean, we went straight to the top, you see!

“The first Peregian Originals concert featured Paul and I singing our original songs to three or four kids with soda pop and ice creams in the park on their bikes.

“But you know, we kept coming back, and the thing just grew and grew. And grew!

“Eventually, we outgrew the square, and moved the event into the much larger, more expansive space behind the surf club.”

After two wonderful first years, Jay and Paul won the Australia Day Cultural Contribution Award for Noosa Shire Council. 

Soon after that, Paul departed for Germany to pursue his songwriting career, but Jay was determined to continue their dream.

Picture: Jay with friend and event supporter Anita Sweeney.

Local community champion and dreammaker

Jay still lurks in the shadows of the musical underworld, supporting emerging artists and encouraging their greatness at open mics nights, original song competitions, and community concerts, both large and small.

He can infuse any stale old music hall with community heart, and venue owners take him under their wing to bring spirit into their once barren dining and drinking establishments.

His latest venture, The Songrise, puts him among other local creative movers and shakers, breathing new life into a once-neglected Nambour entertainment precinct.

The fortnightly open performance event brings what Jay knows best – the power of grass-roots original music – to new venue, The Presynct.

Jay says Peregian Originals became “a kind of ritualistic, spiritual event”, which is why it held a special place in the hearts of locals.

“People raised their kids out there, year after year in attendance. We had our challenges with the naysayers, but it was also a magical time, in many ways.

“Many years into it, when our audiences were regularly hitting around 600-700 in the park, a small group of local neighbours – 11 people to be exact – became determined to shutdown our community event.

“It went on and on with noise complaints. We did a four month EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) study, and the guy told us: ‘Look, you could virtually double your volume and still be within the legal limits.’

“It was totally ridiculous, all the fuss. Then the newly-amalgamated Sunshine Coast Council, with the local councillor, and even the mayor, really turned against us.

“It was unfair. It was wrong.

“Together, with my dear friend and event supporter, Anita Sweeney, we decided to resist.

“Against all odds -with 2000 people in the park with signs, dancing their butts off to OKA, we beat the Council, twice in a row.

“The first time was Facebook and public protest. The second time was television, and our presence at the Council Ordinary Meeting.

“But the amalgamated Council did manage to force me to create a committee. For me, that became like a Jay voodoo doll, where they could put pins in me now.”

When Jay and his young family moved to Bali seeking a traditional culture, he continued to run Peregian Originals for a year-and-a-half from the island’s central mountains (see Facebook insert), before eventually passing it over to East Coast Originals in 2014.

“It was a pure community event while I ran the thing. I know I wasn’t making any money – no one was!

“It wasn’t about commerce. It was this incredible symbiosis between the organisers, the performers and bands, our wonderful audience supporters, and the stunningly-beautiful beach location.

“When we started it, I just assumed every coastal community must have an event like this. I came to realise we had all created something pretty special together.”

Jay’s vast connections in the original music community, along with the glowing reputation of his beloved event, afforded him many revered artists at vastly reduced rates, including OKA (their frontman Stuart Fergie, pictured, tragically passed in 2022), who was getting $7000 minimum at the time for $400.

“Peregian Originals was a celebration of artistic freedom of expression, community joy and freedom in healthy flight, created on the ground with love.”

Where did Peregian Originals go wrong?

When Kim Ferguson (pictured with a fedora-wearing friend) took over Peregian Originals, she encountered several road blocks.

Kim expanded the organisation hosting more Originals events in Cooroy, Scarborough, Coolum and at Moffat Beach.

Peregian Originals became East Coast Originals, a not-for-profit community group, where profits went back to the artists and production.

However, even with donations and fundraisers, Kim says funding for the events started to come from her own pocket.

“We were forking out money of our own,” she says.

“Council sponsored the event which helped but post-Covid we didn’t have the volunteers to keep it going.

“There was so much red tape, community voices, and people involved for so long, and they all have their opinions.”

Thousands of hours of unpaid work and time

When the pandemic destroyed businesses across the Coast, community organisations were equally hit hard.

“Covid shut us down and every time we went to restart it there were more restrictions,” Kim says.

“If people only knew what goes into those events… there’s so much time and effort put in to make them happen with zero profit.

“Lots of people want it back but are not willing to do the work required, and it became thousands of hours of unpaid work and time.

“I was pregnant and we had two older volunteers. It became a back burner project, which is sad but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

The future of East Coast Originals

Kim, who has since moved to the Gold Coast and co-owns award-winning music venue Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, says she began talking with Council, community members and stakeholders last year.

Any future Originals events will need their full backing, she says.

“There’s a bit of a road ahead for these events to succeed.

“They would need to be in a different format, and the artists would need to be paid. Obviously we’d love to bring it back, but there needs to be more community involvement and consultation.

Video: Dancers enjoy the last Peregian Originals in 2019.

“There would need to be donations made to make it viable. It’s a process to get that to happen.

“There’s so many different parts and political powers that be, and they are all very vocal with what happens in the community.

“It can create a divide with regards to parking and noise, etc. Some people will want it and some won’t.

“But it’s an amazing event and I believe it will come back. How it comes back and in what format, we will see.”

Picture: There were protests to save it, but ulimately Covid killed Peregian Originals.

A new Peregian Beach crowd

After several years away from the area, Jay is now living back at his old stomping ground, near the site of the Peregian Originals, which now sits as a ghost town compared to previous years.

He says the suburb has “changed a lot”.

“Back then we were aiming for a creative community; now it has become a commerce community.”

Asked whether Peregian Originals will make a come back, Jay says, “I don’t think the Originals, as we all knew it, can or even should start again at Peregian Beach today.

“Those were special years shared – things have changed.”

One last lament in a sea of beautiful memories

Jay’s only regret is that the Originals events didn’t receive the proper send-off they deserved.

“Acknowledging its closure with a send-off celebration, or at least a final public letter of closure and thanks to everyone, for this 20-year standing cultural institution, I felt was warranted.

“In music it is said, ‘get your intros and outros right’. A lot can go wrong in the middle, but nobody will remember if you get the start and finish right.”

So, where to next?

Jay is throwing a massive ‘live music community’ celebration at The Vogue, in Nambour, on July 21. 

“This just may be the next big thing for us all,” he says.

“By that I mean for the whole community, with the same inclusive, free-flowing community spirit of Peregian Originals.

“My involvement with The Vogue will focus on welcoming the whole community to enjoy that spectacular venue.

“Nambour may just be the place.”

On behalf of the Sunshine Coast music community, Yelo would like to thank Jay, Paul, Anita, Kim, and the many volunteers and valued musicians, for creating and steering Peregian Originals/East Coast Originals: a local cultural icon lost, but never forgotten.